Dartmouth, N.S., animal shelter holds open house [Video]

An animal shelter in Dartmouth, N.S., decked the halls Sunday for its holiday open house.

Bide Awhile animal shelter is a not-for-profit, no-kill shelter. Twice a year, it holds an open house to celebrate the community support it receives.

“We’ve had an incredible year, another record-breaking year for us. So we’re just celebrating the great success with everyone who’s made this possible,” said Sam Cole, Bide Awhile’s communications and marketing coordinator. He said it was a busy year for the shelter.

“Currently, we have 583 adoptions,” said Cole. “We still have a couple of weeks in December to go. Last year we had our record-breaking year of 598, so we’re hoping to hit that 600 mark this year just to push it a little further.”

Bide Awhile is currently caring for about 60 cats and four dogs. Cole said some are up for adoption but new arrivals are going through the intake process.

“Everyone …