ROCHESTER, N.Y. — The process of getting animals ready for adoption after they’ve been in hoarding or abusive situations takes work. The Humane Society of Greater Rochester is working to make it easier for those adopting animals from hoarding situations. 

For dogs that are up for adoption, it is not always love at first sight.

What You Need To Know

  • The Humane Society of Greater Rochester now has custody of the 120 dogs that were seized from a Rochester home in April

  • The process of getting animals ready for adoption after they’ve been in hoarding or abusive situations takes work

  • Lollypop Farm is using a webinar to teach potential adopters how to care for these animals

“Even as people, if you’re in a situation that you’ve never been in before, you might be a little weary of that situation,” said Ashley Zhe, director of communication and events at the Humane Society of Greater Rochester, Lollypop Farms.

This is especially true for the 120 dogs that were seized from a Rochester home in April that are now ready to be adopted.

“As you can imagine in a home where there’s 120 dogs, a lot of their experience in life has only been with other dogs," Zhe said. "While they may have been fed, they aren’t getting that one on one experience with people."

Which is where the socialization process comes in.

“[It's important to allow] them to take that on their own schedule," Zhe said. "A lot of it is having patience and not pressuring them into, ‘Hey, I’m going to pet you,’ or ‘Hey, I’m going to leash you up and take you for a walk'."

To help teach pet owners what that looks like, Lollypop Farms put together an educational webinar.

“Where [potential pet owners] can kind of understand what this might be like for these dogs and the patience and the steps that they’re going to have to take,” Zhe said. 

It's something that could be beneficial for people adopting any animal, not just those from hoarding situations.

“Nationally we are seeing that trend that dogs are having a longer stay than they necessarily used to have,” Zhe said. “That’s one of the reasons that we have our doggy day out programs [and] why we have things like our champions that are helping our dogs get out more."

And it's reminding people of the benefits of adoption. 

"I hope that people who come to the webinar see that not only there are challenges, but there are going to be some huge rewards," Zhe said.