Presented at the American Pets Alive No-Kill Conference 2014.

1. RuffTail Runners: Getting Shelter Dogs
Out and Running In Your Community

3. What the Heck is a
RuffTail Runner?
• A RuffTail Runner (RTR) is
a person who has been
trained to run/walk with
dogs on the local trail.
• These members are also
trained in how to
properly enter and exit
the kennels with the
dogs.
• There are over 2,000
people in our Meetup
group and well over
1,500 people trained
here in Austin

4. Why?
By getting dogs out of their kennels and out of
the shelter environment, we believe:
• Dogs are better adjusted to people, heavy “traffic”
areas e.g., bikes, strollers, other people, and dogs
• Healthier. Honestly, who can’t use some good old
fashion exercise?
• Trainable. Tired dogs are easy to train. Our runners
become extra trainers.
• More adoptable. See above. Well behaved dogs
(trained) are easy to adopt. Adopters also like to see
that they can take their new friend out for adventures.

5. We Love Tired Dogs!
Andre Agassi Adidas (adopted)
Levi Chloe (adopted)

6. How Does This Work?
• We use (begrudgingly) use Meetup.com
• Post training sessions and allow people to pay
for training.
• People are trained, demonstrate knowledge,
and start running/walking.

7. How To Get Started

8. Step 1
• Find a shelter to engage
– Need a shelter that will think outside the box
– Non-profit shelter and especially those committed
to “no-kill” are prime targets
– City managed shelters might be a tough sell since
there is a lot of red tape and even more lawyers

9. Step 1
• Location, Location, Location
– RuffTail Runners Austin hit the jackpot. We know.
– Ideally, your target shelter should be close to trails
or good sidewalks
– Try to avoid having your volunteers transporting
the dogs in order to run/walk
– Shelter will hopefully be accessible to the
community
– All of this leads to high visibility for your dogs

10. Step 1
• Controls
– Absolutely cannot
have loosy goosy
standards.
– Want a shelter that
categorizes dogs by
their behavior.
– Your RuffTail group
and your shelter
must have
credibility to thrive.
– Set times, weather
conditions, and
standard operating
procedures for all
runners/walkers.

11. Step 2
• Engage The Local Community
– Reach out to local running/athletic stores.
• We work with Hill Country Running Co. and Luke’s Locker.
Both of whom give our runners incentives
– Contact those involved with the set-up of local races
(especially marathons).
– Reach out to us! We have contacts here in Texas but
also in Memphis, OKC, and a few other locations.
– Use social media. We have a large and thriving
community on Facebook as well as Instagram.

12. Success Stories and Pictures

13. Aidan and Rocco Prefontaine

14. Chito Cindy
Chloe

15. Contact Us
Lindsay Marsh
lindsay@rufftailrunners.org
Rob Hill
rob@rufftailrunners.org
rufftailrunnersaustin