Petfinder Blog

'Tis the season ... of Christmas re-runs. But there's a new movie I bet will be on your seasonal favorite list from now on -- and a brand new Petfinder program to go with it.

The show is Hallmark Hall of Fame's presentation of A Dog Named Christmas.

Based on a great little book by author and Petfinder blogger, Greg Kincaid, the story follows a developmentally challenged young man who fosters a dog from his local shelter during the holidays and he gets the whole community involved. It's a feel-
good story with a great message.

The idea inspired Petfinder to start the Foster a Lonely Pet for the Holidays program, and we hope you will invite a shelter pet into your home for this special time of year.

Remember when we ran a cat-room-makeover contest in honor of Adopt-A-Shelter-Cat Month? The winner, Central Minnesota Animal Care & Control, received $1,300 worth of gorgeous cat furniture from The Refined Feline for their new colony-housing cat room.

Well the makeover is complete, and what a difference! According to the St. Cloud Times, shelter staffers designed the cat room to look like a living room, painting the walls tan and adding a viewing window, a faux fish tank and artwork on the walls.

The Refined Feline contributed two litter-box holders designed to resemble end tables, two cat shelves and three cat towers.

Shelter owner Lisa Tenter tells the paper: "[The cats] love it. They're laying around, stretched out, letting me scratch their bellies. They would never do that in a cage."

The new room's impact is more than cosmetic. Says Tenter: "The cats will be less stressed in here. Less-stressed cats mean healthier cats." (Read the full article here.)

It's that time of year again ... time for the third annual Petfinder Adoption Event! On Oct. 27, eleven D.C., Maryland and Virginia-based shelters and rescue groups will join the Petfinder team for a day of adoptable dogs and -- in an event first -- cats!

The event, which is free and open to the public, will be held at Discovery Communications World Headquarters, One Discovery Place, Silver Spring, MD, from 4 to 6 p.m. It's a great opportunity to meet some of the people behind Petfinder, not to mention your new best canine or feline friend. We'll also be offering snacks, prizes and free custom pet tags.

Here's who will be there:

Best Dawg Rescue

East Coast German Wirehaired Pointer Rescue

Lizzy's Lodge

Lucky Dog Animal Rescue

Montgomery County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals

Montgomery County Humane Society

Partnership for Animal Welfare

Roxie's Fund

Shingilana Rescued Felines

St. Seton's Orphaned Animals

Washington Animal Rescue League

Last week saw the launch of The Shelter Pet Project, a joint venture between the Ad Council (the people who brought you "This is your brain on drugs"), the Humane Society of the United States and Maddie's Fund.

Its mission: to encourage adoption through humorous radio and TV ads like the one above and a fun and interactive Web site. The project is all about using a light touch to  disprove common misconceptions about pets in shelters -- something we can totally get behind!

Our favorite part of the project? The Web site's great Pet Personals section, which helps you find Petfinder pets that suit your personality and lifestyle. Check it out and let us know what you think!

We recently ran a post about a New York Times columnist who bought a dog even though her young son had urged her to adopt.

The reason? Her husband wanted a Golden Retriever -- or at least a "bigger dog ... who fetched and swam" -- and they didn't think they'd find one in a shelter.

Our blogger wrote that it's a common misconception that there are no purebreds in shelters (in fact, 25% of shelter pets are purebred). One commenter suggested another misplaced belief:

[T]hat somehow a shelter animal (even a purebred rescue) is somehow less healthy or less valuable.  ... People feel [that] spending $800 or $1,000 on a purebred dog or cat is a symbol of how high-class they are as individuals.

So we decided to put together a list of common adoption myths, in the hopes that you can gently point friends toward this post when they talk about why they've got their heart set on buying.

Myth #1: I don't know what I'm getting
There may in fact be more information available about an adoptable pet than one from a breeder or pet store.

Many of the pets posted on Petfinder are in foster care. Foster parents live with their charges 24-7 and can often tell you, in detail, about the pet's personality and habits. If the pet is at a shelter, the staff or volunteers may be able to tell you what he or she is like.

