This?

Or this?

From a WA animal shelter’s ‘Adoption Adviser’;

The great offence that these potential adopters committed? To need some support in working to getting landlord approval to have a pet.

When people willing to open their hearts and families to a rescue pet feel the only option they have is to lie to us, then we’ve failed to give them the information they need to have a successful pet ownership experience. There are dozens of resources we can provide to people having landlord issues; with some coaching, a clever pet resume and a reference from the shelter to offer to take the pet back should the adoption not work out, maybe this landlord could be swayed to allowing this pet. Simply denying and scorning people who clearly wanted to adopt badly is petty and unhelpful. Not to mention the likelihood that these potential adopters will now go to a pet shop, the one place we beg people not to go to!

If you allow festering attitudes of ‘us against them’ to live in your shelter, then you will have a team not working to make adoptions happen, but to relish in the chance to refuse them.






More info:

and here:
http://www.petfriendlyrentals.com.au/blog/2010/02/petnet-tv-series-two-part-special-on-renting-with-pets/

You need to join forces with other rescue groups and hold a fee-free adoption event.

I know, right – but, hear me out.

Unfortunately, many non-profit organizations often seem to believe that there is a limited pie of resources out there and, therefore, they are in direct competition with other humane groups in the community. This is really more a matter of perception than reality. Animal lovers are amazingly generous, especially when they feel that groups are working together to get an important job done. And our community, animal groups and the general public have all pulled together to create one of the safest places in the country for homeless pets.

Nevada Humane Society, No Kill Shelter since 2007

When 41 shelters and rescue groups across Alameda and Contra Costa Counties got together for the Maddies Matchmaker Adoptathon, offering would be adopters free pet adoption, they did so with the aim of emptying their shelters.

Shelters and rescue groups screened applicants as per their usual guidelines and used extended shelter trading hours, as well as PETCO, PetSmart and Pet Food Express stores to showcase their animals. The result? An overwhelming success;

Take a moment to consider that result – what would happen in your community if 1,500 pets were rehomed in a single weekend?

By co-oincidence, on the same weekend, New Zealand SPCA, offered a free-feline Friday. The Wellington, Wairarapa, Newtown, Waikanae, Levin and Masterton offered cats to the public with a waived fee over the weekend.

Their experience?

The Masterton office was flooded with prospective owners on Friday morning, Wairarapa SPCA manager Val Ball said.

Within two hours of opening more than 20 people had called in for free felines and seven cats had been adopted.

”There have been more people than cats here this morning, we’ve been overrun,” she said.

There had been 30 cats rehomed out of the Masterton centre by Friday afternoon and 150 animals given away in their Wellington offices.

I’ve often argued that we should be increasing the value of our rescue pets, by promoting them as ‘better than free’ and I still believe that is true. Many in the community are turned off by ‘free’ – to them it says ‘faulty’, ‘common’ or ‘things nobody wants’ – which is why FTGH ads are usually so ineffective in attracting genuine adopters. I don’t want a free pet – I want a great pet. I’ll just pay for one thanks…

But these promotions are different. ‘Free’ is a talking point. ‘Free’ builds a buzz. ‘Free’ is a cue that tells you it’s a limited time only offer. Groups getting together and offering ‘free adoption weekends’ gets people excited about lots of pets to choose from and promises a fun, festival atmosphere.

Since everyone is getting their pet free that weekend, it doesn’t come with the same ’stigma’ usually associated with a free-rescue pet. And with studies showing no difference in attachment levels between pets where the owner paid a fee – or didn’t – there is no good reason to kill pets ‘for lack of homes’, rather than coordinate your own BIG FREE ADOPTION WEEKEND!

It might just save a few hundred lives.

Nuffnang Competition: Help homeless dogs with The PEDIGREE Adoption Drive!

We’re happy to announce a blogger competition in support of The PEDIGREE Adoption Drive, which aims to encourage people who are thinking of getting a new dog, to consider adopting a homeless dog.

To encourage bloggers to help spread the word about The Adoption Drive, PEDIGREE is offering a prize to the best and most creative blog post published about why people should consider adopting a dog between now and June 15, 2010.

In today’s Sydney Sun-Herald, is a series of articles about the RSPCA and other animal welfare group’s efforts to have the sale of pets through pet shops banned.

> 250,000 healthy cats and dogs killed each year
> No homes for them
> Pet industry ‘needs regulation’

Tighter legislation is needed to regulate dog and cat breeders to stop the slaughter of more than a quarter of a million healthy animals in Australia each year.

