This dog was adopted about 6 years ago from a shelter, he was so shy and didn't hold much promise......until, a cat went by. It seems in his other life, we never like to think about, the "other life" he must have had a cat. The family took their very stable cat down to the shelter for a meet and greet and it was love at first sight. We do worry about people taking their pets into shelter for meet & greet, simply because it's not predictable. But, this worked well, and so as shelters across the country shove animals out the door for a chance at the brass ring of happiness , lets hold good thoughts.
Our local Humane Society is tossing them out like pancakes at a Fireman's Fundraiser, I hope some of the matches work, and not all is lost with buyers remorse. I know the public usually goes to the shelter with the intent to at least look at an animal to consider for adoption, the offsite events are a different thing. Our shelter is overcrowded and less than candid with adopters, most of the returns were of dogs placed in homes with cats where the index said " no cat' so can we strive for honest placement, and can rescues compete with a Humane Society giving them away for free ?
We so wish our Memphis friends a sucessful settling in at the new place, we were still nuts for the first year, then of course the Humane Society went No Kill and everything really went to hell, but our Animal Control has fine staff and they know what to do and how to get things done, so hopefully with Mitch gone, we can get back to caring for the animals. I do have several anon comments that if you would like to name and resubmit I would be happy to put up, except a couple :) Even if I agree with you, I wouldn't say that publicly.
7 comments:
Pretty dog. I do think offsite adoptions can work if they are publicized and that is what draws the people in. There are some people who just can't go into a shelter, and so there is a place for offsite, but not sneaky offsite. Our new shelter is out of the way and it might be better to have a few adoptions on the other side of the city. I do agree the people should be looking for a dog though and not a loaf of bread.
The new shelter is way better than the old one but we are having some moving in problems, I don't want to see it sink into a bitch session though.Constant criticism is a waste of everybody's time. Why BTW is anyone from Memphis writing to Shirley Thistlewaite. Wake up Memphians. Ignore them, they are not worth time you could be spending at the shelter.
I just checked the CA, they are on the pay thing again. may be just a test.
I thought at first maybe the CA folks were filtering access by IP address, but I hit the pay wall this morning too after logging out and logging back in. I guess people will be getting their news from the TV station websites now.
I agree with Southern Belle about the new shelter. There are problems with any new facility - how many people move into newly constructed houses and don't have a few glitches? That's why builders give warranties. And I know you're right about Shirley, but sometimes I just can't stop myself from trying to infuse logic into their discussions.
It will be interesting to see how many of the complainers show up for Saturday's grand opening. At least there's no hail and severe storms in the forecast like there was on the original date.
...the return due to cat issues is one of the few that really makes me grind my teeth.
The scenario goes like this: the adopter is counseled that the new dog (or cat) should not even see the resident cat for the first three days, interactions only under a door at most(scent and sound allowing them to get used to the idea of another animal slowly in a more natural way instead of being forced onto each other), another three to five days of being able to see each other with out having to interact, then supervised interactions for at least another week to ten days. The adopters are reminded repeated that going slow will get them to an integrated household much quicker than pushing for fast.
Then the newly adopted pet is return within 48 - 72 hours for "not getting along" with the resident pet.
This is one of the many reasons that follow-up call to check in, with reminders and coaching, can make all the difference for a successful adoption.
Care needs to be taken up front, support offered through the process, and check-ins down the line. That makes for responsible placements.
Easy? No it is not. Worthwhile things often are not easy.
Well stated points dog logic, hows our Rio and Moon Dog ? I lost my copy of the Eio picutre I did for you or I would use him from time to time.
Your inddroduction method is most excellent, but the ones that worry me the most are the known cat killers and they still are " taking chances"
As you know both of us are in shelters that are doing this promotion and having veryy different styles.
SB has it right if the adoption event is the reason they have come to the location then it's a good thing, but if it's impulse, a bad Idea.
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