More Than Just 'Housing' At New Animal Shelter In Northern Tarrant County

NORTH TEXAS (CBSDFW.COM) - There is an animal shelter in northern Tarrant County you may not know about. It opened about a year ago and houses nearly 400 animals.

"This facility was built with more of the animals in mind, you know, for adoptions and not just housing them," said Barry Alexander, manager of FWACC North Campus.

The campus consists of seven buildings: reception, 5 animal kennels and a separate state-of-the-art medical facility to reduce disease.

"So all of our sick animals are housed in here, so there is no transmission of respiratory infections," said Anastasia Ramsey, Supervisor of Kennels.

Each kennel has its own play yards, ensuring each dog gets outside at least twice a day.

"They are not having to use the bathroom in their kennels; it helps crate train them and kennel train them. And they're able to play and we do play groups — it's really a form of enrichment for the dogs," said Ramsey.

"It helps greatly with behavior... they got play yards and they can get outside time — it brings their stress level down," said Alexander.

Workers get to know each dog and work on basic obedience, like "sit" and "stay." Ramsey explained, "Gunner here is a little shy, we have been working on his stranger danger."

There is even a half-mile trail. "It's great for adopters to come. We have them bring their dogs to do meet and greets, and we always start with a walk on the trail to see how they react to each other when first introduced," said Ramsey.

The campus was funded through a bond package and hopes to better serve people living in the northern part of the county.

"We would love to see you, we have people stop by all the time who say, 'I didn't even know you were here,'" said Ramsey.

The north campus of the Fort Worth Animal Care and Control Shelter is located at 351 Hillshire Drive in Fort Worth. It is open 7 days a week from 12:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.