The Cochrane and Area Humane Society has just received a large grant to the tune of $125,000.

The Humane Society received the cheque from the Alberta Government in support of the new Rehabilitation and Education Centre.

"It's the maximum amount of grant allowed under the CFEP program," said Cameron Westhead, Banff-Cochrane MLA

Tracy Keith, Cochrane and Area Humane Society, Executive Director, said there are a lot of exciting programs being rolled out.

"Internally, the big one for the shelter animals is a program called 'Play For Life' which will be starting over the next couple of weeks; which will allow the dogs to socialize and a place to play, get exercise, do training, and agility. We are also introducing several programs available to the public which will help to sustain the sheltering operations we do here. Some of those include a public grooming facility, we have a public self dog wash, and we are doing a day program in the New Year called 'Wag Wednesday,' where people can drop off their dogs in the morning and pickup later in the day - we do some training with them, agility, and help with socialization, play time, essential oils, and Kong time."

The first glimpse of the new facility will be at the 'Pet-I-Cure' being held on Saturday, November 26.