Woods Humane Society in San Luis Obispo is looking for the community's help, asking anyone able to adopt a large dog.
Nationally, shelters are filled to capacity with an influx of dogs who need a home.
Whether it's a surrender, a stray or a transfer from a different shelter, the majority of the dogs stuck in the shelter right now are large dogs.
"Large dogs are just taking a little longer. A small dog may get adopted in a day or two but it may take a bigger dog a few weeks," explained Robin Coleman, Director of Community Engagement at Woods Humane Society.
A few weeks is still a good amount of time for an adoption, but with the number of dogs that need homes, Woods says it's just not good enough.
"We get new dogs every week at Woods. We have owner surrenders, transfers from the county shelters and partners from other counties that are desperate for help. If you could see our email box, you would be heartbroken like us. We get requests every day for animals in need and we can only help so many," Coleman said.
Coleman says they aren't sure why there's been such an increase in sheltered dogs recently, but it's disproportionately affecting dogs 50 lbs and over.
Woods Humane Society is open from noon to 5 p.m., seven days a week.
