TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WCTV) – More than 300 dogs featured on WCTV’s Furry Friday have been adopted since the weekly segment started airing two years ago.
Furry Friday spotlights dogs ready and waiting to be adopted at the Tallahassee Animal Service Center.
In 2024, a total of 155 dogs featured on Furry Friday were adopted or rescued.
In 2025, that number was 154.
Brian Davis was one of those adopters who took a lucky pup home.
“She’s really just become part of the family,” Davis said about his new dog, Bailey. “I love how much energy she has. We do a lot of walking together, and me and her have become good buddies. She’s my buddy.”
Bailey looks at her owner, Brian, with big loving brown eyes. (Julie Montanaro/WCTV)
Davis adopted the hound mix from the shelter this fall, soon after seeing her on Furry Friday. Her name was Dottie then.
“So I saw her on Furry Friday and I kinda just assumed she’d get adopted because she was such a cute dog, but when I went down to the animal shelter, she was still available, so we adopted her.”
Davis was looking for a new walking buddy after his beloved 15-year-old dog passed away earlier this year.
“It took me a few months to kinda get ready to get another dog, and when I got ready, Bailey just happened to pop up on the news,” he said. “It was perfect timing and it just worked out.”
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WCTV’s Furry Friday spotlights four dogs each week that are available for adoption at the Tallahassee Animal Service Center in hopes of helping them find fur-ever homes, faster.
“I think it really helps with adoptions,” shelter volunteer Phil Street said. “I know people are seeing it because when I am out and about, people often tell me, ‘I saw you on Furry Friday.’”
Street is a regular on Furry Friday, volunteering to walk dogs each week to give people a glimpse of their real personalities.
“I think it showcases the dogs in a much better way than if you just walk through the kennels and look at them,” he said.
Marti Chumbler is a Furry Friday regular, too. She said allowing people to see these dogs outside their kennels is a game-changer.
“If you’ve seen them on Furry Friday, you can kind of see how they are on a leash. You can see how friendly they are, whether they’re cuddly, whether they’re active,” Chumbler said. “That is an inducement for people to come and say, ‘Oh, that looks like the dog for me.’”
“They see an animal on TV that stands out to them, and that’s what bridges the gap to adoption, and we love that,” said the shelter’s assistant director, Grayson Walters.
Fran Buie also adopted a dog featured on Furry Friday this year.
“It’s the only place I go. I’ve been adopting from the shelter for 40 years now,” Buie said.
Buie was looking for a companion for 11-year-old Shadow after the passing of her other dog.
Buie with her two dogs, Shadow and Grayson. (Julie Montanaro/WCTV)
A shelter employee recommended Clooney, a silver-haired gentleman featured on Furry Friday in July, and the rest, as they say, is history.
“They brought him out, and they went nose to nose and then just laid down next to each other, and I said, ‘Okay, I’ll take him,’” Buie said with a laugh.
Clooney is now called Grayson.
Shadow and Clooney are the best of buds. (Julie Montanaro/WCTV)
Buie jokes that this lucky seven-year-old must be part greyhound because he loves running around the yard. He and Shadow, she says, have become inseparable.
“You see that whenever she’s getting attention, he’s wanting to know, ‘Hey me too! Like what about me?’ And it’s the same thing with him,” Buie said. “I give him attention, she’s like, ‘Wait, I was here first.’”
So as these Furry Friday families settle in for the holidays and look forward to the new year ahead, they’re doing it with new best friends.
Davis said, “We needed her as much as she needed us.”
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