[*** UPDATE Nov. 22. At atThursday. Nov. 21 work session of the Guilford County Board of Commissioners, Animal Services Director Jorge Ortega told the board that, though the employee who has been running the program will not be retained, the shelter will continue to keep the program up and running, though some shelter volunteers questioned if it could be conducted on the same scale it has been without the parttime county employee who has been running it.]
The Dog’s Day Out program at the Guilford County Animal Shelter, which is being suspended due to a lack of sufficient staffing and funding, was a wonderful program that helped give the dogs at the shelter a day of peace and sanity. It got the animals out of their cages for a day and enabled them to receive a lot of love and attention that it’s impossible for overworked shelter employees to provide in a loud and overcrowded facility.
The program allows the dogs to be taken out of that hectic environment, where the animals are overwhelmed by incessant barking, confined in tight spaces and receive very little human attention.
Dog’s Day Out has been helping reduce instances of euthanasia because animals that come into the shelter as adoptable often become emotionally destroyed after being there too long – making them unadoptable and a candidate for euthanasia.
Euthanasia is something shelter workers currently have to do now more than would be the case if the shelter had the resources it needs to care in the way they should for the dogs and cats and other animals held there.
The Dog’s Day Out program began about the same time Guilford County government took over the animal shelter, which was nearly a decade ago. The program started out small – with just a couple of people taking available dogs out of the old shelter on Wendover Avenue each weekend to give the dogs a break from their kennels and their chaotic and unpleasant surroundings.
Since then, the program has grown significantly, and, in June of 2023, a caring shelter volunteer was officially hired as a part-time shelter employee because of all the work she was doing to grow and systematize the program. That was done as a strategy to promote interest in adoptions of shelter dogs throughout the entire community – while also helping alleviate kennel stress for dogs that were waiting to be adopted.
In the course of a year, the volunteer grew the program from fewer than 10 people on the Dog’s Day Out volunteer roster to over 100 volunteers, with 70 to 80 Good Samaritans regularly taking dogs out for the day and sometimes for an entire weekend.
Most of the program’s volunteers aren’t part of the regular group of dog volunteers who visit the dogs in their shelter kennels. Instead, they are an additional, large group of animal lovers who’ve been, for free, fulfilling a vital need for the Guilford County animal shelter without spending time at the shelter. In the past year, more than 1,000 dogs – about 15 to 20 percent of the dogs who enter the shelter annually – have benefited from the program.
But the program is now being suspended.
The part-time employee who has been running the program has been working between 20 and 25 hours a week. She sifts through applications, organizes orientation meetings for new program volunteers, evaluates the dogs for eligibility in the program, schedules for them to be taken off the property, and trains volunteers to become Dog’s Day Out walkers.
She also sends out detailed descriptions of the dogs and their temperament to Dog’s Day Out volunteers, who use the information to plan their days out accordingly. It may be either a quiet day for the dog or a strenuous hike – depending on the dog’s personality and the animal’s current needs.
Finally, after the dogs are returned, volunteers are asked to send in pictures and bios to the part-time employee, who then updates the dogs’ profiles on the shelter site and curates a dedicated Dog’s Day Out Facebook page, a social media page that has many members and fans and one that contains all the current information and photos of the dogs.
As a result of all of the woman’s efforts over the years, dogs are getting adopted faster. Dog’s Day Out volunteers meet people on their adventures and introduce the dogs to others in a real-world environment, making potential adopters more likely to consider adopting that particular animal.
Some of the adopters are people who would never have considered going to the shelter.
In September 2024, the part-time county employee got an email from the Guilford County Human Resources Department that informed her that her position had been changed to a “seasonal” one and that it would end in December 2024.
That is, Guilford County government cannot find the funds to keep an immensely valuable part-time employee who brings the shelter an army of free workers, keeps the dogs in the program out of cages, increases adoptions, reduces euthanasia, and helps preserve the dogs’ mental health.
This cut of a part-time position at an already woefully understaffed shelter comes following three years of Guilford County’s government raising pay greatly for every full-time county employee – from highly paid directors on down – while simultaneously tremendously improving their benefits packages and restoring benefits that were cut during the financial crisis.
