Turfed play & enrichment space

Update, April 2026. The shade coverage has been installed and there are agility items that were made by Troop 2 Santa Monica. The dogs love playing in the new space. Thanks to your generous donations we have been able to complete this space.

Update, October 2023, the turf has been laid and the dogs can now use the new yard.

The Santa Monica Animal Shelter is in need of necessary facility upgrades and improvements. The first of these larger projects that we fundraised for was to create a proper turfed play and enrichment space for the dogs at the shelter. The bid was over $37k just to lay turf in the space, the area is approx. 1700 sq feet. Thanks to the donations we received, including a $10,000 contribution from the City of Santa Monica Mayor Gleam Davis and the Santa Monica City Council which jump started our fundraising efforts, in October of 2023 we shared $25k with the shelter to create the new space. The city requested an additional $12k for the project in April of 2026.

It is very important that the dogs at the shelter have a space where they can have the necessary physical activity, and stimulation, they need to help them from becoming anxious or stressed. Before we created this yard the shelter did not have a space like this of this size. Many dogs at the shelter wait for months, some over a year, to be adopted, and this new space will greatly help their well-being while they are waiting for their forever home.