Honey spent most of her days in a kennel at the Humane Society of North Central Florida. But on Oct. 30, the 9-month-old puppy got a break from shelter life, spending the day lounging on a couch with two University of Florida students.
She was adopted less than 24 hours later.
With the help of the shelter’s Doggie Day Out program, Honey, and the shelter’s more than 40 other dogs, get a break from their kennels several days a week, lifting spirits and adoption rates.
Now, the program is more popular than ever, with anywhere between three and five volunteers showing up every day to give a shelter dog a day out on the town. Franziska Raeber, the shelter’s development director, attributed the increasing popularity to some recent changes to the application process.
Taking a dog out for the day used to entail a long training process that deterred a lot of people from participating, according to Raeber.
The shelter has since cut down the application to a short form, which is usually approved within 24 hours, a change Raeber said has increased participation in the program dramatically, especially from UF students.
“They often don’t have space in their apartments, but they do miss their dogs from home, so this is a moment where they can get their dog fix,” she said.
Approved participants can just show up to pick up a dog Monday through Saturday if there are any dogs left to be taken out, which Raeber said is becoming more common as the program grows in popularity. The shelter ran out of available dogs and had to turn volunteers away Friday because so many people showed up to participate in the program.
This year, the humane society has had more than 700 Doggie Days Out, she said.
“We depend on our community,” she said. “We’re so grateful to live in such an engaging community that loves our dogs and cats.”
The best stories are the Doggie Days Out that turn into foster or adoption stories, Raeber added.
“We’ve noticed that somebody that actually comes for a Doggie Day Out will say ‘Can I keep him over the weekend?’” she said. “Then it becomes a foster story, and in some cases even an adoption story.”
Even when an outing doesn't lead to a foster or adoption, the program can help dogs become more comfortable outside the shelter and give staff valuable information about their personalities.
If a Doggie Day Out volunteer tells the shelter a dog loves car rides or is really good with kids, it can then add that information to the dog’s profile, helping them find the perfect family.
Adoption stories are especially exciting as the shelter becomes more and more crowded. In mid-October the humane society was far over capacity despite the more than 1,000 adoptions in 2026.
Even if adoption doesn’t happen, the dog is still getting time outside the kennel, which has major mental health benefits.
“Kennels are small, that’s just reality,” Raeber said. “It’s just frustrating to be in a kennel, so any time out of the kennel is just good for their mental health, and they love doing it.”
The shelter uses special harnesses with a tag saying the dog is on a Doggie Day Out, and when the dogs see a volunteer bring out one of the harnesses, they all start getting excited, she said.
For volunteers, it’s very easy, with a shelter dog suited for every activity a volunteer would want to do from a long hike to sitting on the couch at home.
The latter is what Lily Damron and Alexis Graves took Honey out for the day to do: study at home while sitting on the couch, a perfect activity for the laid-back puppy.
Damron, a 20-year-old pre-nursing sophomore at UF, started participating in the program with Graves a few weeks ago, and has already taken several dogs out.
“Being able to see all these dogs’ personalities and really getting to know them and giving them a fun day out is the best part of it,” she said. “Getting to be able to spend time with a dog, even though I can’t adopt one or foster one right now, really just makes me happy.”
Graves, a 20-year-old UF applied physiology and kinesiology junior, has a long history with the humane society.
Two years ago, she was looking for volunteer opportunities with the shelter but didn’t have the reliable transportation required to be a permanent volunteer. Then, recently, she stumbled across the Doggie Day Out program online, a perfect compromise. Now, she takes a dog out every Friday.
“While fostering or adoption may not be the most feasible at the moment, Doggie Day Out was a good way for the dogs to be able to get out and about for the day,” she said. “Also, everybody benefits from having an animal around, so it’s pretty good for both of us.”
When she isn’t relaxing at home with Damron and a shelter dog, she enjoys taking the animals on walks at Depot Park and walking to Gainesville’s 4th Ave Food Park to treat them to a pup cup.
“My favorite part is just getting to see them excited,” she said.
She was especially excited to hear that two of the dogs she had previously taken out for a day, Sergant and Benji, are now getting adopted, in part because of the socialization and information provided by the program.
“It’s a really great opportunity, if anybody has the time,” Graves said. “It kind of feels like fulfilling a life as well.”
One day after Damron and Graves returned Honey to the shelter, she was also adopted, a reminder of what makes the program worthwhile: Even a single day outside a kennel can make a difference in a shelter dog's life.
