It must be hard to be alone, without a family, sitting in a small pen, longing to stretch your legs and run. On the other hand, it takes focus, determination, and dedication to run nearly every day in order to build speed, strength, and endurance as a high school athlete. There’s nothing fun in that. Unless, you add said lonely, sedentary dogs to the mix.
That’s just what St. Joseph High School Coach Luis Escobar did when he had his cross-country team take dogs from the Santa Barbara County Animal Shelter in Santa Maria along for one of their practice runs. Who knew the combination would make for serious internet magnetism?
Video of the team taking the dogs for a run quickly went viral. The video was shared on social media feeds so many times that it caught the eye of celebrity talk show host and outspoken dog lover, Rachael Ray, who recently invited Escobar onto the show.
The story was featured as the show’s Feel Good Friday segment and in addition to
being on the show, Ray presented Escobar with a Kohl’s gift card for $5,000 to purchase athletic equipment.
Escobar told Ray that the idea wasn’t one the team took up enthusiastically at first. During the show he said the team took a little encouraging. However, once the run got underway, all parties involved were experiencing the benefit.
“I told the team, ‘Hey we’re going to run with these dogs.’ It was kind of a lukewarm reception honestly. But once the kids got on board and they realized they could get community services credits they wanted to do it,” Escobar said.
After they started running both the kids and the dogs loved it, Escobar said.
But there was another big benefit that came from the video. Because of the attention most of the dogs in the video were adopted.
The idea for the cross-country team to take the dogs with them on a couple of their runs came from the shelter’s outreach coordinator Stacy Silva, who had contacted Escobar about the idea. The students were just finishing up with their summer workout program when she and Escobar planned the run. Since then the team has taken the dogs on other runs, including most recently one planned for Oct. 4.
Running isn’t the only way the the shelter has collaborated in public partnerships to benefit the dogs. The shelter dogs already get treated to classical music played in their kennels to keep them calm and quieter, and a program in which kids come in to read to the animals.
Though it seems like it would be hard to get a scared dog to sit down and and listen to a child read Ferdinand, that’s exactly what happens. Even dogs who were once a little timid or aggressive to people will calm and listen to a child reading a book. The reading program actually benefits both the dogs and the children because the dogs get focused attention and the kids get a dedicated audience.
Now with their cross-country buddies, the dogs have some teen friends to make sure they are keeping active too.
The video and overall story has been shared numerous times online and it has even garnered the interest of other cross-country teams, who have contacted the school’s athletic director asking how they can make the same thing happen in their community, Escobar said. That’s right, other teams may well start practicing with pups in need of a running partner.
No one could’ve anticipated the amount of attention that team’s buddy run would attract, least of all Escobar.
“This was just a small, tiny, organic, nice gesture of kindness, and it resonated with people all across the country,” Escobar said.
For residents who would like the opportunity to run with their dogs and also help homeless, sick, or injured dogs in the county’s shelters, the upcoming Zombie Glow Run 2K or 5K Fun Run/Walk is a chance to do just that. The event will be held from 4 to 8 p.m., Saturday, Oct. 22, at the Santa Maria Animal Center, 548 W. Foster Road in Santa Maria.
Runners can dress in their zombie best or deck themselves in glow lights, and the event includes vendors, food, live music by Nothing But Trouble, contests, silent auction, adoptable dogs, shelter tours, and costume contests.
Pre-register at active.com or register the day of the event. For more information, visit sbcanimalcare.org.
Send sports information to Editor Shelly Cone at scone@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Oct 6-13, 2016.