TAMPA BAY, Fla. — Today, Wednesday, August 26, is National Dog Day. Colleen Page chose this date when she founded the holiday in 2004 because it’s the day her family got their first dog.

It’s also fitting, though, that National Dog Day falls during one of the most devastating pandemics in modern history, because dogs—and pets of all species—are having a moment. We’re spending more time at home with them. We’re watching more of them on social media. 

What You Need To Know

  • Local shelters report an uptick in dog adoptions during the pandemic

  • National Dog Day is August 26

And we’re fostering and adopting more of them from Tampa Bay shelters.

“[Adoptions] have been up during the pandemic, yes indeed,” says Gracie Grieshop, who handles marketing for St. Petersburg’s Pet Pal Animal Shelter, which takes in animals from other rescue operations. “Which is very, very good news.”

There’s more good news, too. According to industry tracker PetPoint, surrenders of dogs to shelters have also been down during the age of coronavirus—the total intake of dogs this past July was down 24% from the same month last year.

While Bay area animal aficionados have been showing new pets the love, it’s not an across-the-board scenario. The same Petpoint report says that the total number of dogs that left the shelters it monitors nationwide was actually down 29.5% in July from last year. But euthanasia of dogs, thankfully, was also down over last July—a whopping 49.6%.

Hopefully this year’s National Dog Day will combine with our current isolated lifestyle to boost those nationwide adoption numbers higher, and find some good boys and girls some forever homes.

Here’s a list of Bay area shelters:

HILLSBOROUGH

Hillsborough County Pet Resource Center, 440 N. Falkenburg Rd., Tampa. 813-744-5660

Humane Society of Tampa Bay, 3607 N. Armenia Ave., Tampa. 813-876-7138

P.A.W.S. of Hillsborough County. 813-655-7297

PINELLAS

Friends of Strays, 2911 47th Ave. N., St. Petersburg. 727-522-6566

Humane Society of Pinellas, 3040 FL-590, Clearwater. 727-797-7722

Pet Pal Animal Shelter, 405 22nd St. S., St. Petersburg. 727-328-7738

SPCA Tampa Bay Vet Center, 3250 5th Ave. N., St. Petersburg

Suncoast Animal League, 1030 Pennsylvania Ave., Palm Harbor. 727-786-1330