Sonny (Border Collie mix) !!! ***PICS***

As some of you may know by now, I'm a college student who is currently unable to have or foster dogs or cats. I've been investigating ways to get involved with area rescues and felt a particular calling to the closest BC (Border Collie) Rescue Org. This afternoon I attended the “2nd Annual Bark in the Park Pet Parade.” I love the names they come up with! ;) I helped man their booth and talked to a few people about the breed. This event was also a chance to give exposure to Sonny--- one of the dogs we are trying to place. He is the biggest ball of energy in the doggie form I have ever encountered! He is in need of more socialization because it is obvious he has had no training and doesn’t have a clue how to behave.

Here’s Sonny! He is a mix of some sort but looks/acts predominately border collie. This picture is a bit dated as his fur has feathered out a bit more and lightened in certain spots, like behind his distinctly border-collie-like ears.
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/...8/fc36c36c.jpg

Here is a full body shot with some toys. He is toy aggressive and snapped and snarled at a dog that made a move towards his toy at the “Pet Parade” event. :(
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/...9/fc36c368.jpg

Here is his PetFinder mug shot!
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/...0/fc3474ec.jpg

Ideas are needed in terms of ways to make our booth more appealing and informative. An example of a game they set up at their booth during one of the larger dog events was “Find the hotdog.” They had three cups and for a small fee owners could have their doggie search for the hotdog bit, which was under one cup which had been shuffled among the other cups. For those of you involved in rescue work, what are some attention getters you use for your displays? Anyone with ideas please contribute!

One of the best attention getters at our booths are always when we have some of our dogs there. Sometimes we'll do demonstrations but sometimes they're just there hanging out with us. Of course, little puppies ALWAYS attract people. They will usually hang around puppies for a long time and you can talk to them the whole time they're playing with the puppy.

We also make huge poster boards and photo albums with pictures and descriptions of our animals at the shelter currently.

Another good idea is focusing on a previous animal in the organization that was saved from drastic circumstances. It gives really good publicity to you and give a story to tell. People love to hear about dramatic rescue stories and it usually makes them a lot more willing to give donations. For example, we had a dog tied to a dumpster in the back of the shelter. He was so skinny, every bone was sticking out of his body. He had mange and cuts and scrapes all over his body. He had several infections and some other things I can't remember right now. Anyway, posting before and after pictures of that dog and posting his success story REALLY drew a lot of people in to our booth at our last event.

I'll think some more and post more ideas later. I'm half asleep right now I think :)

With the new GSD rescue just getting started, we want to focus on not only getting our dogs adopted, but foremost, getting our audience educated on what it means to be owned by a rescued GSD and what to expect.

One attention grabber we use is to have a police K-9 demo at our events. Having some of the dogs present who are up for adoption are always a draw. Everyone loves to meet them and talk to us about them. As aly has mentioned, we also do the banner, poster board and picture book.

Having a website with pics and stories of the dogs and an adoption event calendar will bring people out to meet the dogs. I noticed that the best draw is having the dogs present. They speak for themselves!

Good luck!

Just some additional thoughts to the great ideas given so far.

Have some Border Collies at your display that can give examples of the behaviours that this breed is so good at. Like demonstrating obedience or agility. Maybe this could be one way that other Border Collie owners could contribute to helping rescue.

Make some bandanas for the dogs at your display to wear. (I'm not sure if you call them 'bandanas' in the US...but they're the scarves dogs wear around their necks.) Write on one lot of bandanas 'For Adoption'...which the dogs up for adoption would wear And write 'I'm Loved'...or something like that to show that this is a dog that has been adopted & is now in a loving home. You can use fabric paints to do the writing & you can have 2 different colours for the bandanas. You can also choose to write 'Border Collie Rescue' instead of 'For Adoption' (or put it in small letters somewhere on the bandana).

Take the dogs wearing their 'For Adoption' bandanas to places where dog-lovers go...like walking in the park etc. You will come across active people in these places...the kind of person who likes a dog to go walking, running or jogging with...just like a Border Collie. So these people are likely to stop & talk with you about the dogs. Have some slips of paper ready with info about the dog & contact details. Also do some basic training with the dogs...like obeying 'Sit' so they can show their 'good doggie manners' to the people they meet.

Also one of our rescue groups makes a special display on St Valentine's Day with what they call an 'Adopt a Sweetheart' program ...except this sweetheart has 4 legs. They use decorations for St Valentine's Day on their booth...like balloons with hearts on that are available at that time.

Dog's pics are put in the centre of a heart motif....that's especially good for pics & stories of dogs who've gone from sad rescue to much-loved pets.

Best wishes,
Marie

Thank you for the great suggestions Aly, Sue & Marie! I can't wait to try them out! :D :D :D
I knew I could count on you guys! ;)

Kater, would you let us know how you go using these ideas? You might vary them in ways that would be useful for us rescuers to know about. Or you might think up some other great ideas, too We can also learn from your experiences with BC Rescue.
Best wishes,
Marie

Another suggestion brought up at the rescue meeting was to use bright, eye-catching colors. Get a color scheme and make a banner in that bright color. Have t-shirts made in that color and sell them. (I love buying rescue t-shirts!)

