Brunch and puppy yoga help Brandywine Valley SPCA find adoptive homes

Adoptable pups, a patio yoga class and Sunday brunch gave Brandywine Valley SPCA a different kind of rescue pitch in Glen Mills. PHL17’s April 9 segment put Sara Smith of the Brandywine Valley SPCA and Paul Foglia of Harvest Seasonal Grill in front of viewers to explain how the setup works: stretch with the dogs, linger over brunch and leave with a real connection to rescue.

The SPCA framed the event plainly on its own site: “Enjoy Puppy Yoga on the Patio at Harvest Seasonal Grill in Glen Mills - led by YogaSix and featuring our adoptable pups.” That wording does a lot of work. It puts YogaSix in the instructor role, makes the dogs part of the adoption pipeline rather than decoration, and ties the whole experience to Harvest Seasonal Grill’s Glen Mills location at 549 Wilmington Pike, Glen Mills, PA 19342, where Sunday brunch is part of the draw.

That brunch tie-in matters because it widens the audience beyond the usual shelter crowd. A standard fundraiser asks for a donation and sends people home; this format asks them to show up for a social outing first, then meets them halfway with puppies, a patio setting and a chance to learn which animals are available for homes. The result is a friendlier path from novelty to action, especially for people who might not walk into a shelter on purpose but will book a yoga class and brunch table.

Brandywine Valley SPCA has already used the puppy-yoga formula to drive shelter support. In 2024, it posted a Yoga with Puppies class taught by a certified yoga instructor, with all proceeds benefiting the BVSPCA. The group has also built puppy yoga into a broader public calendar: Walk for Paws 2026 is set for April 25, 2026 at West Goshen Community Park and includes a 5K color run, live music, a kid fun zone, a pet costume contest, a doggie lure course, yoga with puppies, vendors and food trucks.

That broader push lines up with the ASPCA’s Rescue Effect campaign, which it describes as a national effort to help more animals find loving homes. The campaign includes $2 million in grant funding to more than 100 participating shelters to help waive adoption fees and cover operating costs. Against that backdrop, puppy yoga on the patio looks less like a cute one-off than a practical funnel, one that turns a feel-good outing into visibility, support and, for the right dog, a possible home.