Rent-a-Puppy raises funds for shelter

Students exchanged $5 and their IDs for 30 minutes with puppies Thursday afternoon.

The Lutheran Campus Ministry at IU partnered with the Bloomington Animal Shelter for the third annual Rent-A-Puppy event and had over 150 students attend, said Maureen Savage, event coordinator with LCM.

“My first year here we were trying to come up with fun ideas for a fundraiser,” Savage said. “This was an event that we did at my undergrad at Western Michigan University. (LCM Minister) Jeff (Schacht) loved the idea, and we’ve been doing it for the past three years, and it’s been going strong ever since.”

The money raised during the day is split between LCM and the shelter, Savage said.

“The first year we made somewhere near $1,500,” LCM Diaconal Minister Jeff Schacht said. “Then last year we made around $1,200, and this year we hope to stay north of $1,000.”

Rent-A-Puppy is a fundraiser, but it serves other purposes as well. The event helps students relieve stress and gives the dogs a chance to socialize and leave the shelter.

“We purposely plan it during dead week so people can come and relax before finals,” Savage said. “Everyone’s super stressed and papers and projects are piling up. It’s especially for folks who have dogs at home they are missing. It helps them get a puppy fix and relax before the final plunge.”

Aside from the funds raised, which help with supplies and medical expenses for the shelter, the time outdoors is what the shelter sees as most valuable, said Emily Herr, Bloomington Animal Shelter outreach coordinator.

“The main goal is to get exposure for the shelter and to have dogs experience one-on-one time with people,” Herr said. “They don’t get this on a day-to-day basis, and that interaction is really important for their health.”

This year, the event consisted of 15 dogs, but the shelter currently has over 40 dogs and around 27 of them are available to adopt, Herr said. She said she hopes the event can expand in the future and attract more students so more dogs can come get time with students.

Because the event has been so popular, LCM added a Puppy Kissing Booth for people who may not have a full 30 minutes to play with a puppy.

For just $1, the event had a designated dog for buyers to pet and hang out with for 1-5 minutes, Savage said.

Savage said she hopes the day brings more people to adopt dogs but rarely sees this happen.

“It would be a nice goal to find forever homes for the pups but with students going home it can be rough,” Savage said. “There was someone who posted on our Facebook event who said this is where they found their dog, though.”

Herr also said the shelter doesn’t see a spike in adoptions because of Rent-A-Puppy, but she does think it benefits adoptions another way.

“I think, all in all, it makes the dogs more adoptable,” Herr said. “Just having time away from the shelter and being more socialized with humans and other dogs helps them. They might not get adopted after this, but it might be a factor in them getting adopted later.”

Both Alex Howe and Mindee Kelly rented their puppies because they have dogs back home in Middlebury, Ind., and find it hard to be away from them. The two said they were satisfied with the puppy-renting experience.

“I mean it could be more contained maybe, but other than that it’s pretty hard to go wrong with renting a puppy for 30 minutes,” Howe said.

The event didn’t convince the two to adopt a dog because they have already decided to buy one when they live off campus next year.

Howe isn’t adopting from the shelter because they didn’t have the breed she wanted but she said she fell in love with Jupiter, the pitbull/shepherd mix puppy she rented yesterday.

“If I could I would take this one right now,” Kelly said. “I don’t really need my ID back, right?”

The time and money was well worth the cost, Kelly said.

“Everyone is going to buy Starbucks, so screw Starbucks and go rent a dog,” Kelly said. “It’s a lot more destressing than a coffee.”

Howe said she hopes students will take the time to participate to benefit the dogs.

“It’s good company for the dogs and exercise, too,” Howe said. “If nothing else, do it for the dogs.”