More than 100 residents of the city came to Warnock Street to spend time with dogs on Christmas.
Winnipeg's Animal Services appealed to the residents of the city with a request to act as volunteers for walking with dogs during the holidays, as the staff is not enough. To the surprise of the service, more than 100 people supported it and came there on Tuesday.
"We have 15 or 20 dogs in the building right now. We probably have 50 to 100 people here," said Leland Gordon, chief operating officer for Winnipeg Animal Services. "I thought on Christmas Day, we'll just get a handful of people that want to come, so we created a Facebook event and of course it exploded, which we didn't anticipate."
Raschelle Anos, one of the woman who came there, said that she was really excited to see so many people. All of them came to share Christmas mood and to spend a little time with dogs from the shelter.
"We just wanted to spend time with animals who don't have homes right now and try to spread some Christmas cheer," she explained. “Playing with dogs is an entertaining way to spend Christmas Day!”
However, not many dogs were able to play with people, as the workers of the shelter have not yet determined how calm the new dogs behave with strangers.
When the first dogs started playing with people, their joy knew no bounds! One of the volunteers even stated that she would be happy to spend several hours in a shelter with dogs, despite the fact that she also had dogs at home.
"I have two dogs at home and I have family, but you know what? They need us more than anybody else right now," she said.
Animal Services asked all people to donate in order to ensure dogs will have enough food and attention during the holiday season.
MORE NEWS:Winnipeg’s West End welcomed immigrants at Christmas Eve party