It’s National Dog Day. Will you give a dog a home?

SMITHFIELD — In roughly 230 days this year, the Johnston County Animal Services shelter has taken in 1,245 dogs, most of them strays, though owners have surrendered 262.

If past is predictor, the shelter will find homes for more than half of those dogs. In 2022, the latest year for which numbers are available, the Johnston shelter took in 1,715 dogs, returning 393 of those to their owners and finding adoptive homes for another 701, or 41%. It euthanized 621 dogs, or 36%.

Rescue groups take mos of the Johnston strays that leave the shelter, said Chuck Lively, supervisor. County residents adopt many too.

“We prefer to get the animals out, whether that be to a rescue or by adoption,” Lively said in an email. “It just happens that rescues pull more animals faster than we are able to adopt them out.”

How long a dog stays in the shelter can vary widely, Lively said. “All stray dogs must go through a state-mandated 72-hour stray hold before they can go to a rescue or be adopted out,” he said. “After that, it would depend on when a rescue would come to pull and any adoptions. It can be as little as a day or two afterwards to a couple of months.”

Almost any dog can find itself in the shelter, whether surrendered, brought in as a stray or seized from neglectful or abusive owners, Lively said. “They are everything from pure breeds to mutts,” he said. “Most are in fair health, but we do have our fair share of those with medical issues.”

Neither rescue groups nor adoptive owners are especially picky about the dogs they take, Lively said. “I have seen all ages, sizes and breeds go to rescue and get adopted out here,” he said. “Adopters for both rescues and the shelter have many different tastes that span the entire spectrum.”

“We do have a lot of requests for smaller dogs, and those are the ones that seem to get adopted the fastest,” Lively added.

It’s not hard to adopt a dog from the county shelter, but neither is it cheap.

“Our adopters must not have any animal control cruelty charges or surrenders,” Lively said. “Any person that takes an animal from the shelter must have a government-issued ID.”

Adoptions, he added, are by appointment and cost $125.

It’s rewarding to find a dog a home, said Lively, who hears occasionally from adoptive families. “They send updated photos and stories of their new lives together,” he said. “This is definitely an aspect that can bring a smile to my face.”

But the task is daunting given the growing number of homeless dogs in Johnston.

“Those numbers have drastically increased over the last couple of years,” Lively said. “Although there will always be strays, I would like the numbers to return to a more manageable range, especially since adoption numbers are down industry-wide.”

Aug. 26 is National Dog Day. To learn more about pet adoption in Johnston County, call 919-934-8474 or visit Johnston County Animal Services on its Facebook page.

The post It’s National Dog Day. Will you give a dog a home? first appeared on Restoration NewsMedia .