No More Homeless Pets Forum November 18, 2002 Holiday Adoptions

Tips for holiday adoptions provided by Mike Arms, president and executive director of the Helen Woodward Animal Center, shares both his passion for saving animals and his tips for holding successful Holiday Adoptions.

Introduction from Mike Arms:

We kicked off the Home 4 the Holidays campaign earlier this week here at Helen Woodward Animal Center. This year over 1,100 animal shelters and pet rescue groups in 19 countries around the world will join us for this pet adoption campaign.

The first Home 4 the Holidays pet adoption drive began in 1999 when Helen Woodward Animal Center organized 14 San Diego area shelters to work together finding homes for orphaned pets during the holiday season. By the end of the 6-week drive, 2,563 orphaned dogs and cats were waking up each morning with their new families.

Word of this success quickly spread and more than 130 animal shelters in five states united for Home 4 the Holidays 2000, completing more than 20,000 adoptions. Last year 450 shelters participated across the United States, Canada, Mexico and Puerto Rico. When the drive concluded on January 6, 2002, more than 100,000 pets had been adopted, making Home 4 the Holidays 2001 the largest pet adoption event in history.

Our goal this year is to send 250,000 orphaned pets "Home 4 the Holidays."

In the past, many shelters discouraged families from adopting during the holidays to avoid impulse decisions. But it's time to face the facts. More families invite pets into their homes during the holidays than any other time of year. If shelters turn these families away, we may as well send them to a pet shop or puppy mill. We want to help these families find the right dog or cat for their lifestyle. Pets are a lifetime commitment.

What better gift can any of us give during the holiday season than to save the life of an orphaned animal?

Questions

Finding homes for adult pets
Increase in returns for holiday adoptions?
Handout for hectic holidays
Advantage of mobile adoptions
Campaign promotion
Adopting out pit bulls
Regulation of puppy mills
Adoption screening process
"Gift" adoptions

Finding homes for adult pets

Question from Member:

Thanks so much for all you've done, for so many orphans, for so many years.

My question is, how many adult pets have you been able to find homes for during holiday adoptions? Considering all the confusion that the holidays usually embrace, it would seem like a great time to peddle the advantages of adopting an experienced pet.

Response from Mike Arms:

Great question. Normally, during this holiday season, we adopt out more adult animals. First, we normally are out of the kitten season, so our adult felines get more attention. There are only so many young canines available, so, of course, the older ones have a better chance. We should always point out the benefits of adopting older pets any time of the year, and try to match the right pet with the right home life.

Increase in returns for holiday adoptions?

Question from Member:

I was wondering about animal returns during holiday adoptions. Do you see a bigger increase in returns right after the holidays? What percentage are returned to your shelter? What do you do to prevent returns?

Response from Mike Arms:

I really enjoy when readers ask the right questions, such as the one you just asked. The key answer here is proper screening to begin with. If you screen properly and help educate the potential adopter, you will not see an increase in returns. We have monitored this very carefully here at the center, and returns were lower post-holidays than other times of the year. Last year, the first two dogs turned into our facility were dogs purchased from a pet shop and given as gifts.

Handout for hectic holidays

Question from Member:

Do you have a handout/information addressing bringing a new pet home during the holidays, a time typically quite hectic in most households?

Response from Mike Arms:

We do have some tips about pets and the holiday hazards in our Home 4 the Holidays How-To Guide. Many shelters just give out simple flyers with good, common sense bullet points, same as they do with hot weather tips in the summer.

If you have a how-to guide, you can reproduce the holiday hazards page, add anything you wish, and just give a copy to each new adopter. Should you not have the guide, simply write to us and we will be happy to send you one. Thanks for caring.

Advantage of mobile adoptions

Question from Member:

I'm the Community Programs Coordinator for an animal shelter that also administers the County Contract. I am the sole executor of mobile adoptions and adoptathons in my agency. Because of a bad management situation, the staff is very disjointed, and basically operates under a very small amount of management.

There are several staff members who truly care about the animals, but have somewhat outdated ideas on topics such as holiday and mobile adoptions. Their lack of support as well as their influence on other staff really makes it difficult and almost impossible to hold things such as adoptathons and other community programs. I don't have management to go to, so my idea is that just winning them over with the opinions of "experts" and positive numbers towards these programs will be my only chance at unifying them--or at least gaining support from the people who really care about increasing adoption numbers.

"Animal Sheltering" and other publications seem to support off-site adoptions, but I have not found any really specific articles on this topic. Could you give me your "in-depth" opinion on the effectiveness and advantages of mobile adoptions? If you know of a specific article or even book on this topic, I would really appreciate that as well.

Thank you so much for your advice on Holiday adoptions in this forum! It has been really helpful.

Response from Mike Arms:

I am sorry for the problems you are having trying to help the animals. I do not know of any books on the market about doing off-site adoptions, but I do know some very important facts.

