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No More Homeless Pets Forum
November 1, 2004 What Exactly Is No More Homeless Pets? |
What exactly is the No More Homeless Pets campaign? Best Friends Animal Society's No More Homeless Pets team will answer your questions about the campaign, how you can get involved, and how we can help.
What It Is
The No More Homeless Pets campaign: http://www.bestfriends.org/aboutus/faq.cfm#nmhp
About the no-kill philosophy: http://www.bestfriends.org/nomorehomelesspets/resourcelibrary/tokillnot.cfm
How You Can Get Involved
Volunteer in your community as a member of the Best Friends Network, start a brigade, or simply tell a friend about three things you can do today to help the animals: http://www.bestfriends.org/nomorehomelesspets/about.cfm
More ways to get involved: http://www.bestfriends.org/nomorehomelesspets/about3.cfm
Regional and Model Programs
No More Homeless Pets programs around the country: http://www.bestfriends.org/nomorehomelesspets/localnmhpprograms/index.cfm
Questions
What resources can the No More Homeless Pets program provide to groups?
How does the network operate?
Becoming affiliated with no more homeless pets
Convincing your board and other groups to attend conferences
How do I start with no resources and volunteers to develop a No More Homeless Pets program?
How can regional representatives for Best Friends help groups?
Will Best Friends open sanctuaries across the country?
Using the network to help place local animals with special needs or behaviors
Does No More Homeless Pets offer in-shelter dog training?
How does the network decide what questions to send out?
What resources can the No More Homeless Pets program provide to groups?
Question from Sue:
I recently attended the No More Homeless Pets conference in Cincinnati and loved the print and TV PSAs you showed. I wasn't sure what resources were available for use by the public and which ones were just for Best Friends use. Could you share what is available for other groups to use in our areas and if there is a cost?Response from Karen Green, Assistant Director No More Homeless Pets:
I'm so glad you were able to attend the No More Homeless Pets Conference!We have a lot of information available online in our resource library, model programs pages, weekly No More Homeless Pets news and of course the archives of this forum. However, it sounds like you're asking more for reproducible items than reference materials. Here are some of the items we have currently available:
Television PSAs (public service announcements):
We have two adoption spots and one spay/neuter spot (the spay/neuter ad is available English and Spanish, each in 15 or 30 second spots). You can view and/or order the PSAs on our web site (http://www.bestfriends.org/nomorehomelesspets/resourcelibrary/psas.cfm).
The PSAs are available in VHS or Beta versions (VHS are for general viewing -- you'll need the Beta version for TV broadcast) and are available for a reproduction fee of $10 or $54 respectively. The PSAs can be "personalized" with your shelter's or organization's information by a local production company, driving viewers to your organization for adoption or spay/neuter services.
No More Homeless Pets posters:
These posters can be used by any organization to promote adoption and/or feral cat programs. Each poster has a blank space in which you can print your group's name and phone number and/or web address. There are eight different 11"x17" posters promoting adoption and the feral cat poster is 13"x13". The posters cost $1 each individually and there are discounts for quantity orders. Images of the posters, as well as ordering information, can be found on our web site at: http://www.bestfriends.org/nomorehomelesspets/resourcelibrary/shopnmhp_posters.cfm.
Pet Care Library:
The Best Friends Pet Care Library includes dozens of information sheets on everything from introducing a new dog to your household to signs of sickness in birds. The fact sheets, written by veterinarians and behavior specialists, can be reproduced by your organization at no cost (they do need to be reproduced in their complete form) to be distributed to adopters, school groups, or the general public by your organization. You are also welcome to link to any of these documents from your web site. The Pet Care Library can be accessed on our web site through this link: http://www.bestfriends.org/theanimals/petcare.
Dog Training and Care Tips CD:
This CD includes a training video with Best Friends' Dog Training and Care Consultant, Sherry Woodard, as well as information on all aspects of dog training, behavior, and care. The CD was created as a resource for shelters, rescue organizations, and dog adopters, and is available for a reproduction and shipping fee of $6 (quantity discounts apply). For more information, check out the order form at: http://www.bestfriends.org/nomorehomelesspets/resourcelibrary/orderforms/sherrycd.html.
