Adopting a Dog: PR & Social Media Make a Difference

Adopting a dog is a big decision for a family of six! Of course you could go to the pound or buy from a breeder, but my family loves to go with rescues. Guardian Angel Basset Rescue (GABR) has been our rescue of choice in the past, but due to their recent postings in dogs we have had to look other places. Previously having two dogs from GABR, we were looking for someplace similar or really just a basset in need. You can see our two previous pups below.

Cleo, our first dog from GABR.

Julia, our second dog from GABR.

This prompted us to go visit the pound in our county.  We visited and were greeted by a group of unwelcoming people who hustled us in and out without information regarding the dogs we were looking to adopt. We have a good relationship with the board president of the county animal shelter,so we called her up and voiced our concerns. She then apologized on behalf of the animal shelter and disciplined the people who made a mistake. Her actions hopefully influenced the organization in a positive way to make our family want to go back to the shelter, rather than feel unwelcome.

While public relations should not only be know to spin a situation to make the organization look good, public relations is good for organizations to quickly resolve mistakes and improve from them. The board president acted quickly to resolve the issue and explained to the employee why it is so important to be welcoming and cheerful to families walking through the door. The shelter's hours make it hard for families to adopt pets because they are only open until 4:30 p.m. Any family that comes in, even at 4:15 p.m. should feel welcome and eager to adopt a pet. To follow up the shelter also called my parents to let them know that the issue was resolved and the rescue coming to get those dogs was going to contact us that day.

This is where the social media aspect comes into play. Hearing about the rescue taking in these dogs, my family did our research. The rescue was kind of obscure, but I can say that my family did a lot of digging on social media to find out whether or not their ideals and mission matched GABR's mission. The Sunrise Center uses Facebook to help find foster homes for dogs as well as adoption.  Without their social media explanation about their mission and evidence of them supporting their mission, their credibility would have been weakened, making it hard for us to make a decision.

The use of public relations to promote an organization's image is very important.  It is what makes that organization's target audience be sustainable or grow. Poor image and ineffective public relations may make the organization's target audience lessen, which in turn lessens their donors, profit, or support. Social media is a viable option to help organize an image and make an organization credible for what they are working toward.

We ultimately have not got the dogs yet, but we are going through the process. Hopefully the dogs go to a happy home,but there is no reason why that happy home can not be in my home!