Petfinder Blog

MarthaStuart.com blog The Bride's Guide is asking readers: "Do you intend to honeymoon with your pet? If so, where are you going and how do you plan to get there?"

Blogger Jennifer Miranda even gives Petfinder a nice shout-out, writing:

To me, someone who was never allowed to have a significant pet besides a few goldfish and a newt, that [idea] is just bizarre.

But pet travel is becoming more and more popular in recent years, so much so that Petfinder.com even created a list of the five pet-friendliest airlines.

What about you -- would you take your pet on your honeymoon? Take our poll after the jump.

Have you ever wondered what it would look like if dogs ruled the world? What if they selected their forever families at shelters?

Members of the band You Scream I Scream teamed up with Petfinder member shelter the MSPCA Adoption Center -- Nantucket in Nantucket, MA, to find out ... with hilarious results.

We're celebrating Adopt-a-Shelter-Cat Month by partnering with LOLcats site Icanhascheezburger.com to bring adoptable cats to a whole new audience.

If you check out any adoptable cat on Petfinder, you will see a button under his or her photo that says ADD TO ICANHASCHEEZBURGER.COM.

When you click, you have the chance to write a creative LOL-worthy caption. You know the pictures ... the ones that when you look at them, you can't help but put words in the cat's mouth?! Well, here's your chance.

Once you submit a captioned adoptable kitteh (that is LOL-speak for cat!), she will go into the gallery and Icanhascheezburger visitors will vote on their favorites.

The top vote-getters make it to the home page with a link back to the cat's Petfinder profile. It's fun -- and it will also, we hope, get more people to check out the adorable, adoptable cats on Petfinder.

I love my cat. My cat loves her (huge, carpeted, gray, well-scratched) cat tower. But I have to admit, I do not love the cat tower.

How to decorate a stylish home that's also fun and stimulating for cats is a perennial dilemma. Luckily, The Refined Feline has a solution in its assortment of high-end cat towers, litterbox cabinets, and cat beds.

And in honor of June, Adopt-a-Shelter-Cat Month, The Refined Feline is partnering with The Petfinder.com Foundation to help pets in need.

By clicking this link, 10% of purchases will donated to the Petfinder Foundation.

The Refined Feline is also helping our shelter and rescue-group members in two ways (if you are a Petfinder member, visit the admin page for more info):

1) One lucky Petfinder member will receive a cat-room makeover with Refined Feline cat furniture worth more than $1300. We'll share the before-and-after pictures here on the blog!

2) The Refined Feline is also offering members an affiliate program, in which groups can sign up to receive 10% on all orders placed through their Web site.

Happy Adopt-a-Shelter-Cat Month, everyone!

Want to learn more about Petfinder and all the ways we help our shelter and rescue group members get their pets adopted? Check out our 2008 Annual Report.

Some highlights:

• Petfinder accounts for 65% of U.S. and Canadian adoptions.
• For about a quarter of our 12,500+ shelter/rescue group members, Petfinder is responsible for 80-100% of ALL their adoptions.
• Petfinder sends adoptable-pet listings to over 275 popular Web sites such as AOL, Petco.com, Walmart.com, Oodle and MySpace, reaching millions of potential adopters every year.
• Petfinder Mobile takes adoptable pets on the road - via cell phones, BlackBerrys and iPhones.
• The Petfinder.com Foundation awarded more than $1,000,000 in cash and products to our members in disaster-relief grants and power-generator awards.
• Petfinder pets data will power the adoptable-pet search on the web site for the Ad Council's first-ever animal welfare-oriented campaign in partnership with the Humane Society of the United States and Maddie's Fund.

Download the PDF of the report here and let us know what you think!

While some of the 12,500+ shelters and rescue groups that list their adoptable pets with us will only adopt locally, not all of them have that policy, and we often get Happy Tails from people who traveled huge distances to adopt the perfect pet they found on Petfinder.

