KC DOG BLOG

Thoughts on celebrating success

    Over the past weekend, KC Pet Project partnered with two other area shelters, Wayside Waifs and Great Plains SPCA, for a metro-wide adoption event. In total, 834 pets were adopted from the three shelters, 281 of them from KC Pet Project.

It was an amazing three days, and the event allowed nearly every available pet in our shelter to find a home. 

Excited, exhausted and happy with a deserved sense of accomplishment, the KC Pet Project staff and volunteers climbed into empty kennels to celebrate the very successful weekend.

Next month, I am getting the opportunity to present the KC Pet Project story at the American Pets Alive Conference in Austin (tickets are still available, so check out the link to join us!). 

During my presentation, I highlight 10 keys to our success. One of those keys is "Celebrating Success".

Over the past 5 years I think the KCPP team has done an amazing job of celebrating our success -- and I believe it's important. Not only does celebrating give our staff and volunteers an opportunity to reflect on everything they are accomplishing, but it also gives our adopters and our community an opportunity to celebrate with us, and to be a part of our accomplishments.

People want to be a part of successful organizations. And people want to adopt from successful, caring and compassionate organizations. So celebrating success allows those in your community a chance to see your accomplishments, and hopefully gives them a desire to be a part of it. You need the support of your community ---  so give them a reason to care and be involved.

This was particularly important for Kansas City Pet Project. When we first took over the operations of the shelter in 2012 we were a brand new organization, with no track record -- that was taking over a shelter with a history of under-performance. I really think many people expected us to fail. But over time, as we've had opportunities to celebrate success, we've given them more and more reason to believe in our success and d be a part of it. 

One word of caution. Don't confuse celebrating success with telling people how great you are. People don't want to be told how great you are. Do great things and then tell people about the great things that are being accomplished and how they can be a part of it. 

 Update: It's also important to note that media also loves a good celebration. Our video filmed at the shelter after the event made Inside Edition. 

The importance of managing length of stay in maximizing life-saving

The idea of "no kill" continues to be a misunderstood idea, and a somewhat divisive one. Now, when I talk about "no kill" it is the traditionally understood idea of shelters saving 90-95% of the animals in their care -- which allows for the euthanasia (in the true sense of the word) for very sick/dying animals and animals that are too aggressive to be adopted into homes - -however, doesn't allow for shelters to hide behind the word "adoptable". 

Even with this concept, the words no kill often cause misguided haters of the idea to one of two notions: either that it is "impossible" in an open admission shelter, or that it leads 'hoarding' of animals in the shelter.

Neither is true. 

Essentially, there are two math concepts that I think are essential for a shelter to understand if they want to maximize life-saving efforts and achieve a 90%+ live release rate as an open-admission. As important as these concepts are to shelters, they are equally important to rescues, and fosters, if they are intent on helping the shelter in their community become no kill as well. 

Concept #1

When running an open admission, no kill shelter, the very first formula you must understand is simple:

Number of animals leaving the shelter safely = the number that come in

Now, obviously, there are exceptions for animals that do need to be euthanized because they are too aggressive, or due to untreatable health issues, but the bottom line is, that the number of animals going out safely has to be equal to the number that come in. If this is not the case, then no matter how big your shelter is, at some point it will end up full and there will be no room to put the incoming animals.

This is why shelters must focus on creating positive outcomes for pets.

I think this was a real eye opener for me when KC Pet Project took over the shelter. Every day at KCPP, on our volunteer page we post the names of all of our pets that got adopted, transferred to rescue, and the number of lost pets that were returned home. We also post the number of incoming animals (from animal control, or the public). 

And every day, I found myself really focused on the number of intakes. "Oh, gosh, we took in 27 animals today, can we just catch a break?"

But here is the deal. We know our total intake is going to be around 10,000 animals. That means, on average, we will be bringing in 27 animals every single day. Instead of dwelling on that number, it means we need to focus our energy on the outcome number and making that 27 animals -- every. Single. Day.

This meant increasing adoptions. Increasing Return to Owners. And increasing the number of animals going to responsible rescue organizations.

And by focusing on the outgoing 27 animals, the better our morale, and better we felt about being able to control the situation. It's one reason I'm a big fan of focusing on SAVING animals and not just on "not killing" them. 

Which leads to concept #2 -- managing length of stay

Often I've heard from shelters that they "can't" do better because their shelter is "too small". However, managing length of stay (the amount of time an animal is at the shelter), is essential to increasing your life-saving success.

Let's take a very small example. Let's say you operate a shelter with 5 dog kennels in it.

Now, let's say that on average, dogs at your shelter stay there for 30 days.  

This means that every month, you shelter can handle 5 dogs. 