In the works:
We are in the process of completing adoption and spay/neuter billboards, bus boards, print ads, and additional posters. Keep an eye on our web site for new additions: http://www.bestfriends.org/nomorehomelesspets/resourcelibrary/shopnmhp.cfm.
We've produced these items so that other organizations can makes use of them. If there are other similar types of materials that would be helpful for your group, please feel welcome to suggest them!
If you see something on our web site that you would like to reproduce and you aren't sure whether you can, please e-mail us at nmhp@bestfriends.org. We're happy to share whatever we can!
How does the network operate?
Question from Jane:
I want to join the Network, but I'm not sure whether I should sign up as an individual or sign up my group. Can I do both? I'm also not sure I fully understand the network in terms of what I can post and what types of posts I will be getting.Response from Diane Blankenburg, Network Director:
Thanks so much for your interest in the Best Friends Network! You can sign up as both an individual AND a group, as long as you don't mind getting some duplicate messages. You might consider having someone else within your group sign up to be the point of contact for that group and then you can sign up simply as an individual. This way two different people will get involved, as well as the organization.The Best Friends Network is a nationwide grassroots group of individuals and organizations that have volunteered to help homeless animals in their local communities. Thousands of individuals and hundreds of local shelters, rescue groups, and animal welfare organizations across the country have already joined.
As a Network member you are volunteering to help animals locally in a variety of ways:
- Providing hands-on animal care such as feeding feral cats, transporting animals, walking dogs or grooming cats at a local shelter.
- Helping out at special events such as fundraisers, adoption fairs, or spay/neuter clinics.
- Contributing professional expertise such as accounting, legal, writing, or desktop publishing.
- Coordinating local requests for help and alerts for action.
Once you sign up as a Network member, you'll receive e-mail notices about:
- Local animal-related situations in which you may be able to help.
- Events and activities in your community.
- Weekly updates from Best Friends and news about nationwide No More Homeless Pets efforts.
As a nonprofit animal welfare organization or animal control shelter you will have an additional benefit as you can request that we notify local Network members regarding volunteer opportunities, special events that you are sponsoring, or other help that you may need to maintain your organization.
Additional information regarding the Network can be found on our website by clicking on this link http://www.bestfriends.org/nomorehomelesspets/thenetwork. To join the Network, fill out the appropriate Individual or Organization Best Friends Network Membership form found in the bottom left corner of this web page.
Thanks again for your interest in joining the Best Friends Network! You are a welcomed member and together we truly are making a difference toward reaching our goal of No More Homeless Pets!!
Becoming affiliated with no more homeless pets
Question from Julia:
How do we get affiliated with No More Homeless Pets? I have hear about other no more homeless pets groups and notice that there are several listed on your website. I am wondering how they are connected with you and how we go about becoming a No More Homeless Pets program?Response from Karen Green, Assistant No More Homeless Pets Director:
Hi Julia, and thanks for your enthusiasm for the No More Homeless Pets campaign! Let me give you a brief history of the No More Homeless Pets term and its use.Michael Mountain starting using the term "No More Homeless Pets" about five years ago, and it quickly became common Best Friends language. Whereas the term "no-kill" has proven divisive in many communities, "No More Homeless Pets" is an idea with which pretty much everyone can agree. In 2001, we held our first No More Homeless Pets Conference in Virginia Beach, Virginia. The No More Homeless Pets name was growing in popularity, and we started receiving requests from other organizations to use "No More Homeless Pets" as part of their organization or program name. We approved most requests, asking only that the organizations meet some basic criteria (in order to preserve the positive association with the name). During this time, several "No More Homeless Pets" programs were started. These organizations were, and are, run independently of Best Friends -- we do not oversee and are not formally affiliated with these groups.
