MAV'S RESCUE FRIENDS

Saw this online and thought it was just great. The memo is on how to run a no-kill shelter and the trials and tribulations involved. His response to any questions of what to do and options available to his sometimes less than supportive employees was pretty simple: “stop the killing, stop the killing, stop the killing.” He made no killing the only option and it was interesting all the other options they figured out to stop euthanasia:  http://catnet.stanford.edu/articles/nokillcommunity.pdf

There are a lot of great ideas in this memo with other articles involved. The first article is particularly good in that the head of the shelter really got the community involved, got vets to agree to low cost spaying and neutering, got air time for the pets, even put the puppies up by the front desk, etc. The result was that the volunteer rate in the community went through the roof and they even had to turn away vounteers; donations also went through the roof. This article is a must read.

I am less sure than the author of this article that we have enough homes in this country to have every shelter be no-kill without spay and neutering programs but we could probably do so with a combination of policy. In other words, if we stopped allowing pet stores to sell pets and charged breeders a surcharge or something to disincent overbreeding and then offered everyone low cost spaying and neutering or mandated it than we could find homes for all the extra pets we have today. However, if we do not do this, it becomes a bit of a treadmill as we will constantly have an overpopulation.

The one thing we can’t figure out about this is that it seems inexcusable that people who run shelters across the country do not take the time to read about best practices from other shelters. This article for instance has some great ideas. Most of this stuff should be table stakes and frustratingly many are still poorly run today. We are forever hopeful the internet will hasten the transition to a better world for animals.

I recently read a list of ideas that emanated from a no-kill conference, and I particularly liked the idea that all shelter staff should wear t-shirts with bright colors.  Every time I enter a shelter the environments are very cold and unwelcoming. The idea of making them more comfortable, the staff cheerier looking, lowering barriers to adopting (and they should also do so for volunteering), and making the environment conducive to animals playing with potential new owners seems obvious though not commonplace.

A lot of shelters make it difficult to meet with dogs and play with them, and you certainly do not get “sold” on dogs while you are there. The process is often very difficult and depressing. Less depressing t-shirts seems like a no-brainer.

In our limited experience so far in fostering the process feels very inefficient. It would seem very worthwhile for every animal group to put videos of their dogs on the sites as well as tons of updated information and stories about the dog so people can become attached to the dogs and cats over the internet. The more information the better. We can see this because every time there is a high profile cruelty case there are 1000 people trying to adopt the animal. If organizations wrote about the dogs’ issues, what they have gone through, and how they have changed since being in the foster home we can’t help but think cats and dogs would be placed faster.

We came across a story recently of a dog that was posted online and was adopted within seconds and thought what a great piece of inspiration for rescue groups. Good marketing and a person looking for this type of dog and bingo! The more information the better, as it allows for this type of connection to be fostered between a person and a dog.

We have been extremely fortunate to work with some great organizations over time and have gotten more involved with SFTH recently with our fostering of Cosita. The people there could not be sweeter and nicer and it is truly a wonderful organization. This is one of the only organizations we have been part of that does not have paid workers so everything is done by volunteers. We think that is just wonderful, as the money makes its way to pets. As an organization run by volunteers, SFTH needs to find volunteers with different skills to accomplish everything from web design to fostering.

Take for example. If we want to send in updated photos and comments about Cosita, we cannot just add them to their site ourselves. We do not have access to their web hosting, etc. so we need to email the head of SFTH who then emails the volunteers they have that work on the website. The website people are volunteers that are doing everything on nights and weekends and they are doing it out of the kindness of their hearts. But, SFTH cannot email them four times a day with different requests as they do not want to overburden them. This is the reason that when people try to adopt from various rescues or interact with smaller non-profits they have to realize that these aren’t big companies run smoothly like Amazon or Apple. So, when dealing with non-profits try to be patient and remember that a lot of them are staffed by volunteers who are using their free time on nights and weekends.

We are still more than a bit surprised that we have darling Cosita still at our house. We live not too far for Manhattan, where people pay thousands of dollars for dogs much less cute than Cosita (we are clearly biased though :)). She is a sweetheart, and we have taken her to a few adoption events and there is always a lot of interest but nobody has pulled the trigger. So, what gives?