At the very least, you can ask the staff if the pet was an owner surrender (rather than a stray) and, if so, what the former owner said about him or her. Quite often pets are given up because the owner faced financial or housing issues (more on that later). You can also ask about the health and behavioral evaluations the pet has undergone since arriving at the shelter. In contrast, pet store owners rarely have an idea of what a pet will be like in a home.

We can tell people how great shelter dogs are until we're blue in the face, but nothing changes people's opinions like seeing it in person. That's the thinking behind The Dog Saving Network, a Chicago-based organization dedicated to "us[ing] fun, creative mediums to promote the benefits of positive reinforcement training, generate compassion and encourage shelter adoptions!"

One of the group's coolest initiatives is the Life's Ruff stage show, featured in the MSNBC clip above. The show features adopted former shelter dogs performing tricks they learned in just a few months of twice-a-week training sessions with their regular-folks owners.

What an original, entertaining way to prove to people that shelter dogs are not "damaged goods" -- and that just a little bit of positive-reinforcement-based training can turn any dog into a star!   

On Aug. 12, Petfinder and shelters and rescue groups across the country celebrated Adopt-A-Less-Adoptable-Pet Day, a day we designated to give all those pets who are often overlooked a chance to shine.

Here are just a few ways adoption groups put their extra-special pets in the spotlight -- and found new homes for some of them as well:

Three New Jersey rescue groups, Friends of Homeless Animals in Hawthorne, Here Kitty Kitty! in Paterson and Angels of Animals in Clifton teamed up to do a joint ALAP Day adoption weekend at the PETCO in Clifton. Senior cat Izzy, who'd been waiting for her forever home for way too long, found that home thanks to ALAP Day!

Our friends at The Grey Muzzle Organization, which helps at-risk senior dogs by providing funding and resources to animal shelters, rescue groups, sanctuaries and other non-profits nationwide, added our senior-pet search widget to their Web site, GreyMuzzle.org.

Washington's Seattle Animal Shelter got the story of Adopt-A-Less-Adoptable-Pet Day out to local media and bloggers. As a result, five "less adoptable" pets found new homes, including two Pit Bulls with special needs!

After 15 weeks and more than 4 million votes cast, our friends at The Animal Rescue Site have wrapped up their second $100,000 Shelter+ Challenge.

The grand prize of $20,000 went to Best Friends Animal Society in Kanab, UT. Says Best Friends interim CEO Gregory Castle:

This is truly a wonderful gift for us
here at Best Friends. We are very grateful to our loyal supporters and to The Animal Rescue Site and Petfinder.com. This $20,000 prize will go far to benefit all the animals at the sanctuary as well as support our ongoing outreach to work towards a time when there are No More Homeless Pets.

Back in April, we surveyed Petfinder visitors about their experiences adopting, or trying to adopt, from shelters and rescue groups. A whopping 2,667 people responded -- and boy, did you have a lot to say (read more about the survey here).

Although 86% of respondents were "very" committed to adopting rather than buying a pet, many were discouraged by a lack of responsiveness from or other bad experience with an adoption group (40% said they had contacted an adoption group about a pet and received NO reply).

Now, Maddie's Fund is working with us to award $50,000 in prize money to Petfinder.com member shelters and rescue groups in the U.S. who demonstrate good customer service. The Put Your Best Face Forward program is designed to encourage shelters and rescues to assess their customer service and entice them to improve it if it is lacking.

Here's how it works, courtesy of Maddie's Fund:

From July 13 through September 18, there will be three ways to win cash awards!

Rescue groups--Check your in-box!
Each week, Petfinder.com will randomly e-mail three member rescue groups with questions about an available dog or cat posted on their website. If they get helpful information about that animal within 24 hours, the rescue group wins $500.

Shelters--Answer the Phone!
Each week, Petfinder.com will randomly call three shelters with questions about an available cat or dog posted on the website. If a live person answers the phone and provides helpful information about that animal (or connects the caller to someone who does), the shelter wins $500.

Be there live with a winning smile!
An "adopter" will randomly visit one selected shelter in a different state each week. If the "adopter" reports that the shelter experience was positive, pleasant and helpful, the shelter will win $2,000.

Read on for recent winners!