Animal welfare groups backed by Sydney lord mayor and NSW independent MP Clover Moore blamed commercial breeders for producing too many animals, and pet shops for the unacceptably high death rate.

Working on the project Where Do Puppies Come From? I know there are enormous problems with the modern pet production industry. Companion animals living in a battery situation is not only wrong on animal welfare grounds, but because it sets dogs up to fail in their future lives as family pets. I get that puppy farms are a repulsive industry that needs to be booted into the history books. I really do.

But the idea that we can wipe out puppy farms through some inventive law, totally oversimplifies the issue. Certainly we can restrict the people who can breed pets, and we can ensure that the farms are clean, rather than dirty (see a related post ‘Should there be a ‘breeder permit’ system?‘), but the idea that banning pet shops sales will somehow lead to less pets killed in shelters, is simply false.

Banning the sale of puppy-mill dogs from pet stores will not stop people from buying puppy-mill dogs. It’ll just send them to the internet where the puppy mills have even less accountability (if that’s possible). Or to the newspaper to buy poorly-bred dogs that way from someone who won’t ask too many questions.
KC Dog Blog

Until we are in a position to compete with pet shops in their own market – genuinely taking a share of their business – we cannot even begin to offer an alternative to pet shop purchases and this business will simply move from pet stores to internet and newspaper traders.

Why people buy from pet shops

Pet shops are located in convenient places, where people go. Being visible the community attracts potential customers, while the animals are presented in clean, well lit and well ventilated enclosures, all at eye height to maximise impact.

They offer convenient opening hours, 7 days a week 9-5. The offer a ‘late night trading’ nights where they stay open 7pm and later. These extended hours attract customers who work, who have families (and money to pay for lifetime care!) and who are looking for a pet.

Staff greet visitors to the store when they enter, helping to determine the reason for the visit and offer assistance. The friendly, upbeat atmosphere and ‘regular customer’ discounts build a relationship that attracts repeat clientele, until eventually the person either returns to purchase a new pet, or simply can’t resist and takes a particular pet home.

500,000, or half a million, puppies are estimated to be sold in pet shops each year. The idea that there aren’t loving families looking for pets (overpopulation), is blown out of the water, when you consider that there is a constant stream of homes available to these pets. Even in the face of high pet shop prices ($400 – $1,500).

Savvy shelters are realising that they have to adopt some of the retail smarts of pet shops. The RSPCA NSW have built the ‘RSPCA Care Centre’ a customer focused retail space to promote adoptions, while the RSPCA QLD have built a mobile adoption van, to get their pets out into the community. The AWL Queensland use 8 ethical pet stores to help them give their pets exposure, while foster care groups are able to join the PetRescue in-store adoption program.

So while advocates complain that pets shops sell too many pets, while pounds are killing theirs – of the thousands of pounds and shelters across the country, only a handful do much to try and offer an equally attractive level of service to potential clients.

The move to internet purchases

If pet shops stopped selling pets tomorrow, this would be how puppy farmers would continue to represent their pets to the public;

And this would be how pounds show their available pets;

Or you might see one of these pics on their website:

Pound:

Now might be a good time to point out that a photographer would often lend their time for an incredibly low rate, while a student photographer can often be sourced for free; so it’s not cost interfering with this process. There’s no excuse for every shelter pet not to get a gorgeous, engaging photo. Especially when it might save their life…

Overpopulation is a myth; we need to dig deeper

When you consider the hurdles to adoption, the out of the way locales of most pounds, the inconvenient opening hours and the difficulties in getting pounds to work with their communities, rather than against them – it’s a wonder that any pets get adopted at all.

But they do.

Thousands of people hit PetRescue each day, hoping to adopt a pet. The Million Paws Walk sees 60,000 pet owners bring their pets to over 70 events around the country and raise over $1 million dollars for the RSPCA. Pounds who take the time to ask their communities for help, are overwhelmed with offers of assistance. And Facebook groups for animal shelters are becoming one of the most popular and effective on the web.

Shelters need to stop worrying about ‘overpopulation’ and work on the real solutions to the homeless pet problem. Getting as many pets adopted as possible, educating the general public so that they understand the benefits of carefully researching your pet acquisition decisions and assistance in finding advice when faced with the realities of owning a pet.

