By: Hannah Moore
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (UATV) — Sammie Davies, a University of Arkansas senior, fosters her 10th dog with Big Paws of the Ozarks. Biggie, her last shelter dog, was fostered for one month until he found his forever home.
Sammie, from Houston, Texas, grew up with a family dog that was adopted after being found on the streets. After moving to Fayetteville, Arkansas in 2022, Sammie knew she wanted to stay connected with animals and get involved in her new community. About a year ago, she decided to start fostering after learning about the Big Paws program.
“I really chose Big Paws because they’re just a great company,” Sammie said. “Their community here is awesome. They’re super nice, friendly, and pretty much hero’s saving these dogs every day.”
Big Paws of the Ozarks is a dog rescue program working with shelters in and around the Northwest Arkansas region. In 2024, they rescued over 420 unhoused dogs. Their goal is to rescue, rehabilitate, and rehome dogs with a foster-based program.
If you join the foster program, Big Paws provides necessary items like dog bowls, leashes, toys, beds, and kennels. Dogs that are rescued also have the chance to receive training that helps them become more adoptable. Types of training include:
-Positive reinforcement with treats
-Leash training with volunteers or staff members
-Exposure therapy to other shelter dogs
“We also provide training to the public and also dog shelters,” Volunteer Coordinator Maisie Carothers said. “The goal is to obviously give the dogs a little break from the shelter, but also just improving on life skills and being around other dogs and taking treats and that sort of stuff.”
According to the Shelters Animal Count, the average number of dog adoptions in Arkansas was 176 in 2024. Nationally, there are about 1.4 million dogs entered into shelters across the country.
“I think we’re still kind of in that same climate where the shelters are just overflowing and crammed into every kennel,” Carothers said. “So, if people are able to foster, that saves that dog from the shelter and also frees up space for another one to potentially come in.”
Every first Sunday of the month, Big Paws holds a pack walk for community members to join shelter dogs for an hour of fun. The shelter locations vary each month, and the walks happen from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. This time is for community members to get one-on-one leash training, as well as quality time for each shelter pup.
It was during a community pack walk a year ago that volunteer Precia discovered her passion for fostering dogs.
‘”We try to come do this on Sundays,” she said. “You can just see how much they love it. And then hopefully from this they’ll get adopted because they’re a little bit more on the leash and exposed to more people and dogs.”
Over the month of November, Big Paws is having a black Friday training sale. They will also have a Puppies and Poses event this Saturday, Nov. 8 at Dual Cities Crossfit from 10:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. Other community resources are provided on their website at bigpawsozarks.org.