Recently Best Friends stopped granting the use of the name "No More Homeless Pets" to other organizations and programs. There are several reasons for this. Because Best Friends has trademarked the term "No More Homeless Pets", we are responsible for maintaining certain guidelines associated with the name. It would be impossible to maintain a consistent image of "No More Homeless Pets" with dozens of different organizations running No More Homeless Pets programs across the country. (We do not wish to become the "No More Homeless Pets Police" -- having to focus our efforts on mandating and enforcing guidelines to keep the message consistent.) We also found, and continue to find, that it creates confusion to have a national No More Homeless Pets campaign with local No More Homeless Pets groups that are not operated or officially affiliated in any way with the national Campaign (even that sentence is confusing!). There is similar confusion over the names "Humane Society" and "Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals". The general public does not understand that local groups are not a part of the national group. This often ends up hurting the local groups when donors believe they are supporting local efforts by donating to the national group. Because Best Friends actually does operate localized No More Homeless Pets programs in Utah and Atlanta, the name issue can be even more confusing. Overall, we felt it was in everyone's best interest to stop granting usage of the No More Homeless Pets name to other organizations.
Everyone, however, is free to use the term ‘no more homeless pets' loosely. For instance, an organization could say that their new spay/neuter program is part of their effort to reach a day when there community has no more homeless pets. It is the use of the term in an official context that creates issues with the trademark, and with presenting a clear message to the public.
We welcome all shelters, organizations and individuals to embrace the concept of "No More Homeless Pets", and to create programs that are community-wide in scope, an important step for any community to reach a day when they truly have no more homeless pets. You are part of the No More Homeless Pets campaign when you care about animals and work to make the world a better and safer place for them.
Convincing your board and other groups to attend conferences
Question from Jen:
I have been trying to get my board and other rescue groups in my area to attend a No More Homeless Pets conference for years, but am always told that they can't get away or it is too expensive with travel. I really want them to hear some of the information from the conference. I know that they would get so much out of it, but I just haven't been able to convince them to actually go!Response from Karen Green, Assistant No More Homeless Pets Director:
I am, of course, thrilled to hear that you are encouraging others to attend the No More Homeless Pets Conferences! Your question does bring up an important, and more general, concern. Most people who are involved in animal sheltering, rescue, spay/neuter programs, etc. care deeply about the animals, and there's nothing we wouldn't do to help them. Yet it's amazing how little time we make to invest in our own ability to help those animals in the most efficient and effective ways possible. We get so entrenched in the daily grind of saving lives that it often seems impossible to find the time to attend a workshop or conference, read books or manuals, or research! Let's face it, we are not born knowing how to write grant applications, develop a strong board of directors, create a budget for a special event, or produce a compelling direct mail piece. However, we often end up filling these rolls for which we are completely unprepared! There are many opportunities out there for us to learn how to fill these rolls better. When we invest the time in learning how to do a job right, the job itself doesn't take as much time and we're much more successful. We owe it to the animals to become experts in the areas in which we are working to save them.There are workshops on creating and managing budgets, newsletters on board development, and online courses on grant writing. Some of these opportunities are specific to nonprofits, or to animal welfare, and some are more general. We have work to get done, and we can't spend all our time in workshops or doing research online, but making some key investments into our own education will make us more successful... and success for us means lives saved. So, that's my plug for continuing education in general. Of course, to some degree, I'm really preaching to the choir here. If you're reading this forum, you're already investing in your own continuing education!
The No More Homeless Pets Conference was created to provide an opportunity for those involved in saving animals to get together and share knowledge and ideas that would help all of us to be as efficient and effective at saving lives as possible. Actually, that's really how most of our resources and programs have been developed. We're going off the whole, "why re-invent the wheel" concept. The more we can learn from and share with each other, the faster we'll reach our goal. We try to make the conferences as accessible as possible by holding them in different cities each time and keeping the registration fees as low as possible. (We do not make money on these conferences. Every registration is subsidized by Best Friends). But we certainly realize that not everyone is able to attend.
Perhaps you could pass along some of the information or recordings from the conference, or from some of the speakers who are involved in the conferences. We have audio recordings made of each session, and offer the conference handouts on CD. See our web site for more info: http://www.bestfriends.org/nomorehomelesspets/resourcelibrary/shopnmhp.cfm. Many of our conference speakers have also shared information that is available in the "model programs" and "resource library" sections of our web site, and many have been guests on this forum.
