Rays of sunshine beat down on the north soccer fields of Cosumnes River College on April 28 as Odin rolled around with a large smile on his face enjoying all the love from an attentive young girl.

Odin bounced around and licked faces, bonding with anyone that paid him any attention, winning the hearts of many in his search for a new home.

Odin was one of eight dogs from the Veterinarian Technician program on campus seeking permanent homes, along with six cats.

“The goal of today’s event is to get our eight dogs and six cats into permanent forever homes,” said 26-year-old veterinarian technician Molly Reeves.

Reeves said the Vet Tech program spent the last year training and caring for the various animals in preparation for the annual event. At the event last year they were able to adopt 10 out of 12 dogs and six out of eight cats, Reeves said.

“It’s really a wonderful idea here at the adoption day that we’ve got students that work with the animals all year long that are handling them,” Reeves said. “So they know the dogs better than anybody else.”

Animal Health Instructional Technician Cheryl Buch echoed Reeves words about trying to adopt as many animals as possible into permanent homes.

“It [the event] gives us a chance to get as many of them adopted as possible,” Buch said. “For people to come out and take a look at them, get to know them and bring their dogs so they can meet each other on neutral ground.”

Buch said that any animals that were not adopted by the end of the event would have the students of the program putting up individualized flyers and pursuing other methods to get them all adopted.

“We have this event every year as well, so the dogs are $100 each and the cats are $50 each,” said Cindy Truong a 24-year-old veterinarian technician. “In the entire program we are always training them, getting essentially a new set of animals each year from the shelter. We adopt them from the shelter and then we train them to learn as we go.”

While the animals were all trained and ready to be adopted, Buch said it was not as simple as just wanting a dog or cat. Time is necessary.

“The time is because its’ just not a matter of putting food in a bowl,” Buch said. “You have to take care of their overall wellbeing. Keep them happy and keep them entertained.”

Buch was not alone in pointing out the need for thought and investment into the idea of adopting. Reeves said that adopting an animal was something that one had to research as “there shouldn’t be a return policy on anything that’s breathing.”

Odin and the other seven dogs all were adopted to excited families by the end of the event, Buch said. Only four of the six cats were adopted at the event, a fifth was adopted the following Monday with a possible home setup for the last.

The program was even able to adopt off a rabbit that they had, Buch said.

“Adopting a pet is exactly like adopting a baby,” Reeves said. “You have to do your research; you have to know you are ready to make a forever commitment. It’s not something to come out on a weekend and say I want a dog today.”