This is the same county that managed to find $300,000 for a Minority and Women Business Enterprise (MWBE) Study to tell them something they already knew – that the county wasn’t doing well when it came to the use of minority businesses. It’s also the same county government that in recent years added several public relations positions and tripled the size of the MWBE Department in one night.
And it’s the same county government that, year after year, manages to find hundreds of thousands of dollars to give to a seemingly random and very long list of non-profits like school booster clubs – many of which are absolutely only included on the list because they are run by the friend of a county commissioner.
In the last several years, Guilford County has also agreed to take on $2 billion in school debt for school capital projects.
In the county leaders’ defense, after spending like that year after year, it is understandable why the county doesn’t have any money left over to pay a 25-hour-a-week employee with no benefits package, one who attracts an army of shelter supporters at no charge.
The county doesn’t have the money despite getting, from the 2022 property revaluation, the biggest annual property tax revenue increase in the history of the county.
Due to the vast responsibilities and time commitment of running Dog’s Day Out, how big the program has become, how understaffed the shelter currently is, and the fact that the program is not included in anybody else’s job description, there’s no other staff member who has the capacity to take on the position.
If the position is eliminated, the Dog’s Day Out program will become defunct because there is no other staff person with the bandwidth, experience, and time to take it over.
One animal lover who volunteers at the shelter told the Rhino Times that ending the Dog’s Day Out program, in addition to preventing the shelter from providing donated food and other pet items to the needy public, “will effectively bring an end to two of the largest community outreach and engagement programs of Guilford County Animal Services.”
Shame on you Guilford County yet you managed to find money for the Sheriff’s Dept for new uniforms that they don’t need. So glad I no longer live in Guilford.
Shame on US for repeatedly voting ️ these morons in. Maybe ”THEY” should be euthanized.
Great article..Let us hope some sanity returns!! I say we cut ALL Salaries so we have the dollars for this program…
Disgusting article but true. Can hire DEI out the wazoo and give away thousands as described in the article. You voted in these scum bags. I know the DEI hires aren’t worth it and neither are the commissioners.
I was so sorry to read this article. You are absolutely correct in that the commissioners allocate hundreds of dollars, of OUR money, to their pet projects but ignore public safety (money to replace and/or purchase new ambulances, cutting fire department budgets) and pull the plug on this wonderful program. But, those same folks continue to get elected and put in office. Shame on them!
Has anyone spoken at their meeting? Was this position offered up by the department head and approved by the Co. mgr weighing against the needs this County has concerning all the unwanted or homeless dogs? Maybe the County needs to rethink some of the new spending and take care of existing needs instead of killing them.
I would like to comment about the subject of the article. The Dogs Day Out program is such a positive program. Not only are the dogs given special attention they deserve, their human “dates” receive a wonderful reward in return. They experience the joy of giving a good day to a dog who may not have had many. It is such a small thing to give, but the gift is immense. The people participating the program have developed an exceptional network of care and interactions with the dogs and amongst themselves. I hope a way can be found to keep this wonderful program alive.
invest all that time n $$ in local children who will then take better care of all animals – eliminating the need for ‘shelters’ (dumps).
It is called priorities. The main priority we should have is getting these self serving hypocrites out of office. These people don’t care about the needy animals or people of guilford county.
Those hypocrites are going nowhere if we have districts. Those hypocrites campaign in one district. The chances are slim that the hypocrite will lose. There should be at least four (4) at-large seats and five enlarged districts. Now Kay Cashion is a commissioner elected at-large. Her term ends in 2026. If she runs, vote her out. She votes in tandem with Skip Alston. She also believes in higher taxes, and throwing money at failing county schools, as if more money would fix the failing schools.
Thank you Rhino Times for bringing this information to the public. The Dogs Day Out team greatly appreciates your support. The team is devastated that the county is unable to fund one part time position that then generates hundred and hundreds of volunteer hours. All the volunteers want is to help and this program was saving lives! Please continue to keep this in the news.
