Even in Texas, large dogs need an image boost

For some people, there is no such thing as too much dog. More dog means more slobbery wet tongue, more foot-warming action, and more belly to snuggle up to.

Not everyone has reached this state of enlightenment, though. And for those with a lingering predilection for pint-sized pooches, a shelter in Dallas has a Texas-sized message: Big Dogs Rule.

It’s not that there’s anything wrong with mini-mutts; a dog is a dog is a dog, as far as most people in the animal protection field are concerned. But in shelters across the country, the smallest breeds are often the last to arrive at the relinquishment counter and the first to head home with new families.

Even in the Lone Star State, where tradition has long had it that bigger is better, placing big dogs takes the SPCA of Texas five times longer than placing their diminutive kin. And that’s a lot of dog being overlooked by prospective adopters, since 80 percent of the pooches in the organization’s three shelters weigh more than 35 pounds.

Last year the SPCA took this muttly matter into its own hands and launched a massive advertising campaign to promote supersized canines.
Through donated billboard space, free TV and radio spots, discounted newspaper ads, and assistance from local Starbucks outlets, they splashed the “Big Dogs Rule” message throughout the community.

In each case, the message was preceded by rhetorical questions that helped people reconsider their longheld biases: “Whoever heard of a seeing-eye Chihuahua?” read one of the promos. “Ever seen a Yorkie catch a Frisbee?” read another. “Could you really run a 10K with a toy poodle?” asked the third.

The community helped the shelter choose the catchy slogans from a series of ads submitted by local designers, who’d been lured into a creative competition when the SPCA put out a call for ideas on the Web and in its e-newsletter. Produced by a marketing firm called the Integer Group, the “Big Dogs Rule” concept was voted the winner by visitors to the SPCA website.

For its radio spots, the SPCA tapped into its connections to stardom: It just so happened that an employee in the marketing department had been friends with singer Edie Brickell and was able to call upon her old buddy to sing a jingle for the campaign.

Brickell responded with several spots so light, sweet, and simple in their delivery that they are impossible to forget. If big shelter dogs could sing, they might very well belt out Brickell’s lyrics: “Adopt a dog, adopt a big dog, and you will have a bigger friend,” she sings in one of the jingles. An announcer who follows says, “More dog means more fun! Big dogs rule. Adopt yours at the SPCA of Texas.”

Volunteers helped the SPCA take its message directly to the people—by showing up at several Starbucks shops in the Dallas area with large dogs in tow. Answering questions about particular shelter animals or about big dogs in general, they also distributed free t-shirts and dog neckerchiefs—and did their best to let people know that “big dogs are great companions,” says Anita Kelso Edson, the SPCA’s director of media relations.

As a result of the campaign, which ran from August through December, adoption of big dogs increased by 8 percent over the same period the previous year—from 891 in the fall of 2003 to 962 last fall, says Edson.

Those are impressive results for a campaign that cost the shelter a total of only $6,000. In-kind donations from Clear Channel and other companies made the price of fame for big dogs paltry by comparison to what it would have been if the shelter had been charged for the publicity.

The time might be ripe to launch another push for large pooches, says Edson. The SPCA is toying with the idea of selecting another of last year’s contest submissions as the basis for a new campaign. “There were some really, really clever entries; it was hard to choose,” says Edson. “That’s why we kind of put it out there for the public to vote.”

In one, a local college student used an image of a brown dog shaking water off himself and added a line at the top that read, “Large Chocolate Shake.” The text below the image read: “To go. The SPCA
has a large selection of large dark dogs to choose from. Pick one out today. Super Size it.”