High School Cross Country Team Takes Shelter Dogs On Training Runs

Sadly, dogs in shelters don’t always get as much exercise as they should. Meanwhile, high school cross country teams need to go on training runs several days a week. What would happen if you paired up those dogs with those runners? Some student athletes in California decided to find out—and the result is a very sweet win-win.

St. Joseph High School cross country coach Luis Escobar’s wife teamed up with Stacy Silva, the volunteer coordinator for the Santa Barbara County Animal Shelter, to bring the dogs and the cross country runners together.

Coach Escobar posted a video about the experience on Facebook:

Here’s a snap of a pooch named Fred, who was adopted by Josh Menusa, an 11th grade member of the cross country team. Fred was a bit pooped by the end of the run, but looks happy to be snuggling with his new best friend.

“It’s such a simple gesture, and it’s very rewarding to see how it’s resonated with so many people,” Escobar said in an interview with Simplemost. “Two of the dogs in the video were adopted, and a company called Ruffware donated running harnesses for the dogs after seeing the clip.”

Running with the shelter dogs is also a way for the students to complete their volunteer service hours at the same time. If you’re in the Santa Barbara area and are interested in adopting or volunteering, call Stacy at (805) 934-6981.

[h/t: Scary Mommy]