Wow what a summer. We
are truly sad and happy at the same time that this summer is over. It brought so many great people together
to help the pets in our community who don’t have owners.
I was one of those people that grew up amazed at times when people
liked me and so when the summer kicked off and the whole city and other areas
joined in to help us and show us that so many people cared about our cause and
organization it was heartwarming. Yes,
you really do like us.
743 dogs and cats found homes this summer and 248 animals
were pulled from local pounds during the challenge. We worked closely with Campbell, Appomattox
and Bedford shelters and we even pulled a few dogs from Buckingham and a few
kittens from the Amherst Pound.
We had a lot of adoption specials. From Free up to $25 to even a Name Your Own
Price. I got a number of phone calls and
saw things on Facebook from other groups about their concern about giving
specials or giving them away from free. The
concern was about our screening process and having returned adoptions.
We screened adopters just like we do when the adoptions are
full price. We make sure the needs of
the pet are going to be met and it is a good match for the adopter. The price of the adoption fee didn’t change that. Sure we had people come in that couldn’t
afford the regular adoption fee and were enticed by the reduction but talking
with people and explaining upcoming costs helped in that process. We did decline people and not every person
got the pet they wanted.
One of the other groups was very upset about returns and how
many animals are going to come back to us after so many were adopted out and
how important taking time to let people really “think” about the adoption
rather than being an impulse.
I understand the fear but let me tell you about one impulse
adoption. A woman came in the day after her
dog was put down to donate food and his bed, fell in love with a dog and took
it home the same day. She knew it wasn’t
the right time or thing to do and if she had thought about it she wouldn’t have
done the adoption. It was an impulse
adoption but you know what, it is still in her home 5 years later. We can tell
far more stories about impulse adoptions working than those that didn’t
work.
Yes, adoptions fail
but it isn’t because they didn’t think about it and give it the proper
consideration. Sometimes the animal
behaves differently in the home than it does here, or it isn’t a good fit, or
life changes for the adopter or there are a million other logical reasons
.
We are ok with returns because we get that no matter how
much you screen and talk and share, the adopter may have different expectations
than reality and the animal might behave differently than how it does in a
shelter. Because animals don’t belong in
shelters.
With all that said our return rate has been lower this year
compared to last year.
In 2013
January 1 – September 10th we had 786 adoptions and 70 returns which
is a 9% return rate. This
year, January 1 – September 10th
we had 1,184 adoptions and 91 returns, which is only 7%.
In speaking with other shelters we are well below the average
nationally. In some shelters the return rate is as high as 15%.
I think this challenge showed us a number of things. Such as, people like to have their photos
taken when they adopt and people love seeing them so we are going to continue this. We need to have other types of adoption
events and goals throughout the year so we can continue to save more lives and
get people excited.
And the biggest
thing that this challenge showed us is that we have a great community who
really supports our efforts. I often say that an organization is as good
as their supporters and I think we are the best non-profit in the city. But I am
biased.
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