Due to the glut since Christmas the numbers in the rescue I help out at have gone through the roof :rolleyes::rolleyes: With this in mind I am putting my thinking cap on and I am trying to come up with new ideas to get more prospective owners interested :)

So far I thought about going to the local press and seeing if they will do a 'Look what Christmas brought us' type of story.

Any other good ideas would be gratefully received :)

Thanks

Lucy

The press is always a great way of drumming up public sympathy for things like this!  I would give that a go.

Papers love that kind of story.

Good luck.

Local radio station worth a try as well.

Yes that is a thought about local radio :)

What about GMTV?

our local newspaper have been doing this for a few weeks with pics of the dog/cats /rabbits etc and a little story about them ...i wanted to take them all.....

Think its a great idea.

what about your local supermarket with a stand and pics of the animals with lots of info handouts etc you could get the local paper involved and have pics taken in the store ...supermarket chains love the publicity.

Roni

Fab idea Roni :)

Yes a very good idea Roni

There's also the Pet Smart chain - our local one doesn't mind local
animal charitys/rescues having tables outside the store.

Might be worth asking local petstores etc if this is possible?

Local papers around our way used to run a weekly feature of the rehome
the pet and featured one particular animal that needed a home and then
have the charity/rescue details.

When I was working on local newspapers we were always delighted to have a good theme to run in January when there's hardly any news! Same applies to your local radio station  so do get in touch with both and ask whether they could run a feature. BBC local radio stations are always keen to have new features running on their websites as well so I'm sure you could get some good coverage. The BBC sites get a lot of hits too. Good luck!

Hi Lucy - happy new year. Rather late I know but life is like that at the moment!

I assume that you have posters up in local vets etc. how about featuring a dog with an interesting story? Loads of people will stop and read it even if they dont want a dog and it should get more people through the doors, even if they dont end up with the dog on the poster!

What about aproaching clubs for the retired? Especially if you have quite older dogs, who want ear rubs, gentil walks and not much more. I know several old people who have been desperate to adopt an older dog but have been turned down because of their age. Also perhaps you could set up some sort of a long term fostering scheeme for this group to give them peace of mind should there be big medical bills or they die before the dog.

Bluebell

OUr local Rescue has built up a rapport with the local newspapers, so they call Michael every week, to see what story he has.........

He reckons it does help - because people might phone because of one dog, then go home with another.

Margot

Lord knows it works with cats! We asked the vet if she knew of any tabbies looking for a home, having just lost one. She sent us to CPL, where we were adopted by a cat that would have been black if she had any fur. She is still running our house some 10 years later!

Happy New Year to you :D

Thanks

I wish I had more time but I will try and feed all the ideas and see if I can help but I can only do so much but can in a strategy sort of way which is what use ?

I haven't got time to go do practical help apart from occasional home visits and do feel guilty as really want to make a difference. I helped with the book for Lab Rescue NW which I really enjoyed but didn't have time to do the 'Marketing bit' which I think was the missing link :rolleyes: I still have an idea so if there are any Marketing type people out there that can help ? :) Please :D

I know what you mean Lucy and I have a similar problem. Love to help out local rescues on an occaisional basis, but I just dont have the time to commit and be reliable for regular stuff. Im thinking of getting myself cloned :D I would also like to know where all of the time goes to I swear I should have some spare time but never seem to find it. Although at the moment that could be someting to do with having no kitchen and spending part of each day at Ikea

The Newspaper idea is a very good one, look what it did for those animals when 'The Sun' did it.

You could also run up a few flyers to post through local letter boxes. Our vets has a big folder on their coffee table full of dogs wanting new homes, so that is an idea too. :-)

Also if you don't do it already, get their photo's on your Internet site (if you don't have one, get one up and running) people will always be more interested if they can see a picture.