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Adoption and transfer

Improve and increase adoptions—discover new adoption marketing ideas, best practices in transfer, inspirational stories of unlikely adoptions, resources to improve the adoption process and more.

  • Just the facts, ma’am … or maybe not!

    We are truly living in a remarkable age, when new studies and data on sheltering are shaping and confirming best practices seemingly every day. For the first time ever, we can truly set policies based on what we actually know, not what we think we know.

    But no matter how much science and evidence is produced to dispel a myth (like “black dogs are overlooked for adoption”) or support a new best practice (such as eliminating adoption barriers), our field is often slow to embrace new information and make change.

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  • Transporting to the future

    Ten years ago, in a small, tidy shelter in one of the poorest areas of Mississippi, that was one of the first questions I heard. I was in Mississippi working on a project to assess the severity of the overpopulation issue, helping develop effective spay/neuter messaging and provide hands-up help in training, networking and some funds working on a project launched in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.

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Most recent Tools and Resources > Adoption and transfer

  • Magazine Article

    Kindred spirits

    At Dakin Humane Society, Alanna Regan cuddles spirit cat, Maui.

    Shelter programs focus on finding new homes for shy or frightened 'spirit' cats

    by Pamela Babcock

    Vinnie Van Gogh, a reticent feline, spent four months at Dakin Humane Society before his photo appeared on the shelter’s website with the headline “The Socially Awkward Cat for the Socially Awkward Adopter.”

    “Seriously all this guy requires is a couch and someone to give him his daily necessities,” the write-up by the Springfield, Massachusetts, shelter read. “Take him home, and have a perfect buddy for all those times that going out is just not worth the effort. He understands.”

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  • Magazine Article

    In full bloom

    Rachel Bloom and her dog Wiley promote adoption with videos and public service announcements for the Shelter Pet Project.

    Crazy Ex-Girlfriend actor and co-creator inspires people to #AdoptPureLove with the Shelter Pet Project

    by Bethany Wynn Adams

    If you watched the Golden Globes back in 2016, you couldn’t miss her: Collecting a Golden Globe for best actress in a television series, musical or comedy, Rachel Bloom was visibly ecstatic, motor-mouthed and breathless, practically leaping from the screen.

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  • Magazine Article

    New tricks for old dogs

    Adoption center spreads love for 'grown-ass adults'

    by Olivia Bobrowsky

    In 2017, Sarah Javier set out to solve a problem that vexes shelters everywhere: How can you help senior dogs get adopted faster?

    Javier, the president and executive director of the Animal Protective Association of Missouri, took the question to her board of directors’ marketing committee. Their response? Don’t call the dogs “senior.” Call them grown-ass adults.

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