So you think your shelter’s already doing everything it can to get its dogs adopted. Maybe there’s one new trick you can learn from a bunch of dedicated runners!

RuffTail Runners is an Austin, Texas, based running group that teamed up with a local sportswear store to get shelter dogs out for some exercise and fresh air.

The next thing they knew, they’d started a movement! They’ve been written about in Dog Fancy and Runner’s World, and were named “Best Fitness Charity” by the Austin Chronicle.

Rob Hill and Lindsay Marsh started a meetup for runners interested in improving their workouts and the quality of life of sheltered dogs. In 2010, Austin Pets Alive! asked Rufftail Runners to help run dogs out of their first facility, on South Lamar, and then fully scaled up when APA! moved to Town Lake Animal Center in 2011.

The two of them came together at the 2015 American Pets Alive! No Kill Conference to tell their story and show other communities how they could do the same for their community’s shelter dogs, too! View their presentation then take a quiz to earn a certificate of attendance!

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