Homeless Dogs Score Homerun at Ballpark
Description
By Joey Wahler
September 2, 2008
TRENTON, N.J. -- The New York Yankees’ Double-A baseball team is not only grooming prospects for the Major Leagues, it is also improving the prospects of dogs being adopted.
At Trenton Thunder games, players are not the only ones trying to reach home. Between innings, one dog per game that needs a new home is shown on the field by a local shelter. On the night we recently visited, the dog on display was a six-year-old Labrador Retriever mix, named Odie.
Patience Purdy, the Thunder’s assistant ticket director, coordinates the team’s adoption program, now in its second season.
“I thought, if we can put a different adoptable dog out on the field for 71 games, and provide some exposure, that’s a good idea,” said Purdy.
Penny Branham of Animal Allies, a shelter in Pennington, New Jersey, brought Odie to the game, trying to find him a new family.
“I think it’s an excellent idea,” Branham said. “I think it’s wonderful. It gets the word out to the public about adoption. It’s one more way to let people know there are wonderful pets to be adopted.”
Promotion of the program is sponsored by Garden State Veterinary Specialists in Tinton Falls. Since the initiative started, 18 shelters and rescues have participated. After leaving the field, each dog is paraded among prospective adopters on the stadium concourse.
One man walking the concourse approached Odie and said, “He’s so beautiful,” adding that he would love to adopt Odie but is not in a position to do so.
Last year, the Thunder says 22 of 71 dogs shown were adopted, and this year they expect the same by season’s end. That makes for a .300 average, a hit in any league.
One rescue had a dog adopted the very first time they showed one at a Thunder game, and two Thunder staffers have adopted dogs brought to the stadium.
Thunder fan Robert Lewis noticed Odie when he was shown on the field, piquing his interest enough to seek the dog out on the concourse.
“When they introduced the dog and brought her out, I thought, ‘Oh, we’ve got to go visit the dog later on when we get a chance,’” Lewis said after visiting briefly with Odie.
A young boy came up to Odie, prompting Branham to tell him, “Pet him right up here, he loves that.”
Baseball fans are also quite passionate about dogs, Branham says.
“The people who are here at the game are very appreciative of seeing the animals,” she said. “They reach out, they’re very friendly. They understand what we’re doing.”
Fans interested in adopting the dogs shown at the ballpark are subject to each shelter’s adoption process. Some shelters report a rise in adoption applications after their exposure here. The Thunder draw very well, and sellouts attract about 7,000 fans.
“A lot of the dogs that have come to this program have been adopted,” Branham said. “And it’s very inspiring.”
Even if a dog fails to immediately attract a taker, the program plants the seed of adoption in fans’ minds, Purdy says.
“It’s a limited amount of time in between innings, and you want to give attention (to each dog),” she said. “But I think what happens is, you’re giving attention to adoption in general.”
While he mulled over the possibility of adopting Odie, Lewis was asked what it would be like to tell people he got his dog at a Thunder game.
“Yeah, that would be really pretty cool,” he said. “That would be something to tell all your friends, right? ‘Where’d you get your dog? Oh, a Trenton Thunder game,’” he said, laughing.
When you bring a dog on a minor league baseball field during a game, though, “accidents” are bound to happen.
“The one accident we had, there was no bag,” Purdy recalled. “So the girl walking the dog had to run into the visiting dugout and get a cup from one of the players.”
September 2, 2008
TRENTON, N.J. -- The New York Yankees’ Double-A baseball team is not only grooming prospects for the Major Leagues, it is also improving the prospects of dogs being adopted.
At Trenton Thunder games, players are not the only ones trying to reach home. Between innings, one dog per game that needs a new home is shown on the field by a local shelter. On the night we recently visited, the dog on display was a six-year-old Labrador Retriever mix, named Odie.
Patience Purdy, the Thunder’s assistant ticket director, coordinates the team’s adoption program, now in its second season.
“I thought, if we can put a different adoptable dog out on the field for 71 games, and provide some exposure, that’s a good idea,” said Purdy.
Penny Branham of Animal Allies, a shelter in Pennington, New Jersey, brought Odie to the game, trying to find him a new family.
“I think it’s an excellent idea,” Branham said. “I think it’s wonderful. It gets the word out to the public about adoption. It’s one more way to let people know there are wonderful pets to be adopted.”
Promotion of the program is sponsored by Garden State Veterinary Specialists in Tinton Falls. Since the initiative started, 18 shelters and rescues have participated. After leaving the field, each dog is paraded among prospective adopters on the stadium concourse.
One man walking the concourse approached Odie and said, “He’s so beautiful,” adding that he would love to adopt Odie but is not in a position to do so.
Last year, the Thunder says 22 of 71 dogs shown were adopted, and this year they expect the same by season’s end. That makes for a .300 average, a hit in any league.
One rescue had a dog adopted the very first time they showed one at a Thunder game, and two Thunder staffers have adopted dogs brought to the stadium.
Thunder fan Robert Lewis noticed Odie when he was shown on the field, piquing his interest enough to seek the dog out on the concourse.
“When they introduced the dog and brought her out, I thought, ‘Oh, we’ve got to go visit the dog later on when we get a chance,’” Lewis said after visiting briefly with Odie.
A young boy came up to Odie, prompting Branham to tell him, “Pet him right up here, he loves that.”
Baseball fans are also quite passionate about dogs, Branham says.
“The people who are here at the game are very appreciative of seeing the animals,” she said. “They reach out, they’re very friendly. They understand what we’re doing.”
Fans interested in adopting the dogs shown at the ballpark are subject to each shelter’s adoption process. Some shelters report a rise in adoption applications after their exposure here. The Thunder draw very well, and sellouts attract about 7,000 fans.
“A lot of the dogs that have come to this program have been adopted,” Branham said. “And it’s very inspiring.”
Even if a dog fails to immediately attract a taker, the program plants the seed of adoption in fans’ minds, Purdy says.
“It’s a limited amount of time in between innings, and you want to give attention (to each dog),” she said. “But I think what happens is, you’re giving attention to adoption in general.”
While he mulled over the possibility of adopting Odie, Lewis was asked what it would be like to tell people he got his dog at a Thunder game.
“Yeah, that would be really pretty cool,” he said. “That would be something to tell all your friends, right? ‘Where’d you get your dog? Oh, a Trenton Thunder game,’” he said, laughing.
When you bring a dog on a minor league baseball field during a game, though, “accidents” are bound to happen.
“The one accident we had, there was no bag,” Purdy recalled. “So the girl walking the dog had to run into the visiting dugout and get a cup from one of the players.”
