Life With Dogs: Kids Write Touching Stories From Shelter Dogs’ Perspective To Help Them Get Adopted

An elementary school teacher came up with an incredible idea to help the adoptable animals at Richmond Animal Care & Control (RACC). With the help of her students and the shelter director, the adorable plan was set into motion!

Mrs. Jones at St. Michael’s Episcopal School volunteers with the team at RACC. After getting to know the many dogs and cats that need forever homes, she spoke with the shelter director about how she could help.

kids-write-stories-for-shelter-dogs-photo — Facebook

After some brainstorming, the two came up with an idea to enlist the help of the teacher’s creative second graders. The plan involved assigning each student an adoptable pet and having them write a heartwarming story from the dog’s point of view. If all went to plan, this would help the furry friends find potential adopters.

“The class was working on persuasive writing, and they wrote pieces as if they were speaking on behalf of the shelter dog trying to get adopted. I said, ‘That’s the coolest idea…let’s do it.’” – Christie Peters, RACC director

RACC Director Christie Peters stopped by the school with one of the many adoptable pups that needed a home. She shared the stories of each adoptable animal and allowed the students to get started on their persuasive story writing. The results were even more impressive than anyone could have imagined!

“On Monday, our Director visited the class with an adoptable pup (Snow-the cutest puppy ever!) in an effort to inspire the students to write a persuasive story from the perspective of a shelter pet waiting to be adopted,” RACC wrote in a Facebook post. “The result?!? INCREDIBLE!!! Heartwarming stories and beautiful illustrations now adorn our dog kennels and the writing is VERY persuasive!”

The students created 24 beautiful stories and drawings for the individual pups, as well as one cat. Their projects would soon be posted to each adoptable animal’s run at the shelter, hoping to persuade potential adopters as they walked through.

The shelter shared a few of these drawings on their Facebook page and told their followers to stop by and view the stories themselves. The result? 21 of the 24 animals written about have been adopted!

“It’s such a creative way that we partnered with this school to bring awareness and I hope it’s something other shelters in the country will do to market their shelter animals.” – Mrs. Jones, teacher

Mrs. Jones says that as each animal got adopted, the students cheered with joy at the thought of their words playing such a huge role. We love to see these creative efforts that make such a huge difference, and we hope shelters around the country can become inspired!