December 20, 2009Comments are closed.adoptions, marketing
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Old Madam was surrendered when her owners moved. She’s not an overly confident dog, so will need time to bond. She is rude and confrontational with other dogs, so she’d be best being the only canine at home. Due to her low sociability and age, it’s best if she goes to a home with no children.
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I’m working with a group who have a fear of their public. They’re so afraid, that when I began to coach them to write a pet profile which highlights some of their adoptable pet’s best attributes, rather than just their worst, it threw them into a fit of panic;
Not all our dogs are perfect or even great. That’s just misleading and ultimately, dishonest. I’m uncomfortable with euthanasing animals just because they’re not perfect but I’m certainly not about to gloss them just to make them more appealing for someone who needs to be persuaded. Want a dog, here it is and here’s the truth about it. Don’t like the truth, bye.
People who think a dog is perfect, because he’s been marketed that way, bring the dog back. When shelter animals come back and they run the risk of being euthanased. Everyone in PR/marketing at the shelter has that in the back of their minds, so we don’t do gloss. Some of them aren’t lovable. They just need love. You will never convince me, or anyone who has worked at a shelter that spin or gloss is the way to sell animals. We’re honest, skidmarks n’ all.
Now if this shelter manager is right, and using a few positive adjectives in their pet advertisements leads to a spike in unsuitable adoptions, then frankly we’re dealing with much, much bigger problems than bad marketing. Are they not discussing pet ownership expectations with potential adopters? Interviewing them to match them to the right pets?
But the thing is, a rush of returns won’t be what happens. Apart from the whining, the exaggeration, and the hysteria, the problem with the shelter manager’s argument is that its based on a number of bad assumptions.
Bad assumption #1; people who are looking to adopt are the same people who surrender animals for trivial reasons.
The idea that ‘people are irresponsible, so we have to keep them from getting pets’, is universally false when dealing with potential adopters.
For a start, of the dozens of places this pet lover could have chosen to get their pet from, all of which are likely more accessible, convenient and straightforward, they have still chosen to visit a shelter. They have done exactly what we ask them to. Also, they are often attempting to adopt an adult pet, rather than a cute puppy, so they should get at least some credit for being willing to take an adult, faults and all.
Of course we’ll still want to have programs that support these owners through common behavioural problems to ensure their pet ownership experience is enjoyable and rewarding and to set them up for a successful life, but we need to give our fears about potential adopters a reality check. Chances are if they were truly ‘irresponsible’ we wouldn’t be dealing with them at all.
Bad assumption #2; you can’t write a positive pet profile and still include the pets negative traits
When we’re putting together creative advertisements for our pets we’re not trying to ‘gloss over’ less desirable traits, we’re aiming to attract the kind of owner that would suit them. Rather than write about all the pets negatives to keep the wrong homes away, we’re writing to engage the right home.
We use a little formula when we’re helping new groups with writing pet profiles for the first time;
– What’s the best thing about the pet?
– What’s the best thing about the pet’s new owner?
– How would the pet’s perfect day go?
By answering these questions when writing a pet profile it gets you thinking, not about the pet’s limitations, but about what kind of home would actually suit the pet, the pet’s ideal owner and how best to pitch to target the advertisement to them.
We no longer protect pets by keeping the wrong people away, but seeking out and engaging the right people.
At the core of this debate was a 9 year old staffy named Madam. Madam’s owners had to downsize. She was old, got tired easily and sometimes peed without realising it. But she had a lovely smoochy face, kind eyes and given the month waiting period to get into this shelter, had come from a family who cared for her.
Rather than a general outline of the disadvantages of adopting this lady, I implored the shelter to consider spending time highlighting her personality, with the view that some of the things we deemed as negatives would actually be positives in the eyes of her new family. These little personal details, good and bad, would draw in the right kind of adopter. This is the kind of advert that would find Madam a home.
Everyone dreams of a worry free retirement of relaxation and maybe a little luxury. That’s certainly what I had hoped for. Growing old with my loving owner, watching TV… eating the occasional carrot (its weird for a dog I know, but i just love those crunchy veg).
I think it could be said I’ve always been a good dog. I might have spooked cats, and I’ve never been terribly good with other dogs. But I’ve always tried hard and always loved my family with all of my heart.