But what happens if you lower your average length of stay from 30 days to 15 days? This means your same shelter, with 5 kennels, can now hold 10 dogs each month instead of 5. Doubling the number of animal lives you can save.

But what happens if you can lower your length of stay to 10 days on average?  This would take the same shelter, with 5 kennels and now you can save 15 animals each month, instead of just 5. 

Over the course of an entire year, this is the difference between your shelter saving 60 dogs, or 180 dogs, with no added kennels, and no added staff time. JUST BY MOVING DOGS OUT MORE QUICKLY. The focus must be moving dogs into positive outcomes, of course. 

This is really cool, and very empowering -- because it enables you to not be overwhelmed, and staff to not be too busy caring for animals to actually save them.

And now think about the multiplier effect if your shelter has 100 kennels, and not 5. This could be the difference between saving 1200 animals every year and saving 3,600 animals per year - -a dramatic difference. 

While this idea is essential for an open admission shelter to be successful, this is equally important for foster homes and rescues to take the same approach to saving lives and moving animals quickly. The sooner the animals get adopted, the sooner you can pull another animal from the shelter and save its life too -- which could be the difference between hundreds of lives saved at the shelter (depending on the size of your rescue).

I think if shelters and rescues (and foster homes)  focus on maximizing positive outcomes, and doing so QUICKLY, it can make a dramatic impact on the number of lives saved in each and every community out there. 

Tomorrow, I'll share some tips on decreasing Length of Stay at the shelter. So stay tuned.

 Related: The Importance of length of stay for open-admission shelters

2014 KC Pet Project - The Year in Numbers

In January 2012, KC Pet Project embarked on a journey to take what once was a high-kill Kansas City municipal shelter and turn our city into a No Kill Community.

In July of 2013, we celebrated our first 12 consecutive months at operating above a 90% Live Release Rate. 

In spite of many challenges in 2014, KC Pet Project had another amazing year of growth, success and recognition.

In March, KC Pet Project opened a second satellite adoption facility. This one, a 2,000 square foot space inside a Petco retail store. 

This location, along with our first satellite adoption facility in Zona Rosa Shopping Center, have been crucial for the increase in adoptions, and thus lives saved at KCPP.

In November, our Zona Rosa location celebrated its 3,000 adoption -- in less than 2 years of being open. 

In May, several folks from Kansas City Pet Project were invited to San Diego to receive a major award. KC Pet Project was honored to be selected by the Petco Foundation to receive the first ever Paul Jolly Compassion Award.

Paul Jolly was the founder of the Petco Foundation 15 years ago -- with the idea that he could leverage the strength of the nation's largest pet retailer and help pets in the process. Mr. Jolly passed away earlier this year due to ALS. The Petco Foundation chose to create the Paul Jolly Compassion Award to give to individuals or organizations that turned their compassion for animals into action -- and KC Pet Project was the first ever winner. I couldn't be more proud. 

KC Pet Project also was invited to present our story at the Best Friends Animal Society Conference, American Pets Alive Conference,No Kill Columbia, 1 Million Cups, and at the Missouri Animal Control Association Conference. We also received the Community Engagement Award as a part of the ASPCA 100K Challenge. We received generous grants from Best Friends, ASPCA, HSUS the Petco Foundation and generally our number of donors and donations have risen substantially.

The Numbers

But all the recognition doesn't mean a lot if we aren't also doing the right things by saving the lives of the animals that come into our care. And with that, it was a banner year also.

For the year 2014 (these number respresent dogs & cats only):

Total Intake: 9,476 (6,029 dogs, 3,447 cats)

5,986 Adoptions (3,391 dogs, 2,595 cats)

1,244 Pets returned to owners (1202 dogs, 42 cats)

1,024 Transferred to other rescue groups (688 dogs, 336 cats)

8,450 total positive outcomes

In total, we performed 650 euthanasias for health or behavior resasons and 94 owner requested euthanasias.

Our Assilomar Live Release Rate for the year was 93% (93% for both dogs and cats). Our modified Live Release Rate (which includes those that died in our care) was 91% (92% for dogs, 88% for cats). 

The Challenges

The biggest challenge this year was handling the 16% increase in total intake (+10% on dogs, +28% on cats) on the year. This number was MUCH higher earlier in the year (it was more than 21% YOY in July) and finally tapered off toward the end of the year. 

While animal control impounds still make up most of our intake (45%), the  vast majority of the increases were from Owner Surrenders (+53%) and public stray dropoff (+16%). 

And generally, our very small, outdated, 42 year old shelter continues to be a challenge as, at 14,000 square feet, is roughly 1/4 the size of a shelter that would be necessary for an intake of roughly 10,000 animals.

We also continue to struggle with the large number of breed bans in our region that are causing many pit bulls to become unnecessarily homeless and also eliminate many potential homes for the ones that are in the shelter. 

