SARASOTA – Living in a kennel can be stressful… This is why the humane society of Sarasota County has added a new sensory garden to their facility.
“As a space for the dogs that are adjusting from going from a home life to being in an animal shelter, to have a quiet space, where they can get outside, dig in the dirt, sniff some plants, chew on sticks, just do some things that a dog would do in their own backyard and give them a little bit of quiet time because a kennel can be stressful for them,” Executive Director of The Humane Society of Sarasota County.
One of the goals of the garden is to help pups activate their senses
“Their sense of smell, their sense of taste and touch, which all work together to help them calm and literally be grounded,” said Gonce.
The garden also features edible herbs and plants
“That the dogs can actually eat like parsley, sage, thyme, basil, we also have a lot of flowering plants that we brought in that we hope will continue to be pollinated by butterfly’s because were also hoping to have a butterfly garden, we have sand pits, were working on a water feature, we have gravel, so we have all these different things that they can explore,” said Gonce.
Like any other garden, the sensory garden will require some upkeep.
“They would be welcome to come here and not only water the plants but maybe dead head the ones that need that and just enjoy working with the plants in the garden,” said Humane Society of Sarasota County Volunteer, Jackie Fountaine.
For more information on how to volunteer or help the Humane Society of Sarasota County, you can visit their website.