Erie County SPCA holding Doggie Entourage to get pups out and about

BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) — The SPCA serving Erie County is currently hosting its Doggie Entourage program. The program allows potential adopters, and anyone else, to take dogs out and about to see what they’re like outside of the shelter.

It’s free to participate and there’s no pressure to adopt. All you need to do is visit their shelter during adoption hours, bring your ID and fill out some paperwork.

You can even search up what dog you’re interested in ahead of time.

“You can take a dog out for an hour, you can take a dog out for the whole day,” said Jillian Leblanc, social media coordinator at SPCA serving Erie County. “The sky is the limit. Do you wanna go to a park? Take a dog to a park. If you wanna go get a pup cup, if you don’t have any other animals at your house, if you wanna take the dog home with you and go sit on the couch go for it.”

This program helps give these shelter dogs a break from the shelter life and gets them out into the community, and there’s bound to be some tail wagging.

Meet three-year-old Maya. She’s full of energy, and some kisses, and she’s ready to go on her next adventure.

“Maya is one of our popular doggie entourage favorites,” said Leblanc. “She’s good with adults, she’s good with kids. We get tons of pictures of Maya out in doggie entourages and the sad thing is we really want her to get adopted.”

Like many animal shelters, the SPCA tells us they are at capacity and they’ve seen adoptions slow down. They say they do everything they can to make the shelter comfortable for the dogs, but they’re hoping to find them forever homes and a program like this helps.

“When you come in and take a shelter dog out for the day you are helping this animal, you are helping it potentially find a home, have a fun day outside of the shelter,” Leblanc said. “It really is a positive experience.”

Maya is best suited for a home without other pets. If you’re interested in adopting her or just spending some time with her, you can click here.

Hope Winter is a reporter and multimedia journalist who has been part of the News 4 team since 2021. See more of her work here .