Ten lucky Decatur County puppies have gone to camp this summer.

Personnel at Bainbridge-Decatur County Humane Society have become affiliated with the Tallahassee chapter of the Rescue Me Foundation, Inc., a group that operates a summer camp program called Animal Training Adventure, for youth and teens to learn animal training.

The puppies spend the summer learning to interact with youth, who spend their time learning the latest animal training techniques, many of those used by Cesar Milan.

The camp goal is to raise the next generation of happy dogs and informed, responsible owners. The camp helps kids learn character-building skills like leadership, compassion and empathy through relationships with rescued dogs and puppies.

It also aids the dogs to become more adoptable. According to information obtained from their website, in the last two years every dog that has attended camp has ended up being adopted. What could be better than that?

Shelter Director, Beth Eck explained that the local shelter was contacted by the Leon County Humane Society because they needed more puppies. There were 63 children in the camp last week.

The puppies remain at camp all summer, sometimes spending the weekend with a student in a foster care situation.

This arrangement adds one more resource for the local animal shelter, which is constantly looking for homes for the multitudes of abandoned and rescued dogs they receive. They recruit foster and adoptive homes, as well as sending many to rescues in other locations. But, somehow the supply continues to exceed the demand.

“This is a win-win situation,” says Eck, adding that two of the Decatur County puppies are already spoken for. To make it even better, our shelter will receive the adoption fees on any of their puppies that get adopted.