A dog in the shelter for 88 days is ready to be part of family
A select few dogs have been living in Palm Beach County’s animal shelter for nearly 100 days — making them the longest residents without permanent homes.
Duchess Poochie, a two-year old mixed breed, is one of those dogs. She’s been without her forever family for 88 days and has been nursed back to health since she was found as an underweight stray in April.
Poochie had infected injuries on her face, but she’s made a stunning recovery and is ready to find her forever home.
Welcome to The Palm Beach Post’s Pet of the Week, a series where we feature animals up for adoption in Palm Beach County in hopes of finding them a loving family. Since we began this series in February, 12 of our pets of the week have been adopted.
This week’s pet is Poochie, who has been in the shelter since April 5. As one of the shelter’s longest residents, she’s a part of a housewarming gift program that provides the family who adopts her with many of the pet care essentials to make her feel at home.
Here’s what to know about our pet of the week, including what Animal Care and Control staffers say about her personality.
Dog available for adoption: Duchess Poochie
Age: 2 years
Weight: 46 pounds
Sex: Female, spayed
Animal ID: A2161622
More information: Duchess Poochie was found as a stray by Animal Control
hhhhOfficers. She was alone, underweight, and had infected injuries on her face, but she’s proven to be incredibly resilient. She is a really affectionate girl who gives very good cuddles. She can be a little shy at first but she opens up quickly.
Important to know: Duchess Poochie is a part of the housewarming gift program. That means that when she gets adopted, she will go home with a crate, a plush dog bed, a leash, a collar, a bag of dog food, and three months of preventative medications.
For more information on Duchess Poochie, check out her online profile on the Animal Care and Control website.
How to adopt a cat or dog in Palm Beach County
You can start the adoption process in person or online.
begin in person: Visit Animal Care and Control during normal business hours at 7100 Belvedere Road near West Palm Beach to fill out an application and meet the pets there.
To begin the process online:
1 Use the pet’s animal ID number (like the one listed above) to search them on Animal Care and Control’s online database.
2 Click on the “Ready to Adopt? Click Here” link to the right of the pet’s photo.
3 Fill out the two-page downloadable adoption application and email it to Animal Care and Control at PSD-ACCSupport@pbcgov.org.
4 Once Animal Care and Control has reviewed your application, a team member will contact you to confirm that you have been approved to adopt. Submittal of an online application does not guarantee the pet’s availability.
Adoption fees: Adoption fees are waived for the entire month of July.
ToDuchess Poochie, a 2-year-old mixed breed dog, is The Palm Beach Post's Pet of the Week for July 1.
Adoption fees are usually $60 for adult dogs, $75 for puppies and $50 for cats and kittens. Palm Beach County residents who are 55 years and older are offered a discounted adoption fee.
Note: All animals adopted from Animal Care and Control will be spayed if female or neutered if male. They will be up-to-date on vaccinations, protected against fleas and ticks and microchipped.
About fostering: If you are not ready for a long-term commitment, you may want to consider offering foster care to a pet. This is a great way to get the feel for becoming a pet parent, and it allows you and your new prospective pet to get to know each other. You can find more information about fostering on Animal Care and Control’s website.
Summer foster opportunity for students: 150 community service hours
This summer, Palm Beach County Animal Control is sponsoring a foster program where middle and high school students can earn 150 community service hours if they foster an adult dog for
30 nights.
The shelter provides all the supplies needed to foster an animal, and students can earn 150 additional community service hours if they help find a permanent home for their foster dog.
For more information, students can check out Animal Care and Control’s webpage on its Foster2PetPals program.
Learn more about our recent pets of the week and those who have been adopted
We’d like to track our impact throughout the year, and potentially feature adoptive families in a “where are they now?”-style story. If you’ve adopted a pet featured in this series, tell us about it here: https://forms.gle/ nN9w7cmCQRJmVcus6.
We won’t use any of your information without contacting you first.
Katherine Kokal is a journalist covering education at The Palm Beach Post. She has a dog, Cooper, who is 8 years old, and a kitten, Benny, who turned 1 in May! You can reach Katherine at kkokal@pbpost.com. Help support our work: Subscribe today!