What’s up, dog? Displaced dogs find homes through ASU club

Devil Dogs at Arizona State University is a student organization dedicated to giving dogs a home through fun events with foster dogs and local shelter partners. Despite being a newer club on campus, Devil Dogs has witnessed rapid growth due to their mission and warm bonds built between members and the dogs.

Entrepreneurship student, Julia Coit, is the president of Devil Dogs and is passionate about animal welfare and advocacy, leading the club forward.

“We are a student-led organization that focuses on raising awareness about dogs in need, so we partner with different local shelters and rescues along with different organizations,” Coit said.

There are many fun events put on by the club such as game nights, holiday themed events and most recently — the Santa event.

“I think one of my favorite events was our holiday event. We had hot cocoa, Santa came and dogs sat on Santa’s lap,” Coit said.

Animal fostering is an exciting yet underexplored activity for a lot of college students. Devil Dogs shows its members what a rewarding experience fostering a pet can be, making it accessible to many students.

“I love hearing about how we inspire different members to foster dogs,” Coit began. “I think we've had about 12 different dogs that need homes that we've been working with and brought to our events. It was so cute,” Coit said.

The organization was founded by three roommates, Alara Ergene, Charlotte Bregman and Madeline McKenzie, who united together to establish this club. The idea came to them when they decided to foster a dog together and fell in love with the experience.

Bregman, studying entrepreneurship, recounted the story of the girls’ first foster dog — one that opened the door to the community they love so much.

“We're all roommates, and his name was Lupo at the time. He's now named Munch, and he was just a blessing,” Bregman started. “We fell in love with him, and we kind of just realized how easy it is to get involved with shelters and to foster dogs. We really wanted to be able to educate other students and get them involved,” Bregman said.

From this point on, the girls were enamored with fostering animals and wanted to spread their love for it across the ASU Tempe campus. This is what sparked the creation of Devil Dogs and began the foundation of fun, impactful connections between people and pups.

“I think after we've seen the community that we've built with people, we also know that dogs can be a therapeutic presence to people,” Ergene said.

They bring the dogs to their meetings and interacting with them brings them closer together.

“I know mental health is a big issue with a lot of college students and people in general. And, I think it's really cool to see how we have created a group of people who all love dogs and they all get to hang out,” Ergene said.

Beyond creating a safe space, the founders wanted to create opportunities for the club’s members through executive board positions. 

“When we first started with our executive board, we had about seven positions, and then we added a lot this last October, so now there's 23 people on our executive board,” Bregman said.

“We try to give as many positions out as we possibly can, give people that career experience,” Bregman continued.

From the beginning, Devil Dogs has always been about creating a steady foundation where people can share their love for animals and has grown to be full of opportunities for all parties involved. 

“We will always keep this with us and carry it on, like, in our future as far as if we adopt or keep fostering, just volunteering. I think it's been a great journey,” McKenzie said.

Photography by Jr De Chavez