收容所狗狗成跑伴

These shelter dogs make perfect running partners

收容所狗狗成跑伴

Animal shelters see dogs that have been abandoned, abused and neglected. Spending most of their days in cages means they don't move around much.

動物收容所的工作人員經常看到被遺棄、虐待和忽視的狗狗。它們整天待在籠子裏，不怎麼活動。

At the Santa Barbara County Animal Shelter, coordinator Stacy Silva came up with a plan that high school cross country coach Luis Escobar couldn't refuse.

對此，Santa Barbara縣動物收容所協調員Stacy Silva有了個好主意，高中越野教練Luis Escobar也認爲這個主意很贊。

"You've got a bunch of dogs that are in cages, and want to be outside running, and I've got a group of high school students that love to run,'" Escobar said. "Perfect match."

“你們籠子裏有很多想出去溜溜的狗，我們學校有很多喜歡跑步的學生，” Escobar說。“這很搭。”

"When the dogs realized that they were getting out of those kennels and to go outside as a group, it was just happy chaos," he said.

“當狗狗們知道它們即將集體破籠而出、自由奔跑時，都興奮極了，”他說。

When these kids from St. Joseph High first ran with the shelter dogs in August, Escobar posted a short video, just to share the moment with parents and the school community.

8月，當St. Joseph高中的學生第一次和收容所狗狗跑步時，Escobar拍了段小視頻發在網上，爲和孩子們的父母及學校社區分享這個經歷。

But all of a sudden, "there were millions and millions of views and shares," he said.

但是，突然“這段視頻就有了上百萬點擊和分享，”他說。

At the end of that viral video, 16-year-old Josh Menusa, holds a tired terrier named Fred. A week later, he returned to the shelter.

那段視頻最後，是16歲的Josh Menusa牽着跑累的小獵犬Fred的鏡頭。一週後，他再次拜訪動物收容所。

"The moment he saw me, oh he starts crying, and I'm like ‘Oh my goodness, he just needs to come with us,'" Menusa said.

“它再看到我那一刻，竟然哭了起來，我覺得它太需要跟我們在一起了，”Menusa說。

They are now inseparable, as Fred is the new Menusa family dog.

現在Fred已經成爲Menusa家中一員，他們倆形影不離。

The ultimate goal, says junior Sequoia Chumpitaz, is to raise awareness about the plight of shelter animals. But the attachment is real.

我們的最終目的是呼籲人們去關注動物收容所不幸的動物們， 小Sequoia Chumpitaz表示。

"When we have to put him back it's kind of like, ‘I'm really sorry about this, but hopefully you'll get adopted,'" Chumpitaz said.

“當我們跑完要把這些狗狗送回去時，感覺十分難過，希望它們早日被收養，”Chumpitaz說。

Silva agreed that dogs that are exercised and socialized are more adoptable.

Silva也認爲經過訓練和與人相處過的狗狗更容易被收養。

"It doesn't have all this pent-up energy it's trying to show you, just because you're now paying attention to it," Silva said. "It makes a huge difference."

“我們並不爲展現狗狗悲慘命運這種壓抑的畫面。當你開始關注它們時，就會有所幫助。”

The training regimen may not help St. Joseph win more races, but they've already won over plenty of hearts.

這個訓練計劃並沒有讓St. Joseph高中贏得更多跑步比賽，但讓他們贏得了很多人心。

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