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MASON – Dogs are the real winners as humans practice social distancing to slow the spread of coronavirus and stay home.

For many dogs, it's an unprecedented amount of time that their people are home.

But it was shaping up to be several weeks with much less attention than the animals at the Ingham County Animal Shelter were used to, shelter Director Heidi Williams said.

With the shelter closed to the public, the animals weren't getting as much attention as usual, she said. Williams knew the volunteers and staff at the shelter could take care of the animals, but wouldn't be able to meet their emotional needs.

They put a call-out on Facebook on Monday, asking for volunteers to foster a dog or cat for several weeks. By the next day, all 25 adoptable dogs and many of the cats were placed in foster homes.

"It's a great opportunity since people are going to be home," Williams said. "It's a great time to spend some one-on-one time with the dogs and help us socialize them."

Williams said she was blown away by the amount of support the shelter received from the community.

"It's heartwarming to see the community rally like that," she said.

Williams said they are still looking for foster homes for some of the cats, and as more dogs become adoptable, will look for foster homes for them as well. For information on fostering, contact 517-245-5485.

Contact reporter Kara Berg at 517-377-1113 or kberg@lsj.com. Follow her on Twitter @karaberg95.