Features
Petfinder Blog
Introducing the brand-new Petfinder Blog …read entries from the Petfinder staff including (mis)adventures with urban wildlife, news in animal welfare, cute ideas and more. If you have any blog-worthy news, such as a really incredible rescue story or an unusual event, email outreach@petfinder.com.
Recent Blog Excerpt:
By Cary, public reception
Posted June 30, 2008 2:18 PM
This weekend I went to the Celtic Fling, a great Celtic festival held at the Pennsylvania Renaissance Faire grounds on the Mount Hope Estate & Winery in Manheim, PA.
The Mid-Atlantic Great Dane Rescue League was there with a few of their gorgeous babies. They had a really cool way of getting donations …Read More...
Have You Seen?
There are lots of new features appearing on the public side of Petfinder each week. In case you haven’t had time to check them out, here’s a quick list for you:
- Local Services Directory
- Free E-cards
- Cat Breed Directory
- Dog Breed Directory
- Searchable Happy Tails Database
- Petfinder Graphics and Widgets
- Mutt Maker Game
- Spread the Word Game
Petfinder is there to help even after the adoption is complete, so let your adopters know the great tools they can find online.
Promote Your Pets beyond Petfinder
Featured Pet Module
Any Webpage can feature adoptable pets, just like we do on the Petfinder.com homepage. Click here to access a file that you can take to local businesses to get them to target your pets. Or, tell them to visit our Featured Pet Module page. This module features one pet at a time. You can specifiy that the module draw from the pet list of one adoption group or many.
Add Petfinder's Pet Search to Your Site
Our Pet List Scroller
dramatically increases visitors to your pet list. Your whole pet list can be featured on any
Web site. Use this to show off your Adoptable, Stray, or Happy Tail pet lists. You can specify
just your organization or several.
Ever Expanding Petfinder.com Store
For gifts for yourself, friends, family, staff and volunteers, please remember to visit the official Petfinder.com Store at The Animal Rescue Site.
Every time you wear or use Petfinder gear, you are spreading the word about all the great pets in animal shelters.
Our cotton tote is very high quality. For a classy business look check out our black microfiber tote.
From Our Library
Basic Components of a Successful Adoption Program
It is the responsibility of the animal shelter to seek permanent, responsible homes for the adoptable animals placed in their custody. To that end, shelters need to formulate written policies and guidelines that will be followed when processing adoptions.
While the majority of adoption guidelines are in fact just that, they are still items that must be considered prior to making an adoption decision. It is not effective to rely solely on the individual discretion of the adoption counselor.
It is impossible to act in the best interest of the animals if there are no guidelines. Animals should not be adopted just to prevent euthanasia or haphazardly without forethought of the animal's welfare.
Acting as the temporary guardian of an animal and making a "correct" determination about adoption placement is a difficult task (continued...)
Great Pet Pic - Meet Didley
Thanks, WA310!
Weekly Report from Petfinder
Dear Petfinder.com Members,
Our Outreach staff is dedicated to helping you in every way we can. Lynn Katz, our Adoption Options specialist, has put together some great ideas for using your successes to create more successes:
The Happy Tails feature is a great way to engage visitors in your mission and to attract new potential adopters and supporters. Below are some tips for making effective use of your Happy Tails page. (If you don’t have your Happy Tails page set up, you can get instructions for doing so here.)
- When changing the pet’s status from ADOPTABLE to ADOPTED, be sure to change the pet description, too. If left the same, it will read as if the pet is still available for adoption.
- Call out the adopters of the pet in the description – something like “Our love and thanks to Mike and Lisa for giving Woof his forever home.”
- Include quotes from the new adopters, such as “We just LOVE Woof and he’s getting along so well with our kids and other dog. Thanks so much for caring for him.”
- Replace your old pictures with pictures of the pet in her new home.
- Be sure to let your adopters know that they and their new pet are featured on your Happy Tails page so they’ll share it with their friends as well.
Remember that people are always looking for happy news. Once they see how happy you have made your adopters, maybe they’ll come to you for their next pet as well!
Try out some of Lynn’s suggestions and make it a great adoption week. --K
Pet Stats for Last Week
Total views for barnyard pets last week: 28,644
Total blog posts since launch on 6/10: 24
SOURCE: Petfinder Pet Stats Browser
Engage Petfinder Visitors
View "Pets Wanted" Classified Ads
Petfinder visitors are looking for pets of specific types. Click here to see ads from folks in your area. Only you (as members) have access to this area, so be sure to look frequently.
Volunteer-finder
Search a database of thousands of Petfinder visitors who would like to help. This is a searchable database where you define the kind of volunteer you're looking for and then see a list of people who match those skills in your region. Click here to search.
Invite Petfinder Visitors to Your Events
Make sure your fundraising events, yappy hours, dog walks, and adoption days are in our event calendar where thousands of people go to find a pet-friendly way to spend their day.
Register for a Unique Address
Tired of your Petfinder home page's long, complicated address? How about a brand new one that is short and sweet, such as: noahsark.petfinder.com. Request a unique address.
Free Web Site Hosting
Do you have a non-Petfinder web site
that you would like to have Petfinder host for you?
Request an FTP Account.
Places to Be
Attend an Adoption Options Workshop
We've brought together some of the most popular presentations and speakers in animal welfare and mixed them with plenty of breaks and networking opportunities.
Adoption Options Stops in 2008
Animal Welfare Conference Calendar
Feel like you're the last to know what is going on? Not any more! We're proud to introduce the Petfinder.com Conference Calendar just for Animal Welfare Pros. Now you can find upcoming training events as well as special celebrations.
