The Tallahassee/Leon County Animal Service Center was holding a special dog adoption event called "Clear the Patch" over the weekend. Adoption fees were waived and every dog that was adopted came with a free Halloween pumpkin.
Volunteer Shannon Smith said the idea was to reduce the shelter population before a nearly $4-million upgrade gets underway.
"There is a major rebuild and it's going to be a great thing. But in the meantime there will be a lot of construction and disruption. So it's a matter of trying to make sure we have room for the dogs that are coming in. We've been a very full shelter for quite some time."
The shelter renovation, funded by Blueprint, will include a new dog kennel area, medical unit and other improvements.
Meanwhile, the Leon County Humane Society was holding its own dog adoption event at the same time a few miles north at the Proctor Subaru dealership on Capital Circle. The local society hit the worldwide headlines a few weeks ago. That's when a dog, found by the Florida Highway Patrol chained to a fence along Interstate 75 during Hurricane Milton, arrived. Humane Society Director Lisa Glunt said the dog, which they appropriately named "Trooper," is now in foster care.
"We love that he came to us and has had so much support from all over the world. We've had people reaching out from Japan just to find out how he's doing. All over the place! But we don't want people to lose sight of the fact that there are 3,000,000 dogs in shelters and rescues right now that need good homes and also have stories."
Dozens of those dogs were attracting attention from prospective pup parents who dropped by the event on Saturday.