But then my owner moved and now here I am. An old dog in a shelter full of young dogs. So much noise and nothing like home.
To be honest, I’m a little scared. What if there is no one for me now? What if no one wants an old recycled dog that gets tired easily, can’t really run any more and sometimes pees in the night? What if no one wants a dog with a grey muzzle who hates the young whippersnappers sniffing her and would rather not go to the dog park?
What then?
What I need is a new person. One who doesn’t have a dog, or little kids, but that understands that some of getting old is embarrassing and frustrating and whom will make a promise to me to protect me forever. Who will watch TV with me in the evenings and let me sleep indoors with them.
My forever heart-person – I will wait for you. Please hurry.
……………..Madam is our pet of the week. She needs an extra special owner and a special comfy bed which we will provide as part of her adoption package. She also will need to be fed premium food (we can advise you) and regular health check ups to keep her in tip top shape.
If you think you would be a good candidate as a lifetime home for Madam, then please give us a call.
By targeting her adoptability as ‘a senior for a senior’, to newspapers and websites primarily targeting seniors, we are putting her in front of the kind of people we’re looking for. I’d also give her a snappy title on her PetRescue listing, like ‘devoted senior seeks loving retirement’. And I’d have a list of other senior pets available so that when Madam was adopted, we could have another profile ready to pitch to any other suitable homes.
Positive, authentic profiles find pets their perfect homes.
Bad assumption #3; a return is some kind of unmitigated failure.
Certainly, pets who’ve been returned are at risk if we start to view them as unadoptable. But from their ‘failed’ adoption comes a whole host of new information about the pet which can be used to make the next home a much better match.
Also, the family who returned the pet, now knows much, much more about their animal requirements. Like human relationships, it’s hard to pick the love of your life in a fifteen minute date and yet often, the family doesn’t get much more time than that to choose their new family member.
If you start to view returns as simply a ‘trial adoption that didn’t work out’, suddenly some of the guilt and blame is removed and you can start a dialogue that will result in a much more positive outcome for the pet.
Resistance to the public and efforts to ‘turn them off’ have caused the death of many, many more pets than a campaign promoting the best of rescue pet adoption ever could.
We are in the business of creating a demand for these animals. Marketing your pets positive traits in an authentic fashion will bring you nothing but improved outcomes for your animals. In contrast a fear of failed adoptions stifle creativity and frankly just sucks all the fun out of one of the funnest parts of our job!
Our power comes not from resisting our public, putting up walls and trying to keep the ‘bad’ people away; but opening our organisations to our communities, asking for assistance and working to encourage the ‘right’ homes to adopt. While our guys aren’t perfect, we must dare to do show how perfectly lovable they are.
Well done for highlighting this problem…. unfortunately you are accurate.
The language used in the defense piece at the beginning of your article betrays some entrenched cultural views, eg
“Want a dog, here it is and here’s the truth about it. Don’t like the truth, bye….” and “Some of them aren’t lovable. They just need love..” It is clear that this shelter only wants to adopt to a Mother Theresa – a vastly benevolent compassionate martyr for the cause. Any lesser mortal need not apply. They have made ‘perfect’ the enemy of ‘good’.
Beneath this language is a “holier than thou” attitude – and it is this very attitude that kills dogs and cats.
They have forgotten why people own pets in the first place… compassion and companionship.
Great article – entrenched views like these are barriers to adoption, not beneficial at all.
Using any returns as an opportunity to learn more about the animal is also a fantastic way to change perspectives.
I know for a fact that our positive approach has resulted in adoptions, because the new owner took the time to send through some photos and a thank-you message. This owner specifically adopted a cat from our SEL program because she was impressed by the bright, colourful and cheery way we promoted these cats.
She then drove to the Gold Coast from Brisbane to adopt, and has now been telling all her animal-loving freinds about us.
Already, there are too many people who won’t even visit a shelter because they deem them ‘too depressing’ – how do you expect to change their minds when you’re telling them about the animals’ faults?
They are going to assume the dog or cat is ‘unadoptable’ and will be killed because of it – that’s why they don’t attend shelters – nobody wants to go home and think about all the animals who could be destroyed because it seems the shelter itself doesn’t have faith they will find their perfect match.