High School Cross Country Team Runs With Shelter Dogs: 'The Kids Love It'

A Florida high school cross country team has added some new friendly teammates, shelter dogs.

Steinbrenner High School’s cross country team has partnered with the Humane Society of Tampa Bay to take four dogs out running, five days a week, with the team.

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“It’s been great. The kids love it. They love getting community service hours in such a fun way and you can tell that the dogs love it,” Allison Ennis, one of team’s coaches, told InsideEdition.com.

The team, which is comprised of 30 members, splits up into four groups. Each group takes one dog with them.

The entire team took a three-hour class earlier this month to learn how to deal with the high-energy canines. Depending on which dog each group has, they run one to five miles, per day, Ennis said. 

Ennis said the dogs have definitely boosted morale. 

“A lot of the boys consider the dogs we have been running with part of team,” Ennis said.

Two teammates, who graduated this year, loved one of the dogs, Jasper, so much that they adopted him.

Jasper had been at the shelter since April.

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“Jasper was high energy, could run for a long time, and was very loving and sweet. He fell in love with the team immediately," said Ennis.

The teens will continue to run with the dogs, who are all up for adoption, until the end of the summer. 

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