How To Help That Shelter Dog!
Did you find a stray dog and surrender them to the animal shelter and now they need a home or found themselves on the euthanasia list?
You can't adopt or foster yet still want to help them but... how?!
Or maybe a dog at a shelter has caught your eye and you are compelled to do whatever you can to help them make it out into a good home?
The Answer: Market That Dog Like Their Life Depends On It (it may)
How To Help Market A Shelter Dog For Adoption, Foster, and Rescue Placement
- WORK this will take some effort, time, and persistence - prayers and strings of emojis are not gonna do it!
- MARKETING varietal, repeat hits of the same message (dog) - it may be the 4th time someone sees the message that they decide to take action
- FOCUS don't be general, be specific & personal!
Let's break it down into pieces.
Any or all of the below recommendations may help the dog!
Even just one action may help them. Do what you can!
MEDIA + DOG NOTES
- photo(s)
- video(s)
- interaction notes
Have any of these? Use them!
Ensure photos and notes are on the shelter's website profile for the dog. If not, find out how to make that happen and get it done, asap.
Haven't met the dog but saw them online? Google their name and ID number and others' posts may come up for them with photos that are happier, cuter, more indicative of their personality than what is on their online shelter profile. Coordinate with that person to see about getting those better photos in the most visible spot(s) for the dog! (photos someone takes belong to them so be sure to get permission!)
SOCIAL COMMENTS
- on existent posts with high visibility
You can search for the most active posts on the dog and leave comments on these posts.
This is often going to be more effective than making your own posts if you are not a regular user of social media platforms and/or don’t have a lot of eyeballs on your own content (via followers, friends).
For example, if the shelter or an influencer is promoting the dog - they already have an audience engaged for that exact content.
But, really, commenting anywhere and everywhere on any post is helpful!
Tips to make your commentary most effective:
- MULTIPLE COMMENTS If you have several photos, videos, or notes leave tidbits in separate comments on the same posts. We live in a super low attention span world so people scan info. Multiple comments will also trigger the algorithm that the post has activity. Multiple comments also mean more places for people to engage (likes, commenting on your comments). When the algorithm is triggered, the post is shown to more eyeballs. What we need here is EYEBALLS!
- BE SPECIFIC AND PERSONAL Have you met this dog? Did you have experiences with them? Talk about that including details of what was particular about this particular dog. Appearance, behavior, interests, little things you noticed, their specific story that you know about them, etc.
- SPREAD OUT YOUR COMMENTING You don’t have to leave all your commentary at once. Peppering comments over hours or days is cool. Rewriting similar notes on the same post(s) at different times is cool. The way social media works is that no one is seeing everything. So you want to keep tapping, digitally, so more people see something.
- SPAM TAGGING RESCUES is 100% not effective. This is spam to the content poster, the rescues, and the algorithms. Here is the work to to to help a dog get into a rescue!
SOCIAL MEDIA POSTS
- make your own social media posts
If this is challenging for you - just do what you can. Again, your advocacy may be all the dog gets, it gives them a chance, and may get in front of the right eyeballs to help them!
There are many social media platforms - if you already use some, post there. If you are going to join a social media platform to promote this dog, one of the best ones may be NEXTDOOR. On Nextdoor, just photos and text can get around. Facebook, Instagram, and Tiktok algorithms generally prefer more edited content (reels, for example) and an account needs an audience (followers) for the content to push out. So, starting a new account for an urgent dog is not the best use of your time and effort - try other methods! Remember... the goals is AS MANY EYEBALLS AS POSSIBLE.
Other options include asking friends or family who regularly use social media if they may post on behalf of the dog with photos, video, and/or info you pass to them. In this case, that person sharing the personal story, for example: "My mom found this dog and she is working so hard to help get him out of the shelter. [story of that]" may be effective.
AVOID EXTREME DESPERATION
It is common to become very emotional in a situation where a dog's life is at risk. However, keeping a level, rational head is the best thing you can do as you market the dog for successful placement. This is not the time to withhold or invent information about a dog in order to "save" them.
Examples of this include avoiding communication of known, challenging behavioral or health issues.
Invented "Tragedy Narrative" is very common on desperate "save" pleas and can lead to poor placement sometimes putting the dog in a vulnerable or dangerous position. This is often invented backstory detail ("was never loved," "clearly abused," "never had a toy before") meant to trigger significant emotional response.
Remember that we cannot save them all and poor placement of a dog often means they may go right back to the same situation - in a shelter with a deadline or, worse, an immediate EU routing because of something negative which happened because of poor-match, "Savior Complex" placement.
Read more about ANIMAL RESCUE THEATRE issues, including "Savior Complex."
The best scenario for good placement is rational and responsive action (vs emotional and reactive).
EXTRA CREDIT IDEAS
- PERSONAL NETWORK Share story & information via email or text
- PHYSICAL FLYERS create & place at your workplace or favorite coffee shop
You are a good person for helping this dog. You are their advocate.
If the dog does not make it out, remember that there are worse fates than humane euthanasia and you did right by them.
We are in a world EXTREMELY overcrowded with dogs who we have conditioned, over generations, to need us for survival.
Dog overpopulation is at a genuine crisis level, all of the time.
If you would like to continue to advocate for dogs or help work on core, long-term solutions start learning via our DLB BIG IDEAS articles, be wise with where your time and money goes, and be sure to understand compassion fatigue and take breaks absolutely whenever needed!
Godspeed, thank you for helping that dog.
RESOURCES
Tips To Market Your Foster Dog
Adopting A Dog From Out of State (or area)
SOS: A Billion Dollars... Why Is Nothing Changing?
We cannot help every dog in need but, with some effort, you may be able help a particular one!
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