We are also seeing more and more shelters in the area make it increasingly difficult, if not impossible, for people to surrender their pets which is pushing more people toward KC Pet Project. It is a huge concern for KCPP that if intake continues to increase at the current rates, that the size of the shelter, and the significant increase in intake (now up 40% in just 2 years) will put a huge strain on our ability to save lives at the current rate.

Major Successes

While they were many, one of the major successes was a 33% increase in adoptions. In 2014, we doubled the number of adoptions compared to our first year in 2012.  

We also increased the number of animals returned to owner by 17%. 

Another major success was a decrease in the number of animals that died in our care by 25% (In spite of the increased intake). Improvements in our training programs, veterinary clinic, parvo ward and in our ability to find even more good fosters for juvenile kittens has really improved our success there. 

Overall it's been another great year at KC Pet Project and I'm very proud of the success and growth of the organization as a start-up organization just 3 years ago. We continue to get a lot more community support, adopters and volunteer support, which has been, and will continue to be, huge for us. 

And I'm very excited for the year to come as we have a lot of new initiatives that we are looking forward to sharing.

January 1, 2012 -- a look back at KC Pet Project's first day

Today is the 3rd anniversary of the start of Kansas City Pet Project. Maybe I'm feeling a little nostalgic, but with a lot of followers and supporters out there, I thought it was only appropriate to take a look back to three years ago today.

Actually, the story begins a bit sooner than that. In May of 2011, the City of Kansas City issued an RFP for individuals or organizations to bid on the operating of the city animal shelter. The shelter had for decades been a high kill shelter, and the city was (rightfully) convinced that a private organization running the shelter would be a better option for the city than the city running it themselves. When the city had operated the shelter, it ws only saving about 35% of the animals that came in, however, after two years of private operation, the live release rates were nearing 60%. Yet, there were still problems, and the City sought a new shelter partner.

Proposals were due in mid-July. And, the due date came and went, with no one submitting a bid to run the shelter. The deadline was extended three weeks, and during that three weeks, KC Pet Project was formed by a small group of individuals with a vision of what we hoped the shelter could become.

After several rounds of negotiations, KC Pet Project was awarded the contract to run the shelter on November 25, with a takeover date of January 1. That 5 weeks was largely spent working to hire staff so we could even open the doors on January 1.

On December 31st, we collected the keys from the old staff, and on January 1, KC Pet Project began operations with a shelter full of animals and a staff of 18 people. 

It would have been expected that we would have been closed on January 1. It's a holiday afterall, and all of the other shelters in our community are closed on that day. It was a day the shelter had traditionally been closed. And, it would have made a lot of sense to let our new staff, most of whom had never worked at an animal shelter before to learn a bit about their jobs, get some training, etc. 

But we didn't do what was expected. We knew that KCPP had to send a strong message that things were going to be different, and we were going to do everything we could to save lives. So, we not only were open on New Years Day, we held a ribbon cutting and an adoption special ($20.12 adoptions) to encourage people to come out. While, the cold "event" was modestly attended by a singular city council member, one independent journalist, and about 30-40 adopters, it made for a crazy day with a staff learning their jobs and animals leaving the building. 

I've laughed about that day with one of the members of our training staff who was an adoptions counselor that day and she said she was afraid we were going to fire her because she didn't know what she was doing. I told her that I was just glad the entire staff didn't quit after that. 

It's been a crazy 36 months -- the past 30 of which we have operated with a greater than 90% live release rate as an open intake shelter for the city of Kansas City.

Our staff has grown from the original 18, to more than 60, who also serve our two satellite adoption locations.   Amazingly, 8 of our original 18 staffers are still with us (bless you all!).  Our numbers of fosters and volunteers has expanded exponentially, as well as our number of adopters, and support from the community. Without all of the support, and without the dedication of staff, a 90%+ Live Release Rate would not be possible, and literally thousands of animals' lives depend on the support every single day.

So KC Pet Project is starting 2015 the same way it started. We're open on New Years Day while all of the other area shelters are closed, and we're inviting everyone to come out to adopt with all adoptions for $30 today only. Because, that's how our team rolls. 

Thanks to everyone who has joined us in this journey. We have a lot in store for 2015. But I think it's only fitting to look back, while we continue to move forward.

Happy New Years Everyone.

Sunday Video - -The KC Pet Project Story

This is a short, 4:30 video that gives a little insight into the KC Pet Project story. I think it turned out really well and gets to the heart of why we do what we do at KCPP. Enjoy.

 

If you can't see the video via your email feed, you can view it on YouTube here.

New KCPP Playgroup Video

Here is a (relatively) new video once again featuring our playgroup program at KCPP. I really think the 5 minute video is great at showing the staff at KCPP and how playgroups help the dogs at the shelter, as well as help our staff to better match dogs with adopters.

