On Tuesday, the Sacramento County Board of Supervisors approved the first step to what can potentially become a new shelter at a site that used to be a jail.
Delyse Gannaway is making a push to transform Boys Ranch, once a juvenile detention center in Sloughhouse, into a place for dogs to receive behavior rehabilitation.
The Board of Supervisors gave the green light for Gannway’s organization, Sacramento Shelter Pets Alive, to begin the process for negotiating a lease agreement at Boys Ranch.
"It's the Disneyland for a shelter, for a rescue, for rehabbing dogs – you cannot get a better facility," Gannaway said.
Gannaway is also the Canine Rescue and Foster Assistant at Bradshaw Animal Shelter. She leads the shelter’s play groups, which she says are critical for the mental and physical well-being of the animals.
“Right now, we run play groups five days a week. At the [proposed] facility, we will be running play groups two times a day, seven days a week,” Gannaway explained.
The problem, she says, is that space is limited at Bradshaw, and not all dogs are able to get out of their kennels on play groups days.
“So many dogs who come in fearful are labeled aggressive,” Gannaway adds. “When they get out in a yard and are let loose with multiple dogs – they’re social, they’re happy, and they’re building confidence.”
Gannaway says this kind of environment is essential in providing the mental and physical stimulation that hard-to-adopt adopt dogs require.
“When people see that, instead of seeing a dog in a kennel who is growling, barking, and hitting the bars – people start to think ‘wow this can be my dog,'” Gannaway said.
At Tuesday’s meeting, Gannaway attributed play groups and other special exercises the dogs receive as a major factor in helping Sacramento County reach a 90 percent save rate.
“Although 90 percent is amazing, and I'm so proud of Bradshaw for achieving that goal, I know we can do better," she said.
The next step, according to Gannaway, is securing funds for the proposed facility.
“We would like to partner with Bradshaw Animal Shelter, so we are asking for some funding from them, and we’re also going to be looking for grants, private donations, and fundraising," she said.
She says the plan is to initially house 65 dogs at the new location, which will mainly come from Bradshaw.
“Our kennels that we're going to build are extremely expensive, and we want 65 kennels that are $2,000 a piece,” Gannaway said.
Over time, she hopes to house 150 dogs and other animals who need rehabilitation work to help them become adoptable. Gannaway says there is also a swimming pool at Boys Ranch that can be used as a therapy pool.
"The ability to just do so much in this one location is just amazing," Gannaway said.
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