Good dogs, bad names and hopefully new homes
In a kennel in North York, at the city of Toronto’s north region shelter, Danny DeVito sits patiently waiting for a new family.
DeVito is looking for someone kind and energetic to adopt him — in a photo posted online, his eyes look longingly for a treat, a warm bed and some good scratches behind his ear.
“Danny DeVito is a quick learner and always puts in his best effort. He may need some additional training and guidance, but he is determined to become the perfect companion,” his description on the city’s website reads.
In case you haven’t figured it out already, we’re not talking about the acclaimed 78-year-old “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” actor — but a one-year old-Great Dane who has been at the shelter for more than a month.
Until Sunday, dog adoption fees will be lowered to $50 as the city’s shelter program tries to clear out it’s crowded kennels.
The “bad names, good dogs” campaign started after Toronto Animal Services (TAS) staff got inspiration from a TikTok trend.
“We thought it was really cute and fun, and we wanted to kind of get on the bandwagon and see how it went,” Elana Trainoff, TAS’s head of partnerships, told the Star.
“And we’ve been really lucky because people have loved it and have been sharing our posts.“
Already, since the program started April 23, seven dogs with strange names have been adopted.
The Sea and Her Mysteries, Dijon Ketchup, Warm Buttered Yams, Na-Na, La-La, Doot-Doo, Garlic Bread and Teleprompter have all found new homes thanks to the campaign.
The Toronto shelter system is constantly receiving dogs, with more being added everyday. Danny DeVito, Hank Hill and Lil Puddin Boy, among many others, are still up for adoption.
It’s the shelter staff who come up with the creative names.
As new dogs come into their care, “they get to know them a little bit, but they don’t know these animals, so they just have to keep coming up with more and more names and getting creative,” Trainoff said.
If you want to know more about each dog, they all have short biographies on the TAS website.