Hopefully we'll meet some of your colleagues at the No More Homeless Pets Conference next spring in Portland!
How do I start with no resources and volunteers to develop a No More Homeless Pets program?
Question from Ann:
I live in a very poor, rural community. I try to pick up strays and find them homes, but it is obvious to me that there will always be homeless pets in my community unless I get some help from the other people in my town. The No More Homeless Pets model seems like a really good idea, but how do I start from "point zero"? How do I reach other individuals who might want to help? Can Best Friends help by letting your members know? The resources on your website are wonderful and they inspire me, and they'll be very helpful once we get going.Response from Kathi McDermott, South Central Region Community Program Manager:
It can be very frustrating when you feel that you're all alone out there trying to help the animals. Hopefully, there are people in your community who are willing and able to help and it's just a matter of finding them.Before you approach people, however, you need to know what to ask for. Find out who your local rescues, shelters, and vets are and start asking questions. Assess your community's current situation to identify the biggest problems. Does your community have a problem with stray dogs? What about feral cats? Is there any form of animal control? What happens to the strays if you don't save them? Is it possible to estimate how many unwanted animals your town is dealing with on a monthly basis? What is the financial impact on your community?
Determine what resources are already available (which individuals or organizations in your community may be sympathetic to the plight of animals in your community). Then contact people in other nearby small towns to see if you can pool resources. Maybe two towns can work together to provide animal control for your area. Also check with nearby larger cities that may have spay/neuter, adoption and other resources you could utilize.
Talk with local vets. Talk to the nearest shelter. Talk to the police department. Post a message on your local veterinarian's bulletin board or at the post office that you want to start a program to help animals. Contact the Best Friends Network at bfnetwork@bestfriends.org to see if there are any Network members in or near your town. We can ask them to help you.
You may want to choose just one issue to focus on at first. As you learn and are successful, more people will become aware of what you are doing and the program can expand.
You'll need to figure out the best way to approach your community. You may find that many citizens in your community don't care about how animal overpopulation affects the animals. But they may care about how it affects them. They may care that stray dogs are causing car accidents or chasing livestock. They may care that stray cats are getting into gardens, or yowling, or fighting with their pet cats. They may care that the number of dog bites in your community is increasing every year. The police department may be tired of getting complaint calls about strays. Law enforcement may be unaware of the proven connection between animal abuse and antisocial behavior. Pet owners may not be aware about the health and behavioral benefits of spaying and neutering for their pets.
Although rural animal welfare advocates may face different challenges than those in metro areas, all communities have some similarity in structure, such as public schools, churches, civic organizations, a town/city hall, and a police department.
There are some excellent tips in our forum archives under Community Outreach: http://www.bestfriends.org/nomorehomelesspets/weeklyforum/forumarchives.cfm.
Our Resource Library is also a wealth of information:
http://www.bestfriends.org/nomorehomelesspets/resourcelibrary
The key is to become educated about your community and learn about what is working in other communities. Our No More Homeless Pets team can help you locate other successful programs. It is also important to be professional, non-confrontational, and upbeat. You don't want people heading for the hill when they see you approaching.
Be sure to tell people about your successes. Everyone likes to hear good news!
Most of all, be patient. Even if you live in "the middle of nowhere" there are a lot of animal people out here in cyberspace who are happy to provide moral support!
How can regional representatives for Best Friends help groups?
Question from Lorelei:
I met the person who is a regional representative for Best Friends at the last conference. How can this person help my group? Can she visit to do presentations? If not, can she answer questions over the phone?Response from Beth Mersten, Northeast Region Community Program Manager:
Community program managers are regional Best Friends representatives. In order to provide more focused consulting and support, we have divided the country up into six different regions, and there is a community program manager in each.Your region's program manager can help you in many ways. While program managers are occasionally able to visit in person, most often we provide support over the phone or via email, which allows us to help the largest number of groups effectively. We are available to provide information and resources to you personally, and your group as a whole, in order to help you start new programs or enhance the ones that you are already running. The Best Friends web site, this forum, and the No More Homeless Pets staff based at the sanctuary provide information on topics such as adoption events, spay/neuter programs, Trap Neuter Return (TNR), fundraising, working with veterinarians or others in your community, as well as many other topics. Community program managers are available for these and more specific or ongoing needs. For instance, we are happy to help if you are looking for input on your organization's newsletter, or if you're trying to figure out what kind of spay/neuter program will be most effective in your area. We also work with the Best Friends Network to share announcements about an upcoming event your organization is hosting, or ask for letters from Network members in support of a community initiative.
