About Paws4ever

Paws4ever is an animal welfare organization at 6311 Nicks Road in Mebane, on the Felicite Latane Animal Sanctuary. It is listed here for its training program rather than its rescue work: the organization's own summary of itself is "Adopt, Care, Train", and the Learning Center on the sanctuary site is home to a dog training program open to the public, not only to adopters.

The training program

In the organization's own words, "Our Dog Training Program offers a variety of accessible private lessons and group classes using positive and effective methods", taught by "certified, professional dog training instructors" and offered "for every age and level". The published training menu runs to phone consultations, private lessons, group classes, and workshops and training events, with a schedule and registration page, a training FAQ, a trainers page and a resources and tips library alongside them. The organization publishes a count of dogs trained in its annual impact report.

Training scholarships

One part of the program is genuinely unusual for this area. Dog Training Scholarships sit inside the organization's Community Pet Support Program and, in its own description, allow community members to receive free training for their dogs. The same program runs a pet supply pantry, veterinary financial assistance, and Pawsitive Spaces, which builds enclosures for owners of tethered dogs in Orange County in partnership with Orange County Animal Services.

Method

The organization states its position plainly: "We believe that positive reinforcement is the humane and effective way to train animals."

History and the rest of the site

The organization traces itself to the Animal Protection Society of Chapel Hill in 1962, incorporated as the Animal Protection Society of Orange County in 1972, which ran the county's animal control services and open-admission shelter from 1979 to 2004 before opening its own adoption center at the sanctuary and taking the name Paws4ever in 2008. The sanctuary also holds a three-acre members-only dog park and nature trail, a resale store, facility rentals and a Legacy Care Program for pets that outlive their owners. Opening hours are published as 10am to 5pm daily.