With so much focus on the benefits of being active and outdoors for humans, it’s easy to forget the real need shelter dogs have for time to socialize and stretch their legs outdoors. Shelter life can be stressful for dogs – especially older dogs who might not have ever been away from what they knew as their home. Day trips out of the shelter can provide long-time residents a break from being in a kennel, allowing them time to decompress and to be stimulated with the sights and sounds of normal life.

This week, we stopped by the Charleston Fab Lab to take a look at their awesome facilities and to give shelter dogs, Gustus (chocolate lab-mix), Tonya (beagle hound-mix), and Tyson (staffie pit-mix), some time outside of the shelter.