Banning pets shops is noble, but ineffective in reducing shelter killing

Shelters need to be networking with like-minded local pet businesses, supporting our public, effectively promoting our pets and helping people adopt. It’s only when we stop complaining that pet shops are ‘out-selling’ us, and start taking responsibility for giving the pets we have the very best chance of finding (and keeping!) a new home, that we can finally start to address the real causes of shelter killing.

I delayed posting on this article from last month’s Animal Sheltering magazine, because I wanted the public version to go online – but this article about the importance of exercise for shelter dog’s adoptability is freaking genuis!

One of the first and most essential components of modifying almost any inappropriate behavior is proper exercise. Unless you have a team of fit volunteers who happen to be training for a marathon, it is unlikely you will be able to provide these dogs with enough walks to supply them with the amount of exercise they’ll need to become mentally and physically calm. In the beginning, hard dogs may need long stretches of exercise to make up for weeks or months of inadequate energy release and to combat the symptoms of cage anxiety.

For this reason, I highly recommend a daily, or even twice-daily, supervised, controlled romp or game of fetch in a fenced area, followed by a controlled walk. These supervised play sessions should last a minimum of 20-25 minutes (shorter durations in hot weather) and can involve Frisbees, balls, or other exercise-inducing toys. (My favorite is the Chuckit! line, which can be used to toss a tennis ball long distances without the need for slobbery ball handling.)

It is not important that the dog actually fetch the object—although this time can also be used to teach appropriate play drive and even fetching. What is important is that the dog use this time as an opportunity to appropriately release pent-up energy and get the exercise he needs, and have the opportunity to move forward unfettered, which is an inherent and necessary behavior for all dogs.

You can use a variety of toys and other tools to stimulate the dog to move during this supervised romp. If the dog is friendly and non-aggressive with other dogs, find another non-aggressive, high-energy dog and allow them to romp together (supervised, of course). You can even play a game of tag with the dog yourself, as long as this does not overstimulate the dog and lead to wild leaps at your face or tackling maneuvers.

Once the dog appears to be tiring (and happy!) from his unfettered romp, you now have an opportunity to teach him how to walk on leash and move forward with humans instead of pulling and working against them. Now that he has had the opportunity to release stored energy, his mind will be in a better state to focus on commands and comply with your wishes.

As someone who works in a shelter where the dogs are kept entirely separate and walked by volunteers on leash only, the revelation that this isn’t even close to enough exercise for even a moderately active dog was a bit of a light bulb moment.

Can you imagine cooping your own dog up in your bedroom for a week, then releasing him to someone who’s never met him to take him for a leash walk to judge his personality? No wonder our potential adopters aren’t enamored!

Get this article, print it out and GIVE IT TO YOUR SHELTER MANAGER. It will absolutely save lives.

The April/June edition of the Journal of Applied Animal Welfare Science ‘Factors Relevant to Adoption of Cats in an Animal Shelter‘ researched the effects of toys, cage location, and cat characteristics (activity level, age, sex and coat colour) on the adoptions of 111 cats available in an animal shelter.

Results showed that “active cats were more likely to be adopted during the 16-week study than cats that were less active”. This adopter preference has serious implications for shelters with an environment which sees cats sleep for most of the day. It is probably also one of several contributing factors for higher rates of adoption of the more active kittens and adolescents.

The study suggested that shelters should investigate cage enrichment and conditions that provoke interest in the cats as a way to foster an environment that promotes adoption. Allowing adopters to interact with the cats through open plan cat rooms, allocating volunteers time to encourage daytime activity in the animals and interactive cat toys may all be ways to bring about a connection with cat and potential adopter.

The study also found that animals with toys in their cages were viewed more times than those without, regardless of whether the toys were actually played with by the cat. Cats housing at eye level, were viewed more than those on lower tiers, and the more a cat was viewed, the more likely that it would result in an adoption.

Another pound using the media to get the word out about their available pets;

While I’m not a fan of the associated article that details how awfully irresponsible their community is, at least these guys are trying to get the word out about the pets they have in their pound. Maybe, just like in the instance of Fraser Coast, the ‘irresponsible public’ will be the ones to answer the call and save the lives of these pets.

Combined with their new outreach desexing program for the pets of the disadvantaged, low income earners and pensioners, Logan seems determined to turn the situation around for their homeless animals.

An interesting statistic from the report was that 9 out of 10 cats are entering the Logan shelter are unidentified and undesexed (unowned). Unless a program of non-lethal ‘community cat’ management is introduced, it will be impossible to bring the kill rate of 600 cats in three months down. Fractious cats who’ve never lived in a home have no adoption prospects once in care – we must protect them from entering the shelter in the first place.