We are always interested to receive news from your organization for potential inclusion in the No More Homeless Pets weekly news. This is a great way to give your organization more exposure nationally while inspiring others across the country to run similar successful programs to help animals.
Your community program manager can also provide, or refer you to, brochures about Best Friends Animal Society, No More Homeless Pets, the Best Friends Network, feral cats and other topics for distribution by your group.
Community program managers work within each region to provide consulting, support community initiatives and get more people involved in animal welfare (through programs like the Best Friends Network and the Best Friends Brigades). Of course, if you are looking for information, the best place to start is by checking out our web site. There are, after all, only so many of us, so we've put the web site together to make these resources as accessible as possible. However, if you are need of more detailed or specific information or personal assistance, please do contact us. You can identify the program manager in your region on our web site at: http://www.bestfriends.org/nomorehomelesspets/localnmhpprograms or just e-mail us at our main No More Homeless Pets mailbox at nmhp@bestfriends.org.
Will Best Friends open sanctuaries across the country?
Question from Michelle:
I love your sanctuary and would love to see you open sanctuaries all over the country, especially in the East where I live. Will you ever start no-kill shelters and sanctuaries across the country?Response from Julie White, Western Region Community Program Manager:
We love our sanctuary also and it always gives us pleasure to see the animals that arrive at the sanctuary begin to relax and realize that the hard times are behind them. Animal sanctuaries will always fill an important niche in animal welfare, providing care for animals that cannot find homes through more traditional adoption programs, and we provide support and resources and workshops for others who wish to start sanctuaries.At this time we do not have any plans to open additional Best Friends sanctuaries. Each week our sanctuary in Kanab receives over 500 requests to take in animals. There are still nearly 5 million animals losing their lives in nationwide because they have no place to go. As you can imagine, any sanctuary or shelter that we might open would fill within a matter of weeks. So rather than focusing on opening additional sanctuaries, we are working with organizations and individuals to build programs to reduce the number of pets who need sanctuary. Effective spay/neuter programs and retention programs reduce the number of animals entering shelters. Aggressive adoption and public awareness programs increase the number of families who decide to adopt instead of purchasing an intentionally-bred animal. The No More Homeless Pets campaign was born from the need to help other areas develop these community-wide programs. We believe it is through this comprehensive effort that we will truly realize a day when there will be no more homeless pets.
Using the network to help place local animals with special needs or behaviors
Question from Sara:
Our rescue group has a dog that we have been unable to place. For the most part she is a great dog, but there have also been a couple of incidents where she has behaved badly around a strange dog. So we're hesitant to place her with a family with other pets or small children. This really limits us. Is this something we can have a Network message sent for?Response from Kelly Koeller, Best Friends Network Resource Manager:
Hi Sara. Thanks for your question regarding the Best Friends Network!We may be able to send a message to Network members in your area in an effort to help spread the word that this dog needs a home. Before making that determination we would want to get further clarification.
First, we would need to know whether the dog has been seen by a veterinarian to rule out medical problems that could cause the dog to behave aggressively. We would also need to know if you have had a behaviorist or trainer evaluate the dog to find out what triggers the aggression towards other animals, and whether the dog is likely to become aggressive towards people as well.
We generally recommend placing dogs that are aggressive towards other dogs in a home with no other dogs. But as you probably know, some types of aggression, such as "possessive aggression" (food, toys, beds, etc.) can be worked with, so if that is the only time the dog becomes aggressive towards other animals, it is not always necessary to find a home with no other pets.