That’s why they have a full time Volunteer Coordinator! How many Coordinators does it take to run volunteers? They have a FT Rescue Coordinator, a FT Foster Coordinator AND a FT Volunteer Coordinator … good grief! And layers of MANAGERS and VOLUNTEERS!!! Paid for by Guilford County Taxpayers!!! In the past they reported close to 10,000 volunteer hours in a year … coordinated by one job. Now they have 3 Coordinators and they can’t manage an existing program with more resources!!! If you pay attention to their programs over the years … this is a spin on a non-issue! It’s so easy to have empathy for the animals but that in no way gives this taxpayer funded organization an open check! And let’s not forget the county just got their budget allocated in July … it’s only November … I work too hard for my money to let an emotional group of animal lovers grab those tax dollars for a DDO program that has operated for years under existing staff. And local news outlets just reported the commissioners threw an additional $100,000 at the shelter today! All while the IRC struggles to help our homeless population of people.
I would suggest you spend a day in the shelter to see how the staff have to managed 600+ animals in their care. Not to mention picking up the slack when there were 20+ part time positions and now they are down to 6 due to budget allocations. Have you considered the cost of animal care, what it takes to find rescues willing to take in animals when they are just as full? What about coordinating volunteers on a daily basis for all aspects of the shelter. Maybe you could also offer to be a foster so that one dog can open a kennel for the next one waiting. Your comments are ignorant and misguided and you should be ashamed. Do your homework or go volunteer.
Ashley … I am a shelter volunteer! I would suggest you new volunteers need some years under your belt to be able to see this more clearly. And stop pushing your own agenda at the cost to hard working class tax payers!! Maybe you can foot the bill for this position.
It’s like running the NC zoo you need the funds and the staff to take care of all those animals 24hrs a day. And the volunteers are not experienced or licensed to do so. You need people on the bottom. The admins are doing what they are supposed to do coordinate. This comment was not nice at all. Until you have came and did a day at the shelter and walked in their shoes, then you can’t say anything. It takes more than $100,000 to care for livestock.
Not Happy … you and Ashley assume the comments you disagree with are not from volunteers and even staff! I’m not sure how long you two have been volunteering … I’m going to assume not long! Less than a year maybe?
The NC Zoo isn’t funded off the backs of Guilford County taxpayers. It receives most of its funds to operate from the State and a private NFP with much oversight!!! If you want to open your wallet to the shelter to fund this position I’m sure they would accept your donation.
If you folks want to hand the shelter a blank check … go right ahead!!!! This is NOT a new problem … the shelter has run with these part-time positions running out their hours for years … SAME SONG … new dance!!!
You should contact your county commissioners and request they increase your and Ashley’s taxes to help the shelter out … or you come together and mail them a blank check!
The Democrats on the Guilford County Board of Commissioners enjoy spending taxpayer money for a program, Minority and Women Business Enterprise (MWBE), that is unconstitutional because it is designed to discriminate against White males. White voters with sons in Guilford County must have no problem voting for a Democrat knowing full well that their sons may one day be discriminated against because of the color of their skin. MWBE should be eliminated at the local and state level. Where are the contractors willing to sue Guilford County or the state for discrimination?
Taxpayer money should not be given to nonprofits, period. Skip Alston has his favored nonprofits and works behind the scenes to see they receive taxpayer money. Yet, the Commissioners continue to elect him as chairman.
The school debt is a collaboration between Skip Alston, Kay Cashion, and Deena Hayes-Greene. They are typical Democrats who believe that all problems can be solved with higher taxes. Maybe the neutering or elimination of the federal Department of Education, will have a positive impact on local schools.
This is just asinine that such a positive program with win wins all the way around is being eliminated due to non sufficient funds. Why was this expense not considered when budget allocation was being performed? I have so many comments but considering how angry I am right now,I feel it prudent to not post as I may regret later. My last word is please contact county commissioners to discuss your feelings about this illogical decision. I have not heard any fat ladies singing so I’m getting on the tele today to call commissioners to express how this should be reversed. If it’s not broken don’t mess with it!
It’s disheartening to see that, regardless of their political affiliations, our county commissioners seem to prioritize their own interests over those of the community they are meant to serve. The same individuals continue to be elected, despite the evident misalignment of priorities. The Guilford County Animal Shelter stands out as one of the least effectively managed facilities in the state. I can speak to this firsthand, as I attempted to rally a group to donate essential items and volunteer our time. Unfortunately, we were misinformed, and when we arrived, there was no one available to assist us due to a lack of communication from the director. It truly saddens me to witness a focus on personal gain rather than the welfare of the animals in need. It’s a real disappointment. A damn shame!
