Paws & Poses yoga event helps Manlius shelter dogs and adopters connect

A yoga mat in Manlius doubled as a rescue lifeline for shelter dogs when Paws & Poses brought attendees into the same room as adoptable pups and sent every donation to Friends of Second Chance Canine Adoption Shelter. The low-barrier class paired an all-levels flow led by Susan Marie Yoga with time to meet dogs looking for homes, and participants were asked to bring their own mats.

The setup made the fundraiser feel practical instead of polished. Sky Yoga Studios, which describes itself as a welcoming community space centered on yoga and mindfulness, hosted the session in a format built for easy drop-in participation, with no special equipment beyond a mat and no fixed ticket price. For prospective adopters, it created a relaxed setting to see how dogs handled new people and new energy. For the shelter, it turned a weekend class into direct support for daily care.

Second Chance Canine Adoption Shelter has been using that kind of community support for nearly a decade. The Jamesville rescue opened on October 16, 2015, to give local dogs from Central New York a second chance after pulling them from the overcrowded Syracuse City Shelter. Since then, the shelter says more than 600 dogs have been adopted. It operates as a not-for-profit 501(c)(3), with open hours Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at 6660 E. Seneca Turnpike in Jamesville, and adoption meets by appointment during the week.

The shelter’s adoption process is built around fit, not speed. Applicants must be at least 21 and live in New York state, and completed applications take at least 72 hours to process. The posted adoption donation is $300 for dogs and puppies and $80 for senior dogs 7 years or older. The shelter says it invests well over $500 in every dog it cares for, a gap that helps explain why a donation-based event can matter so much to its operating budget.

That mission reaches beyond the usual adoption model, too. Second Chance includes an inmate-program partnership at Jamesville Correctional Facility, where incarcerated people work with rescued dogs for mutual rehabilitation. Paws & Poses fit neatly into that wider effort, using a simple yoga class to do something harder and more lasting: help dogs in need get seen, supported, and, in time, matched with the right home.