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Several atypical campus visitors drew an impressive crowd Wednesday.
The Oregon Voice teamed up with Greenhill Humane Society for "Rent-a-Pooch," a fundraiser at which students could pay $5 for 15 minutes of playtime with a dog from the humane society. From 11:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. the Memorial Quad entertained eight dogs and their temporary playmates. By noon the Voice had already booked rentals for the entire day, and the event was a surprise hit.
"Everybody thought it was a joke at first," Oregon Voice publisher Stephen Person said of the reaction to his initial idea. "Nobody took it seriously. They thought the humane society would never go for it, but they did."
University sophomores Megan Whitacre and Erik Brody rented Lilac, a curious and playful 6-year-old dalmation mix, for an hour. The couple is thinking about adopting a dog next year.
"I would definitely not get one from a pet store," Whitacre said, pointing to pet stores that purchase dogs from puppy mills, breeding facilities that mass-produce purebreds in an unsafe, inadequate environment. "These dogs are good dogs and they need a home, so why not?"
Denise Brittain, community outreach manager at Greenhill, said the humane society is constantly at full capacity with pets. It accepts only dogs and cats personally handed over by owners - no strays - and is funded solely via fundraising, donations and adoption fees.
Brittain said it is critical for the animals to get community exposure.
"There's always a need for more space," she said. "I think it's really important for people to see that we do have healthy, adoptable animals. We really try to encourage people before they think about buying that they really consider the quality of the animals that we have available."
Brittain said that although humane society staff was a little nervous about the event at first, mainly because the dogs were in a wide-open area, the students were great and she would be willing to do a similar event in the future.
That should come as good news to Person, who said he wants to repeat Rent-a-Pooch around finals week and next year as well.
"It was actually kind of sad because I didn't get to interact with any of the dogs until the end of the time," Person said. "Next time I want to reserve one at the very end just for myself."
Sheena Wheeler, a University freshman who volunteers weekly at Greenhill, said she loves playing with all of the animals there but spends most of her time with dogs because they need the most attention.
"The cats are just like, 'let me do my own thing,' and the rabbits just kind of chill," she said.
Wheeler is one of many students who volunteers at Greenhill. Although she's transferring to Oregon State University next year, she said she's going to volunteer in Corvallis as well.
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