Sometimes we have a raffle of a basket of dog treats and goodies. The tickets could be printed up on the computer. At one time, we collected aluminum cans too.

BTW, Sonny is adorable!!!!

Well shoot! I messed up and instead of replying to this thread I started a new one. LOL not enough caffeine yet! See "fundraiser" for my reply.

Sonny sure is a cutie! I'm sure he'll find a home soon, he seems like a sweetie. :)

I think what you are doing is great...getting the word out about rescue dogs is the most important step in finding them homes.

i hope sonny finds a home soon. i love the fuzzy ears!!

Sonny Update:

Well first off, Sonny has been renamed Jake. He is still in a foster home with 2nd Chance Border Collie Rescue. :( According to his foster Mom, Laura, he has settled down "just a tad." She told me, "He really needs to find a home !!!! But when people meet him, he acts all scared and backoffish. So he doesnt make a good first time impression." :(

Please keep Jake in your prayers. He deserves a good home with someone who can understand his hyperactive -err- ...energetic nature. :p He is a sweetie though, just an intense intense dog.

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/...3/fa84639f.jpg

Oh Jake, I hope you find your forever home soon!

Oh, poor Sonny/Jake! I hope you find your forever home soon. I hope that the special someone sees the value in your intensity. How about an agility person??? Good luck to you, sweetie.

Sonny/Jake is beautiful!!!
I hope he finds a forever home soon. Someone who does agility my be perfect for him--I know someone is out there--fingers and paws crossed here!!!

Jake/Sonny just needs to find that perfect match; a dog (Border Collie) savvy, active and energetic person who has lots of time to devote to his energy and socialization needs. As others have said, agility classes would be great for this guy. I think he needs a job to do!;) I'll be saying a prayer that this beautiful bundle of energy "goes home" very soon!

Poor Jakey didn't get a home for Christmas :( and as of the last adoption event it seems his foster Momma is getting pretty worried.

Jake needs some PT prayer power now more than ever!!!

At the last adoption event held at the Dane County Humane Society we had only 1 semi-seriously interested person and she ended up not following up at all. I feel so bad for Jake - it is obvious that he has become quite attached to his foster Mom but she really wants to rehome him. He is just so very energetic!

I tried to think of something I could do to somehow better Jake's chances of getting a home and I decided that I should help his foster Mom get some better pictures of him. The last picture I posted of him with the stick doesn't show him off in the most complimentary light, he looks like a veritable black blob in my opinion. :o But it's not Laura's fault she couldn't get a good picture - 1 person trying to take a picture of this hyper dog is a FEAT!

So between the two of us we got a fairly nice shot of his head and an OK full body shot. However, I am sort of disappointed in the pics since they looked better on the digital camera's little screen. Oh well.

Here's handsome Jake...
http://www.imagestation.com/picture/...5/fa2f19f2.jpg
We tried to use the white bandana to break up his very black coat. I think it helped! (It's cute and Christmas themed too! ;) )

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/...2/fa2f19f4.jpg
I wanted to get this shot with his tail held at just the right spot and with all his nice feathering swaying in the breeze but that was impossible... :(

Jake's Petfinder ad: http://www.petfinder.com/pet.cgi?act...=1&row=0&tmpl=

Please, Jake needs your prayers!!!

Prayers for Jake. He is just so gorgeous. You can see his intensity in the pic. Come on, Right Person, can't you see that Jake is the perfect working dog??? Agility, herding.......search and rescue...or....
Did anyone check to see if he could be used in a police capacity......maybe luggage checking....bomb sniffing.....??? A dog with that much intensity could be an asset.

Oh my gosh! My co-worker just adopted a pup that looks EXACTLY like this: (It gives me the goosebumps 'cause it looks JUST like Daisy!)

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/...8/fc36c36c.jpg

I'm going to show this to Ken on Monday. See if he wants ANOTHER one to match! :)


I hope Jake finds a home soon! :( What a sweetheart!

Oh, happy day!!!! I just finished reading 2nd Chance Border Collie Rescue's Spring Newsletter and Jake FINALLY found a home!!! :D :D :D I am absolutely thrilled - this news made my day!!!

Here is what the newsletter said...

Quote:

---

After spending over a year and a half with Second Chance Border Collie Rescue - our poster doggie "Jake" finally found his forever home!!!! Jake was adopted by a nice family in the Milwaukee area. It was love at first sight! Originally, Jake came from the Monroe County Animal Shelter. We are happy that he finally found his family! Good Job Jake!!!!

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Here is an updated picture of the adoptee:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v8...m/1a5ace3a.bmp

Three cheers for the small but dedicated team of rescuers at 2nd Chance Border Collie Rescue!!! :D

That's excellent news, Kater!!! :D

That is such wonderful news!!!!!!! I don't understand why someone didn't snatch up this gorgeous guy right away!!! Thanks for the update. It made my day!!