Once a medical problem has been ruled out and it has been determined that the dog is not a threat to people, we would ask that you exhaust other options, such as hanging flyers in area businesses, vet clinics, churches, etc. and posting the dog on websites such as www.petfinder.com and www.petbond.com. There is no guarantee of finding a home through the Network, so exploring other possibilities is important.
We also strongly encourage people to be honest with potential adopters about a dog's aggressive tendencies towards other animals and any necessary accommodations needed to deal with the aggression (such as feeding pets separately). This is extremely important to help protect other dogs that this dog may encounter and to prevent him or her from being abandoned or surrendered if he or she attacks another animal. In addition, dogfights are often the cause of lawsuits filed by one pet owner against another and the adopter can be held financially liable for damages caused by their dog if safety measures are not taken. Disclosing information about the dog's temperament is crucial.
Thanks again for your interest in the Best Friends Network and bigger thanks for all you do for the welfare of animal friends!
Does No More Homeless Pets offer in-shelter dog training?
Question from a member:
Do you offer any info on in-shelter dog training that volunteers can do?Response from Sherry Woodard, Dog Training and Care Consultant:
Volunteers can help every dog become more adoptable by teaching the basics: "sit", "down" and walking nicely on lead. Every shelter should decide what training they're comfortable with volunteers doing. Even if you don't give your volunteers instructions to train the dogs, they are no doubt teaching the dogs by how they handle them.It's safest to offer some leadership and tools to your volunteers, to make sure your dogs are learning the desired lessons. Be sure that your volunteers are using reward-based methods and not leash corrections or punishments. Your volunteers may also need some guidance on what not to be training the dogs. If you want your dogs to sit nicely for attention, you will not succeed if you have volunteers patting their own chests to encourage dogs to jump up on them for kisses!
I encourage you to check out the resources we have available on dog training and behavior. You'll find printed resources on in our Pet Care Library at http://www.bestfriends.org/theanimals/petcare/dogs.cfm. We've also just produced a CD that features a short video on basic training. You might want to order the CD for your group and share it with staff and volunteers (the order form is on our web site at http://www.bestfriends.org/nomorehomelesspets/resourcelibrary/orderforms/sherrycd.html). You may want to develop an in-house library of resources on dog training and behavior for your volunteers.
In addition to checking out our dog training resources, you may want to check out some of your local dog trainers. Look for a trainer who uses positive reinforcement and praise to train dogs (and people!), rather than corrections/punishment. If you can develop a relationship with a trainer, he/she could help with training your volunteers as well as providing help for some of your dogs with behavior problems.
Another thought... It is also helpful to give your regular volunteers instructions on how to handle problems they might encounter while handling the dogs (such as running into a dog-aggressive dog while on a walk).
How does the network decide what questions to send out?
Question from Sara:
I know that the Best Friends Network must get tons of requests for help, yet (as a Network member) I don't get very many network messages. How do you decide which ones to send out? Do you have any idea whether the network messages are successful? I get excited about the idea of posting a request on a nationwide network, but then I wonder does it really work?Response from Kelly Koeller, Best Friends Network Resource Manager:
Hi Sara. Thanks for your very thoughtful questions!Network members join the Best Friends Network to help in the rescue and care of homeless animals. So we limit Network member involvement to those cases in which someone is helping rescued or homeless animals, requests from organizations in need of volunteers or announcing local events and activities, and public policy or consumer issues in which public input is needed to protect animals or change laws or practices that are detrimental to pets and their caregivers.
The number of messages you receive from the Network is dependent on the number of requests we receive from people in your area. You will also receive messages we send out nationally, as well as the weekly newsletter that is sent to staff at Best Friends and Network members throughout the country.
We rely on the feedback of those helped through the Network to let us know how things turn out. We don't always hear back from people about whether the message was successful, but the indicators point toward a high success rate. We frequently get testimonials sent to us stating how grateful people are that they were able to connect up with wonderful members such as you. Not only do they appreciate the connection, it often leads to a solution that wasn't possible otherwise.
Thanks for your valuable contribution to the cause as a Best Friends Network member. We hope we can be of service to you in the future!