Yes I agree with Tiredofthisbs!!! And they want more money to fund a part-time position that has historically been run under an already funded full time position and volunteers. And then folks come after the county commissioners for oversight only to have them crumble under pressure and just shove $100, 000 back to the shelter. And didn’t they just get a new budget in July and we are already giving them more funds because of a very misleading article probably written by the person that doesn’t want to lose their newly created part-time job.
They are giving money to Families Against senseless Killings. $20k to be exact. I looked them up and I cannot find any record with the NC Secretary of State. Is there no vetting process? They are just giving away money. Skip Alston’s brother is a registered agent for at least one and sits on the board of another. This is a complete conflict of interest. There should be a committed that vetted these non-profits first. Some of these places are doing the same thing and should be encouraged to collaborate. Does Greensboro or Guilford County have a non-profit network or board that work with agencies when they are forming?
So happy that you are investigating. Well done. Hold people in power to account.
These animals are voiceless and depend on humans to help them and save them from death. We all should be doing more to provide for and save these dogs and cats. They are there through no fault of their own. Our local politicians should do all in their power to assist not just put more constraints on the Animal Shelter. They should visit the Animal Shelter, talk to the employees to see first hand what is/was working and what’s not. The goal should be to save as many animals as possible through adoptions and helping families stay together.
What state and city is this program being stopped? This sounds like the “old boys club”.
Vote th Dems out . You people in this city, please put this organization TOP priority. Certainly there citizens that could help. Think of these poor animals
Perhaps if the shelter, volunteers and the Rhino Times referred to the killing of healthy companion animals as the MURDER that it actually is, the public could understand better. The definition of “euthanasia” from Oxford Languages is “the painless killing of a patient suffering from an incurable and painful disease or in an irreversible coma”. If you cannot begin by at least using proper terminology, you can forget getting your point across adequately.
The Guilford County Animal Shelter MURDERS thousands of healthy companion animals every single year with tax payer money, and pays the shelter director roughly $150,000 annually for such decisions as the one mentioned in this story. Then everyone wonders why a veterinarian wouldn’t want to work there. It’s not rocket science.
are patrons charged a fee to drop-off (discard) animals ?
So many dogs (and humans) greatly benefitted from Guilford County Animal Services’ #dogsdayout program.
Not only did this help the dogs’ wellbeing, but also helped over 100 passionate volunteers in the Greensboro community who selflessly gave their time to make a dog’s day! For FREE. As a volunteer, this is an invaluable service each volunteer provides out of the goodness of their heart. Not only to benefit the animals, but also to help the dedicated staff members, and even to help themselves gain a bit of empathy for those who cannot help themselves.
One volunteer even mentioned how this program “put passion back into their life,” which also echoes the feelings of so many others.
Unfortunately, the dogs cannot speak for themselves but know that the decision of the Guilford County Government to suspend this program and use funds elsewhere will be detrimental to the dogs’ well-being, cause additional stress on shelter employees who are already caring for stressed dogs, and ultimately reduce adoption rates thereby increasing euthanasia. In a nutshell, more stress, anxiety, and death for those animals who are there through no fault of their own.
The employees and volunteers at the shelter are very saddened by this news and are working towards solutions in the meantime.
You can become a volunteer to make a difference in the lives of homeless pets and give back to our friends who desperately need it. https://www.guilfordcountync.gov/…/animal…/volunteers
Please stop spreading misinformation on things you know absolutely nothing about.
This is horrible that the county cannot continue to pay a part time employee that does so much wonderful work for all the people as well as all of the furr-babies that are not able to comment.
County – Please continue to keep this employee – give her a raise – maybe even hire her on to Full Time! She is a great benefit to the county and volunteers and to all the wonderful animals.
