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By Jack Beresford
Senior Reporter
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A rescue dog has clocked up over 737 days at an animal shelter and staff still don't know why no one has come forward to give him a loving home.
Tam Singer, who is the CEO of Great Plains SPCA in Kansas said that 3-year-old Tom's long wait to find a new forever home has left staff at the shelter baffled. "Tom being available as long as he has really makes no sense to us," she told Newsweek. "He is a brilliant dog."
Tom arrived at Great Plains SPCA having spent "several months" in another Kansas shelter. Since his arrival, he has struggled to drum up much in the way of interest from visitors. "He has only had one family interested in the whole time he has been with us and that ended up not being a fit," Singer said.
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It can sometimes be difficult for shelter dogs to catch the eye of a visitor, given the limited window of time they have to make an impression. A 2014 study published in Applied Animal Behavior Science found that the average shelter visitor interacts with just one dog every time they visit and that these interactions last just eight minutes.
It's been a struggle for Tom, who has now spent just over two years of his life living in a shelter, but Singer is adamant that he has all the attributes to make a great rescue dog for the right owner.
"He loves hugs and can never get enough of them," she said. "He is fully house-trained, crate-trained, does excellent in cars, going to the drive-through, great on walks. He has been around kids and does well with female dogs his size."
Though Tom has benefited from spending time out of the shelter with a foster carer and will be with one over Christmas, the lack of adoption interest has been a source of frustration for those who know and love him for the kind canine he is.
"He is a brilliant dog and incredibly tolerant dog—his foster mom constantly dresses him up in different costumes," Singer said. "I think he is a victim of the national pet overpopulation crisis, where he is one of so many dogs needing a home."
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Sadly, there is much truth in Singer's assessment. Each year, 6.3 million pets enter U.S. shelters, which is an average of 17,260 a day, according to the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. The number of dogs and cats taken in by pet shelters hit 46,807 during January 2023, an increase of 1,744 compared with January 2022, the 24Pet "Shelter Watch Report" found.
Singer and the staff at Great Plains SPCA remain hopeful that the new year will bring more visitors and more opportunities for Tom to find a home and they know exactly what kind of home would suit him best.
"He needs to be in a home where everyone is a dog lover, he is very perceptive," Singer said. "He needs a fenced yard but it doesn't have to be a privacy fence, kids and female dog his size would work well."
Do you have funny and adorable videos or pictures of your pet you want to share? Send them to life@newsweek.com with some details about your best friend, and they could appear in our Pet of the Week lineup.
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