Staff and volunteers at the Austin Humane Society are sleeping with dogs and cats, literally.

It's called "Home for the Holidays", a program which started last year where staffers and volunteers sleep inside of the kennels with pooches and pussycats.

The whole point, says Leslie Coons with the Austin Humane Society, is to educate the public on the needs of these animals.

"It's to raise awareness about how scary and lonely it can be in the shelter for these animals and why it's so important for them to have homes" says Coons.

Friday evening staffers and their 4-legged companions watched DVD's, took pictures with Santa and played a variety of different games to pass the time.

The Humane Society is however discouraging people from coming in to buy pets as gifts.

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Instead they suggest interested parties should come in and get a gift certificate, that way the gift recipient can come in when they want to pick the pet that's best for them.