These stats are misleading. This VERY long standing Dogs Day Out program was always successfully run by volunteers and the shelter’s full time Volunteer Coordinator. The program recently moved under the Foster Coordinator … maybe it should go back to the way it was run without additional staff and handled by the Volunteer Coordinator which is a full-time position. In the past … the full time Volunteer Coordinator used to do a lot of community outreach work that’s no longer done … why can’t that full time position take the program back? Most shelter’s have a DDO program run by volunteers … that’s pretty standard stuff for a shelter. Everyone is in panic mode … but these are the same problems all shelter’s have always faced … nothing new here folks … just a different spin wanting to add a staff position for a long standing volunteer run program instead of utilizing existing resources and volunteers.
With a full time well paid Director’s position and two NEWLY added well paid Assistant Director Positions, a full time Rescue Coordinator which used to be run more effectively by a part-time person and a full time Foster Coordinator … new full time positions … no one is asking why so much management is needed or pointing out these very well paid added full time Assistant Director’s positions!!! And no one questions these stats. This article is not accurate. This is more propaganda than accurate information!
Definitely a hot button issue. Please remind your Guilford County friends and neighbors that voted for this clown show that they voted for this.
Dogs are a gift from God, as salve for our souls, to give us succour and support and love when we need it most.
And in return, humans treat them like dirt. Many humans, anyway.
“The more I know people, the more I like dogs”
Please remember this is not a witch hunt on the shelter. It is a plea for greater funding. GCAS needs more staff both full and part time. The shelter employees and volunteers are working tirelessly to help these animals. Jorge and the team are positively affecting the shelter every day. The shelter is an incredible service to the community and to the animals. This service requires more funds and more full time and part time (or seasonal) roles. Though there were no budget cuts—there is still need for more money moving forward. The county commissioners need to revisit the budget and I will be speaking to them at every chance I get during their meetings—I implore the community to email, and communicate with your district commissioner if you want to see change. The goal is to fight for more funds moving forward and get the roles needed for a successful shelter.
The program isn’t being cut but it is DRASTICALLY cut back and only specific volunteers will be allowed to continue until they have a supporting role again. Without this role the DDO program and the dogs will suffer.
Please don’t spread misinformation. The shelter is an amazing place that saves so many thousands of animals every year.
Thank you for volunteering. I couldn’t do it, if only because I can’t deal with the pitiful situation these helpless animals find themselves in.
It makes me so sad.
Hate to warn everyone, but this is typical of politics. . . .putting forward a proposal to scale back a good program, when in fact, they use that to get more funds for the program . . .it’s called politics. What they wanted was to get the citizens riled up to do something. . .and by the letters. . .it succeeded. See how this works?
This article spreads misinformation! It would be interesting to find where this article’s information is coming from. Can we get an author for this article? It was ‘posted’ by Scott Yost but where is this information coming from? Being accountable for taxpayer funds is not a “witch hunt’! Not agreeing with excessive spending and asking for accountability is what we expect from our elected officials. PLEASE REMEMBER…15 million dollars PLUS of hard earned taxpayer’s money built that facility. Taxpayers also fund all those high paid shelter management positions while employees make scrap for pay! Look at the budget people!!! It is our elected officials responsibility to be stewards of our hard earned tax dollars! Our community has declining school buildings … we need teachers … and homeless people to consider too. I don’t see 15 million dollars of taxpayer funds being spent to build a homeless shelter for people and their families. Adding a taxpayer funded dogs day out employee while cutting funding for our homeless people is outrageous! Cutting that program is propaganda! And recently pushing $100,000 of taxpayer money to a program that has been successfully run by volunteers for over 10 years is nuts! That program has been run for YEARS by volunteers and others shelters run similar programs without taxpayers funding them! Our shelter pays for a full-time volunteer coordinator… why was that DDO program taken from an already funded position just to add another paid position? Burlington and Forsyth Shelters … and most shelters … have excellent DDO Programs that don’t require a paid position specifically for their programs! Programs shouldn’t be being cut that have typically been run by volunteers. Why do we need another taxpayer paid position. NOW I really want to dig into that shelter’s budget to see exactly what’s going on and where my hard earned money is actually being spent! And … from another Rhino article about donations … all not-for-profits have to account for donations … WHY is that an issue … has the shelter not accounted for hundreds and thousands of dollars of the public’s donations in the past years? How were donations being accounted for? So while this propaganda distracts us because of our passion for animals … let’s just look at who wrote this article AND those euthanasia stats that have been climbing for years and ask ourselves … are we spending taxpayer funds on our homeless animals or high paid management positions and newly unnessary created positions? $15 million dollars and euthanasia numbers are up … if asking for money for programs … show us the goods … not just putting unaccounted for non-authored information on paper or from interviews with volunteers who have an emotional connection with little understanding of a municipal shelters REAL BUDGET!! We are taking about tax dollars here!
