MUNCIE, Ind. — An animal shelter in Muncie, Indiana, is asking "Pokemon Go" users to walk shelter dogs while they play the game.
The augmented reality game encourages players to get up and out while they hunt for Pokemon characters.
"I started playing with Ruthie, and it was actually pretty fun," he told ABC. "Then the other day, while on my way to work, I noticed droves of young people walking around playing this game. I thought, 'Wouldn't it be great if all those people were walking with our dogs?'"
"Pokemon Go" collects GPS information from players' smartphones to place Pokemon in locations that are within walkable distances. Many characters are placed in public places.
Peckinpaugh created the program Pokemon Dogs to push his idea.
He created a flier and posted about the program on the shelter's Facebook page. The Facebook post has been shared more than 25,000 times.
Peckinpaugh said lots of people have already begun participating in the Pokemon Dogs program.
"There's been an incredible response, and it's just kind of taken off," he said. "We even had to go and buy more leashes this morning."
"Just swing by and come to our front desk and ask for the Pokemon Dogs," he said. "And then, you know, maybe you even fall in love and come back and adopt that dog one day."