A few ideas:

-adopting a dog is harder than buying a dog (have to fill out forms, provide references, go through interviews, arrange a time to see a dog, etc.)

-lack of awareness (many people would be surprised to learn how many amazing dogs are out there to be adopted)

-some people understandably want to be a dog’s first owner and start with them at 10 weeks of age

-lack of salesmanship in shelter land (if you go to a pet store in Manhattan, you will see some adorable pets and will be told they really seem to warm up to “you” specifically and will be gone if you don’t buy right then)

AIf Cosita cannot find a new home, we wonder how long people end up fostering some of these older dogs. One issue that we also feel makes a huge difference is that although it is better for the dogs to live in homes with fosters, the no-kill shelters seem to be a better option for more people as you can go in and see 30 dogs and see which one fits your fancy. It is a bit of an issue actually: is it better for dogs to be in rescue kennels at a pet store and be adopted faster or live in foster homes and take longer? We don’t know, but it would be nice to have a combination of both.

Saw this short article about this great dog the military adopted that has served to help the military overseas. http://www.examiner.com/military-community-in-national/willy-pete-self-taught-marine-dog-of-helmand-province?CID=examiner_alerts_article He works around the clock to alarm the guards of danger and has even taken a bullet in his line of defense. What I found most interesting about this is that the military appreciates him so much that they took time to do an interview on him. Willy is a special dog to say the least.

So, we took Cosita Bonita too Manhattan for Broadway Barks yesterday to see if we could find her an amazing family. The event is pretty cool in that stars from various Broadway musicals bring dogs on stage for rescue groups, tell a back story, and show the dog. Everyone stopped by to meet Cosita, and we are still puzzled with how she is still available.

The issue we are having of course is that we have volunteered to foster Cosita as our first foster pup, and we worry about giving her to a new family after a certain amount of time. Her experience in life thus far has been traumatic enough, so we do not want her to become too attached to us (and vice versa :)) and then be removed from our home. After a certain point that we haven’t defined yet, we will keep her thus denting our future foster parent prospects. Having two small, playful dogs feels like a lot, but we probably will have room to foster a dog or two in addition.

Cosita did great on stage and many people showed interest in her, but there were a couple of families we really liked and would be delighted for her to end up with them. My brother and sister are trying to adopt her as well so we are hopeful that we will find the BEST home possible for her. She has been nothing but a great addition to our family so far so if you have room in your heart and home for a new addition please contact us. She is truly an amazing dog. She is extremely easy, loving, and just great to be around.

As we have spent a lot of time thinking about and writing about spaying and neutering, we thought we would comment on this new law proposed in St. Louis to require mandatory spaying and neutering. While this is a step in the right direction and well intended, we think the law misses some important points.

Primarily, if you have penalties for not spaying and neutering and a family cannot afford it, then many people will just let their dogs and cats go on the street or wherever as they will have no option. You can only enact legislation like this if it provides for free spaying and neutering for people under a certain income or wealth level. In general, the town should set up low-cost spay and neutering clinics that get the cost down to $50ish so that it is not a burden on people. The combination of friendly legislation and low-cost options/free options should work well. Cities need to think this through very well, as one successful implementation could lead to a model for other cities to follow. Although probably not a good idea, it may even make sense to give people below a certain poverty level a $25 gift card or whatever to bring in their pets. Taking care of neglected puppies and kittens after the fact is just so much more expensive than stopping the unintentional breeding.

A couple of cities in Ohio are backing away form labeling all pitbulls as dangerous just because of their breed and are now taking a “breed specific” approach to the issue. A councilman said “it just seemed fundamentally wrong to say that a certain breed is bad. That’s like me saying that all people that come from northwest Ohio aren’t good people and in today’s day and age, to really determine and know what breed a dog truly is, is virtually impossible with all the cross-breeding that goes on.” Makes sense to us that it is better to look at the individual dog’s behavior rather than target breeds.