Logan needs their community’s support. If you live in the area, take the time to spread the word about their ‘Save a Pet’ campaign – they need everyone to step up and help them change their future.

Why do pets die in shelters? I no longer believe in the ‘too many pets, not enough homes’ reasoning because I can’t make the math of hundreds of pets being sold by pet shops, in the newspaper and on the internet each day, gel with the idea that no one wants the pets we have.

The myth that the public simply don’t want to adopt pound animals and that shelters are just ‘doing the dirty work of an irresponsible public’, was dealt another blow recently, when the ‘irresponsible public’ answered the call;

10 May 2010

Pounds inundated with dogs

The Fraser Coast Regional Council is being swamped with dogs caught wandering the streets of Hervey Bay and Maryborough.

Compliance Officer Gaye Ah Quay said 125 dogs had been picked up across the Fraser Coast by the Council’s compliance officers during the last three weeks and only 46 could be identified and returned to their owners.

“That has left us with 79 dogs to re-home which is going to be extremely difficult,” she said.

17th May 2010

Public keen to house unwanted pets

THERE has been a fantastic response from the Fraser Coast public to an influx of unwanted dogs into the Coast’s pounds.

Pancake, Puffy, Two Tone, Roxy, Snowy, Foxy and Sam all have new homes and Bluey and Red are hopeful after a fantastic response from the Fraser Coast public to an influx of unwanted dogs into the Coast’s pounds.

A crowd of people was waiting at the pound gates yesterday, keen to adopt their pick of the 79 dogs needing homes while other people rang offering temporary accommodation for the animals until a home could be found.

Fraser Coast council compliance officer Sally Cripps said the compliance officers were overwhelmed with the response and expected to re-home most of the dogs and several cats.

“It is fantastic to see that so many people care about these animals and are willing to step up when they know there is a need.”

Fraser Coast residents have been willing to adopt pets from local pounds.

I don’t understand why we’re constantly surprised that, when instead of blaming the public for killing, we reach out to them for assistance and they come forward to help us. Thousands pour into the Million Paws Walk, hundreds open their wallets when they hear about a single abused pet and dozens open their homes and their hearts each time a group of pets are saved from a puppy farm.

It’s time to reject the old mantras that the public are our problem and start believing that they are our allies in the fight against shelter pet killing. Whether you believe it possible or not, if we are ever to overcome the “not enough homes” part of our problem, we have to stop denigrating the communities we’re meant to be in partnership with.

Your community does care. They will help you if you ask them to and show them how.

Get ready to find out!

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Pedigree teams up with PetRescue

SYDNEY: Pet brand Pedigree is set to launch a $4 million campaign for its 2010 Pedigree Adoption Drive in partnership with rescue organisation PetRescue.

Designed to pull on the emotional heartstrings of all Australians, the campaign takes in TV, print, online, digital, PR, and point of sale to highlight the 100,000 unwanted dogs which are euthanased every year because homes can’t be found.

Pedigree brand manager Ryan Buckle said the campaign was part of the brand’s global positioning to make the world a better place for dogs.

“At Pedigree we believe that every dog should be fed well and have a good home. We do this by offering them the best value supermarket brand pet food, and championing initiatives such as The Pedigree Adoption Drive with our partner PetRescue.”

Creative agency Whybin\TBWA will drive the TV and print execution, media agency Starcom has booked the media schedule, which includes a partnership with Channel 7 and AFL sponsorship with sporting ambassador Western Bulldogs captain Brad Johnson.

Whybin\TBWA will also work with Digital Democracy to launch a website to encourage Australians to either adopt a homeless dog, donate online or buy Pedigree, with proceeds going to PetRescue.

The campaign will also launch the Dog Adoption Index, a report into the issue of Dog Homelessness in Australia, in collaboration with PetRescue and celebrity ambassadors Tom Williams and Myf Wharhurst and will feature a ‘Yellow Dog Day’ event on 4 June, created by Ambient, which will see yellow dogs appear across Australian capital cities.

A man walks into your shelter and drops off a canary in a box. Do you

a) recognise that you don’t have any aviary facilities, so do the ‘kindest thing’ and kill the bird. The man should have been a more responsible owner!

or

b) post the bird to your Facebook fan page of over 10,000 members offering him ‘free to great family’ and have a new home before COB?

The internet is changing everything.

I presented on this topic at last year’s NDN conference. But the potential just keeps growing…