Rescue dogs run free at Lewes Unleashed park

A dog named Alvin was the first canine from Humane Animal Partners to run free at Lewes Unleashed dog park.

HAP staff member Lindsay Dempsey brought Alvin for a day out Jan. 13.

The private dog park now allows the animal rescue group to bring adoptable dogs on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays from 12:30 to 2 p.m.

“We don’t have a big facility where they can truly run,” Dempsey said. “Our enclosure out back is only about 20-by-10, so our bigger dogs can’t ever run because it’s too small.”

Dempsey said they will bring more than one dog at a time once they get some that can be friends.

Karen Ryder, a board member of Lewes Unleashed, said it made sense to give dogs access to their open space.

“Every year we have a food drive. We brought four SUVs worth of food down to Humane Animal Partners. We saw the size of the run they had for dogs and we decided that we have all this room and most of the time [one area] in particular is underutilized,” Ryder said.

Ryder said their goal is to get the dogs some exercise and get them adopted.

Alvin, and other dogs and cats, can be adopted at Humane Animal Partners’ shelter at the Midway Shopping Center near Rehoboth Beach.

For more information, go to humaneanimalpartners.org.