The animals in our care are being treated as second class pets by many people in this field. Example: pet shops and puppy mills sell more pets at this time of year, while we keep our pets hidden, not doing holiday adoptions. I always say "work with human nature". If this is the time the family has chosen to get a pet, help and educate them. Give an orphan pet a chance. Match the pet with the right family. Mandate spay/neuter.

Better yet, do like so many of us and only adopt out pets who are already fixed. I do get upset with those groups that don't want to do off-site or mall adoptions. Just think of the message they are sending. Pet shops are in store fronts and malls all over the country, so they can sell their puppy-mill animals with no client education, no mandated spay/neuter, etc. This practice has been going on for over 50 years. Now, when we want to put our orphans out there doing things the right way, with matching pets, educating the public, neutering the animals to control the population, someone says that's wrong. Well, that someone must work for the puppy mills because they're helping to keep those sales up.

Campaign promotion

Question from Member:

What are the main ways that people hear about Home 4 the Holidays in your area, and what do you think works best (flyers, radio, TV, newspaper)? This is our first time participating, and we are wondering what we should focus our attention on the most.

Response from Mike Arms:

Thank you for asking how to bring attention to your orphans. We start our season with a press conference and by asking one of the city officials to be the spokesperson. Once the person agrees to the time and the place, we invite all the area groups to join us, with animals, for the kickoff. The media will get more involved when you have a celebrity or city official as your spokesperson, and when you show you are working together for a good cause.

Press releases need to be sent to all media, keeping them up to date on your progress. Try to get on T.V. with a special pet that needs a home. Be persistent and creative and good things will happen.

Adopting out pit bulls

Question from Member:

Do you have any marketing suggestions on how to adopt pit bulls? Because a lot of shelters in our area will not accept pitbulls, we tend to be overrun with them and they are difficult to adopt because of the stigma associated with the breed, and because of our concerns for very strict screening.

Response from Mike Arms:

This is a good question. I think I would try something like this if I were up against this problem: knowing the power of the media, I would start working on an adoption day for bull terriers. Pick a day and plan it well, similar to an adoptathon but being breed-specific only. Place ads and send out press releases to get the public aroused. Use the opportunity to educate about the breed and cause excitement. Your screening of potential adopters will not change, but the volume of folks interested in adopting will really increase. Good luck.

Regulation of puppy mills

Question from Member:

While fighting against puppy mills on the local level by promoting shelter adoptions, is anything being done legislatively to change the laws regulating the puppy mills? The AKC spends thousands of dollars to lobby against puppy mill regulation. Do we have an opposing force in DC?

Response from Mike Arms:

I know the HSUS is trying to get things changed on puppy mills, but it takes a long time to change laws. I am trying to do things the old-fashioned, but tried-and-true way. If we stop the puppy mill sales by increasing our adoptions, they will close up and go away. The only way we can do this is by working harder and smarter than puppy mills and pet shops. We need to beat them for our animals sake. We can't get discouraged. We are fighting for their lives.

Adoption screening process

Question from Member:

What do you think a good adoption screening process entails? Do you think it is necessary to do home visits, vet checks, landlord checks? Our foster group has a very good screening process, but our Board refuses to adopt out animals on the same day. As a result, we do not do a lot of adoptions, and potential adopters tend to go to other shelters that do same day adoptions. I feel like we are not moving forward and are helping less animals each year as a result.

Response from Mike Arms:

The most important thing on adoption screening is good common sense. When interviewing potential adopters, find out about the previous pets they had. Where was that pet kept? Who was the vet? Can the vet be called to see if the pet was well cared for, etc? It does not make to much sense to me to not let the pet go home the same day, unless it needs to be altered. If you are lucky enough to get the family to come to you, rather than a pet shop or back yard breeder, then this family has already made up their minds about getting a pet. They did not drive all the way to your facility just for a joy ride. While they are at your facility, treat them well, educate when needed, and don't make things difficult for them. Puppy mills and back yard breeders are only too happy to sell that pet today, with no education or spay/neuter. Don't be helping them.

"Gift" adoptions

Question from Member:

I just wanted to clarify one thing. You're not advocating for adopting an animal as a surprise gift, correct? Our shelter has been involved with the Home for the Holidays campaign for the last 2 years, and we strongly discourage this practice and will, in fact, deny an adopter if they are unwilling to bring the rest of the household in to visit with the animal, or allow us to make contact with any individuals. I was unclear on your stance on this issue from reading the article on the campaign.

Response from Mike Arms:

Again, another great question. First, you should never allow gift adoptions to other families no matter what time of year. With that in mind, you must have proper screening in place. Your standards should never change and your quality should always remain. If you were going to adopt to this potential adopter May 10th, then you should adopt to them now as well. If you were going to deny them May 10th, then you should deny them now. All Home 4 the Holidays campaign is designed to do is direct those families interested in bringing a new pet into their homes to come to you, rather than promote puppy mill sales. The key is screening and educating.

Kindness to animals builds a better world for all of us.
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