The Dog’s Homes of Tasmania (DHoT), Hobart in Risdon Vale, will be making their Christmas donation appeal soon and putting out a call for more foster carers.
There are approximately 64 foster carers associated with the Risdon Vale facility, but that is not enough to keep all the dogs out of a shelter environment. Some dogs are very young or old and require significant care that not all the carers can provide.
Others may have behavioural issues that need particular kinds of care or environments for them to learn how to be pets.
Dogs like Red the kelpie need room to run. As a working breed, his need for exercise and enrichment is high so he wouldn’t be happy in an apartment or with a small yard.
DHoT Marketing and Development Manager Alexandra Bray said there were a lot of
misconceptions about the dog’s home.
“A lot of people think that we receive government funding, but we don’t,” she said.
“We have a few small revenue streams, adoption fees and fees for service from our council partners, but we rely heavily on the support of the Tasmanian public.”
The home is 74 years old and began with a single woman, Joan Rawson of Hobart, who was moved by the number of stray dogs on the street regularly being run over. Joan started the dog’s home on residential land in South Hobart with whatever materials and donations she and her friends could pull together.
Now there are four dog homes across Tasmania that are purpose-built to care for Tasmania’s lost dogs.
“Shelter environments are really difficult for a lot of dogs,” Alexandra said.
“We would like to move to a more foster-based care system where the dogs are in the shelter for as short a period of time as possible.”
