Thursday, September 26, 2013

Gear Up for Adoption

Shelters and Rescue Groups have more opportunities than ever to get the word out about the dogs and cats available for adoption but with so many groups vying for attention it's only too easy for some of them to slip through the cracks, even with the advantages of social networking.

The issue becomes how to best take advantage of social networking and any other means of making people aware of all the wonderful pets just waiting for a new home and a new leash on life.  Here are just a few ideas That can help my local shelter, your local shelter, any local shelter or rescue group.

1. Don't underestimate the power of the written word.  Instead of writing a plain description of the cat or dog, let the pet write the description. How much more appealing it is to hear, "I promise to love you forever if you'll give me a forever home" along with a self-description. Open a Facebook page if you don't have one already and put the description there along with a photo of the pet and ask people to Share the picture and bios, then use Twitter to share the description and photo. And don't forget your good old fashioned newspaper. See if they'll give you a weekly adoption column. They may or may not have room for pictures but the descriptions can certainly run. You can do a column featuring two or three a week.

2. Pictures will help. There's nothing more appealing than the sweet face of the adoptee. But those pictures will be far more appealing if you have a volunteer who is a groomer who can make the pet look clean, neat and cute. Another improvement is taking pictures that don't look like police mug shots. Set up a cute photo using props in an area of the shelter. Now use that photo on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram as well as Google+.

Mary Slaney adopted Vinny more than a year ago.


3. Don't underestimate the power of clicker training. You can use a clicker to make life more interesting for shelter pets, teach them manners or a trick and then be sure to brag on all of your social networks how clever the pet is in his self-written bio. This will help your adoptees stand out among the crowd on social networks.

One more tip: don't ignore e-mail posts containing all of this information with a request to forward. Everyone knows people who know people who know people, and so on.  

With a little imagination and tapping into volunteers, utilizing their skills and talent, you can incrrease the number of pets who are adopted.




8 comments:

Layla Morgan Wilde ( Cat Wisdom 101) said...

Every little bit of action helps! It's Remember Me Thursday :-0

Michelle Liew said...

Great tips indeed!

rescuegal said...

Great tips and ideas in this article for rescue groups and shelters to get the word out about the animals they have who need a forever home. All of these tips work to a greater or lesser degree, so don't just use one, try several. I just got a kitty from a NY rescue group. They successfully used facebook and email. Thank you Ms. Arden for getting the word out.

Darlene said...

Thank yiu, everyone, and special thanks to Rescue gal for letting us know about your newcomer with thanks to social networking for making that happen!

Carolyn M said...

I agree with all of your great ideas! We have our own 11 yr. young Sharpei Mix, Sandie ( http://sandieandfriends.blogspot.com/ ) and are in BlogPaws too! She was rescued from a kill shelter on her PTS date. We adopted her at age 2 and now, today, we have a home check for adopting another dog. The pictures are what attracted us to her!

Darlene said...

Bless you for taking that girl in and give her a forever home! Pictures can make a real difference. Whatever can be done to make the dog look more appealing, more like a beloved pet than a prisoner off to the gas chamber will help make the dog more adoptable.

My pet Diary said...

Thank you for sharing your thoughts about Gear Up for Adoption.I am glad to stop by your site and know more about pet Adoption. Keep it up!

Pet social network | Pet community

Darlene said...

Thank you so much, My Pet Diary. I appreciate your comment and your support!