Jeep is a good boy. He stays, he sits and he touches. He knows the rules and earns his treats.
Dog trainer Tailer O’Neill visited the Austin Animal Center over a year ago and recruited Jeep to join Service Dogs Inc. The nonprofit organization takes dogs out of shelters and trains them to become service animals.
“Every shelter in Central Texas that I’ve been to is very much overcapacity, which is no fault of their own,” O’Neill said. “They do the absolute best that they can. It is a big problem right now.”
Regional animal shelters have been overcrowded for several years. Back in July, the Austin Animal Center stopped accepting animals entirely because it was so crowded. An inspection in September showed San Marcos’ animal shelter didn’t have enough cages and pens for their intakes.
Hays County officials and local nonprofits are trying to ease overcrowding at shelters by partnering on projects and involving the community in creative ways.
From crate to workmate
Service Dogs Inc. in Dripping Springs has space to shelter and train about 18 dogs and is expanding facilities to make room for another five.
“I’m not allowed to go to shelters because if they make eye contact, I want to take them home,” founder Sheri Soltes said. “My criteria is they’re cute and they look sad, and that’s why I have 11 cats and whatever is living in the attic that I keep feeding every night.”
O’Neill said the nonprofit has strict requirements for recruiting dogs, so it can make only a small impact on the thousands of dogs in Central Texas shelters.
“As we’re walking through shelters, a lot of the times that’s the first time dogs are seeing new people, so they’re very jumpy and excitable,” he said. “We’re looking for the dogs that are a lot more neutral and calm.”
If a dog passes the temperament assessment and meets the age and health requirements, it gets brought back to the training facility. O’Neill said it can be tricky to find dogs that check all the boxes; on average they bring back one dog from every three to four shelters.
“When one dog is done with training and gets matched to a person, we automatically start looking for that spot to be filled,” he said.
Some dogs go home with people in wheelchairs or who are hard of hearing. The dogs can open and close doors, pull a wheelchair or alert their human of sounds.
Other dogs have been sent to courthouses to sit with children during interviews or on the witness stand to ease their stress. The trained dogs also work alongside firefighters, paramedics, hospital staff and law enforcement agencies.
Jeep passed the requirements and was part of last year’s class with Cadillac, Porsche and Camaro. Then, he was diagnosed with kidney disease.
“We can’t place him as a working service dog for somebody because he has a shortened life expectancy,” O’Neill said. “He’s happy and healthy and has no idea that he is sick.”
Jeep earns his keep by working as a demo dog. O’Neill said he runs drills and shows off his training when people visit the facilities. He’s become a poster boy for the organization.
Additional community resources
The Hays County Commissioners Court finalized a contract with Austin Pets Alive! last week to manage the Hays County Pet Resource Center, a new virtual service and in-person facility to help keep animals out of shelters.
The center will offer free pet food and supplies, temporary housing and low-cost vet services.
“We’re trying to do everything we can so that someone doesn’t end up saying ‘I can’t keep this pet,’ and they gotta give it up,” Hays County Judge Ruben Becerra said.
The Hays PRC launched a virtual resource center in January and, in partnership with the Central Texas Food Bank, has already provided food and supplies to over 1,100 pets this year.
The new contract with APA includes a program to help reunite pets with their owners, similar to one currently available at the San Marcos Regional Shelter. The Lost and Found program posts photos of lost pets with tag or microchip information on the city’s website.
The San Marcos shelter, which is currently the sole facility for all of Hays County, has been overcapacity for years. Intakes usually go up March through October.
“We just see a larger number of puppies and kittens coming into the shelter and that’s just due to the natural breeding time,” said Minnie Buckhaults, the community engagement coordinator for the shelter.
She said access to spay and neuter services make a huge difference and can help with the annual surge.
In August, the San Marcos City Council voted to hand over the shelter responsibilities to Hays County as it focuses on operating its own shelter by late 2026. City officials say they’re optimistic about changing the regional sheltering model and believe the Hays PRC will help keep animals out of shelters.
Fostering animals for community service
Another new program in Hays County is a pilot allowing people on probation to earn community service for time spent fostering shelter pets.
“We want people to be successful on probation,” Judge Tanner Neidhardt said after the program with the PAWS Shelter of Central Texas launched in October. “They’re going through a journey and it is a journey that we hope is toward success. To have a dog along their side, to have man’s best friend, it’s just going to make that journey that much more likely – at least that’s our hope.”
Fostering can help alleviate strain by freeing up kennels at local shelters and can give animals a break from life in cramped quarters. Probationers must go through a screening with PAWS before they’re eligible.
“What I’m hoping is that probationers see that this is a new part of their lives that is going to replace a part of their lives that was a bad habit that landed them into the criminal justice system,” Neidhardt said.
He said he hopes some of these fosters turn into adoptions.
