What do adopters care most about?

• Will this dog fit into my lifestyle!

• We need to be asking lifestyle questions.

• Your team should be thinking about adoption match making, even at time of intake.

Intake 

• Why is this the most important place to collect data

• How easy or difficult is it for people to complete your intake form ahead of time?

• What is the most important information to gather about a dog if someone is a walk in

  • People - inside/out the home

  • Dogs - inside/outside the home

  • Resources - inside/outside the home

  • Handling - tolerance levels

  • Leash - on walks

    • Paint me a picture of what walking your dog downtown would look like?

  • Car - loves, hates, gets sick, etc

• Incredibly important to come from a place of no judgment

• Put yourself in their shoes (gather information from earlier in the form)

• Tips:

  • Set them up for success - tell them your plan, agenda, etc

  • Don’t let them dwell on why they have to give up the dog.

  • Thank them.

  • Build report, help make person comfortable, Have a comfortable area for you to engage with person

  • Emphasis information is helpful to finding the right family

  • Repeat back to person what they said

    • Can I clarify?

    • Just to confirm?

  • Can you paint a picture for me?

  • When was the last time a new person met your dog, tell me about it?

  • Why did you stop going to the dog park?

  • If there was a BITE:

    • What was going on in the environment

    • Before the bite

    • After the bite

    • Recovery from bite

What if you think a person is lying?

• Don’t judge them. 

• Emphasize this is a safe space.

• Ask if you can go for a walk together with the dog. 

ACO/Brought in good samaritan

• Recommendations:

  • Have VERY short form - five questions or less

  • Examples:

    • What handling equipment did you use with the dog?

    • Did the dog try to bite you?

    • How did the dog ride in the car?

    • How was the dog in a crate?

    • Could you pick the dog up?

    • Did the dog bark at anyone/thing?

Where should this data go?

• Dog’s Profile’

• Behavior Team

• Summarized by Adoptions

• Spoken in factual terms