Orange County animal shelters hope new rules boost pet adoptions

Orange County Animal Care has scaled back its COVID-era rules, hoping it will boost pet adoptions. 

At the height of the pandemic, the organization would only allow people to view pets online. If interested adopters wanted to meet their potential new furry friend, they had to schedule an appointment and come during visiting hours. However, these arrangements would be limiting, according to some owners. 

"We had to make an appointment. We could only see one animal at a time and it was a little bit more limited," pet owner Deanne Peterson said. "So, if it didn't work out ... We had to make another appointment and come back later."

Despite the old procedures, spokesperson Alexa Pratt said it resulted in more adoptions.

"Appointments were needed because they found that it lessened the stress on the animals, and as a result of our pilot programs, we say that people who actually made an appointment or walked in for that one-on-one appointment actually resulted in way more adoptions than people just browsing the kennels," Pratt said. 

Although the appointments seemed to be working, on Wednesday afternoon, the shelter in Tustin launched a 7-day program allowing prospective pet owners to browse the kennel areas without any appointments.  Animal advocates including Mona Ueda and Elly Kyle said people need to be able to get up close and personal with the animals. 

"You want to meet the dog, let's go out and go into the yard and meet the dog — and see if it's a good fit," Ueda said. "We feel like that's a better way to make a good fit with a dog than looking at a picture on the computer." 

Ueda added that the new method would help owners see more than one or two dogs a day. 

The kennels at the Tustin center are open daily between 2 and 5 p.m.