But this story about British couple Rose and Chris Rasmussen takes the cake. The pair spotted Sparky on Petfinder and fell in love, despite the fact that they live in suburban London and Sparky was at the Clare County Animal Shelter in Harrison, Michigan.

(Read the full story at Central Michigan's TheMorningSun.com.)

With help from Clare County Animal Control Director Dave Gendregske, who completed piles of paperwork and made
sure Sparky was microchipped, vaccinated, quarantined and vetted, the Rasmussens were finally able to travel to Harrison to collect their new family member.

Many congratulations to brilliant comic-strip artist (and tireless pet-adoption advocate) Patrick McDonnell, the creator of Mutts, for adopting a new dog -- whom he found on Petfinder, no less!

In his May newsletter, McDonnell writes:

On Saturday, March 13, Amelie joined the McDonnell clan. At 1.5 years old she is full of life, love, and energy. We don't know too much about her background, but she was surrendered to Animal Care and Control in NYC, spayed, and then brought into Posh Pets Rescue in Manhattan. After placing her in a foster home, Posh Pets put her profile up on Petfinder. A few days later she was on her way to her forever family.

Thanks to YOU, Petfinder Mobile is the winner of the People's Voice Webby Award in the category Mobile: Listings & Updates!

Thanks so much to all who voted (I know it was a challenge to register sometimes due to the high volume of traffic, so we are especially grateful for your persistence).

We are so proud to have a mobile application (you can view it from your desktop at m.petfinder.com) that allows users to view adoptable pets from wherever they are. Our dream is that adoption advocates like you can use Petfinder Mobile to spread the word -- that is, when your friend talks about wanting to buy a puppy from a pet store, instead of just TELLING her to check out Petfinder, you can SHOW her all the great adoptable pets near her.

Petfinder facilitated more than 2 MILLION adoptions last year, and we couldn't have done it without wonderful supporters like you!

Check out all the Webby winners here.

Previous entry:

Petfinder Mobile is nominated for a Webby Award!

Here's another update from Elizabeth Lujambio, founder of Marley's Pit Stop in Los Angeles, on Liza Bean, the shy pit bull she's fostering whose debilitating fearfulness was the subject of a phone consultation Elizabeth won with It's Me or the Dog star Victoria Stilwell.

(Read Elizabeth's first post-consultation update here.)

Week #2

With Victoria Stilwell whispering advice in our ears and the support all of the Petfinder members, Liza Bean and I embarked on week two of Liza's training.

Basic training agenda included reinforcement of the "sit" command and learning the "down" and "stay" commands. We also introduced a new person to the training: a tried and true Marley's Pit Stop volunteer and foster failure (he kept three foster dogs!), Dave.

Initially, I began the teaching of basic commands. Liza B. always had her "sit" mastered -- although, because she has such a long body, it takes her a bit to get there! Next, we began the "down" command, using treats and the leash from her already-familiar "sit."

We found out that while Liza can do a "down" nicely, she prefers to do so on grass, not on hard surfaces! Who's training who here?! We are practicing the mechanics on grass and can get her to a low crouch on cement. Hopefully, this week she will be able to do a proper "down" regardless of surface.
 

A few weeks ago we invited Petfinder rescue group members to nominate their behaviorally-challenged dogs for a chance at a complimentary phone consultation with It's Me or the Dog star and renowned dog trainer Victoria Stilwell.

Painfully shy pit bull Liza Bean at Marley's Pit Stop Rescue in Los Angeles earned the most votes from Petfinder visitors (meet the runners up here).

Victoria called Liza Bean's foster mom, Elizabeth Lujambio, and although she'd only committed to a 20-minute consultation, she spoke with Elizabeth for 45 minutes. "It was amazing!" Elizabeth tells us.

Victoria told Elizabeth that Liza Bean needed to do some independence training. Elizabeth realized she needed to "take a step back and stop thinking of her as my little dog -- and start giving Liza Bean some tools to build her confidence."

After the jump, Elizabeth's description of her consultation with Victoria and Liza Bean's progress.