Hey Bob S…get your commissioners to stop inviting the homeless to Guilford County. Same for Greensboro city council.
Riddle me this…we can give handouts to Commissioners pet projects, aka non-profits, to the tune of $1.7 million dollars, but can’t allocate OUR money for ONE PART-TIME county employee that is doing an incredible job.
Oh, that’s right, no Commissioner can get any rake-off, financial or political, from this PUBLIC service. The Sheriff can get $500,000 dollars for unneeded replacement uniforms but they can’t find money for this program. Schools can have a $2 billion dollar slush fund but nothing for Man’s Best Friend.
I bet if Skippy and his minions could figure out a way to get something out of this money would be getting thrown at it.
Can we ask who authored this article? It was posted by Scott Yost, but who actually wrote it or provided the ‘facts’ … and were these ‘facts’ verified? Who was interviewed for this article? It seems inaccurate and like some other agenda may be hidden here. For us Animal Shelter ‘followers’ … this Dogs Day Out Program is not a new program and has seemingly always been a priority for the shelter. They publicly reported on its success over the years to the Animal Advisory Board. And according to the shelter’s social media post … for years DDO ran with an average of 40 dogs a month getting off campus through the program. That is … if the shelter was reporting accurate data all along. It has changed but not exactly ‘grown’ as in an excessive growth requiring an added part time staff position. Maybe get more accurate data before coming after the County Commissioners with pitch forks! They are trying to be good stewards of our hard earned tax dollars. Hold on to your hats folks and get the facts!
The $300,000 study (every 3 years I think) allows the County to write their own rules and regulations for MWBE participation instead of following the State of NC policies. I guess that gives the bloated MWBE Dept. something to do by harassing non minorities trying to do business with Guilford County.
Let me get this straight. In a few short years the shelter has added a Full Time Rescue Coordinator, added a Full Time Foster Coordinator, already had a Full Time Volunteer Coordinator, has an Executive Director and two Assistant Directors and NOW we are adding a Part Time position for a long standing program that has run successfully for years under the Volunteer Coordinator and volunteers … according to the shelter’s reports to the Advisory Board. And what happened to the Guilford College Dog Walking Program that didn’t need a taxpayer funded position to run. Where did that program go. The shelter used to talk about that program all the time! Let’s just open our wallets and let them take what they want! All while euthanasia numbers are climbing up and the animals are housed in a 15 million dollar building paid for by tax dollars! And let’s just deliver another $100,000 of taxpayer money to their budget that was just approved in July … it’s only November. And we learned they haven’t been accounting for donations until recently and that has overworked staff!!! Who has been accountable for donations up to this point? What a sloppy mess of mismanaged resources!!! It’s unbelievable more tax dollars are bleeding into a system that is euthanizing more animals than previous years with little to no accountability. I agree with others in this post… this is just propaganda to push another agenda and for some reason an effort to keep an newly added … obviously not needed before now … part time position.
Judy, Judy, Judy…you are speaking truth and common sense. You are pointing g out the hypocrisy of the Guilford County Board of Commissar…I mean Commissioners. What I’m not seeing is the Republican(?) members of this ruling body, supposedly working, speaking (silence), fighting (stop, or I’ll say stop again) for their constituents. Where are their voices? Why are they not letting people know where they stand on these issues.
Rhino, how about publishing the vote totals made by the whole Board, by name, on these issues, good and bad. Inform the voters! Do some reporting! It’s called holding their feet to the fire!
We had such an opportunity to change the board this past election. What a shame that opportunity was missed. Let’s remember this in 2 years when some seats come up for re-election in 2026. Also remember, they will be doing another property revaluation and it is almost certain our taxes will go up again. I’d still like to know where the $92million they got from us in 2022 went. We will all continue to pay for their decisions and lack of accountability.