I can't over state the importance that playgroups have had at our shelter. Our shelter is a very tough environment for dogs (as are a lot of shelters) and the playgroups give the dogs the ability to socialize with other dogs, burn off excess energy, and challenge them mentally in their interactions with other dogs. This is no easy task at a shelter that gets 15 new dogs every single day that must eventually be worked into the groups -- and with each dog spending only an average of 9 days as a part of the groups due to adoption or transfer -- it forces our team to adapt new dogs into the program quickly, efficiently and safely.

Playgroups are a program that are now being implemented my many of the leading shelters across the country, and I'm proud of the KCPP team for being a part of this group of shelters. I hope you enjoy the video.

KCPP Opens Second satellite adoption location

When you read information from different people about how to increase adoptions, one of the first things that people will say is to do off-site adoptions.

While, generally I agree with doing off-site adoptions (because, more adoptions are almost always better), we have struggled to move a high volume of adoptable animals at off-site events.

However, the basic notion of off site adoptions is to take the animals TO the people, not just make people come to you.

One route that we've found extremely beneficial is by making a permanent off-site location by opening a permanent satellite adoption center at the Zona Rosa shopping center. In 2013, this 2,000 square foot adoption center handled more than 1600 adoptions for KC Pet Project. 

Well, the news has gotten even better. Over the weekend, KC Pet Project opened its SECOND retail adoption center -- this time as a full-sized adoption center inside a Petco Store. I couldn't be happier about this new location. First of all, the space is amazing, and at 2,000 square fee and offers plenty of housing for cats & dogs, a meet and greet area, and an indoor play area.  I really want to thank Petco for this amazing space. This is a fairly new concept for Petco, I think there are still less than 10 of these locations inside stores, but they are great.  I also think they will be mutually beneficial as I think not only will the adoption center increase exposure for our adoptables, but I think we will help drive traffic to their store as well.

We had a great opening weekend -- with nearly 20 pets being adopted in the first 2 days we were open.  And I'm hopeful that the early success will translate into even more forever homes being found for the animals of KCPP. 

And here's a short video that was also shot at our new location.

Also, the news stations made it out -- and here is a great report from Fox 4 KC that covered our grand opening (thanks Fox 4!).

This is a great opportunity for us, and one that I highly recommend for anyone looking to adopt out more animals from their shelter. A special thanks to Petco for making it possible.

KC Pet Project 2013 year in review

2013 was a very fun, challenging and successful year for KC Pet Project.

After a retail adoption space in the Zona Rosa Shopping Center that we had opened for the holidays proved to be amazingly successful, In February, we opted to make the space permanent. (Ouside of the space is pictured left).

In April, KCPP hosted Aimee Sadler and her "Playing for Life" program. It was a very educational experience for all of us.

We've stuck with the Playing for Life dog playgroup program and it has been amazing for the shelter and for the dogs. We have a very old, small shelter and the dogs are kept in very tight quarters. Prior to the playgroup program our dogs suffered from very high arrousal and it made the kennel area very challenging for staff, volunteers and adopters. 

However, now the stress level has definitely improved. Dogs are more adoptable. Our staff knows more about the dogs' behavior than before, and the dogs are getting much-needed exercise and socialization. 

In July, we officially announced 12 consecutive months of having a live release rate of 90% or higher. This was an exciting time for our organization -- and what we were striving for when we took over the shelter in January 2012.

In October, I was excited to be invited to speak at the Best Friends No More Homeless Pets Conference in Jacksonville. It is amazing to be in one place with so many great people who are doing so many great things in their communities. Very inspiring.

Later in October, we participated in the ASPCA Mega Match-A-Thon. For the event we adopted out 228 pets in 3 days -- that allowed us to get most of the dogs and cats in the the shelter adopted.  

The year was definitely a successful one.

In total, we completed 4,516 total adoptions; 2883 dogs, 1,633 cats. We also adopted out an additional 93 pigs, goats, chickens and "others". This was a 50% increase in adoptions vs 2012 (1,503 total). 

Much of this success is due to our satellite adoption center at Zona Rosa where we did more than 1600 total adoptions this year. 

We returned 1,062 dogs and cats to owners (1,041 dogs, 21 cats). We also transferred another 792 dogs and 356 cats to other shelters or rescue organizations. 

In total, we created 6,911 total positive outcomes for dogs and cats on the year.

We had a total intake of dogs and cats of 8,179 (5479 dogs, 2700 cats). This was a 20% increase over where we were in 2012 (1333 total animals!). 

This has been a remarkable turnaround for a shelter than as recently as 2008 was killing more than 60% of the animals that came into it.  Here is the trendline:

 

For the year, KCPP had a total Live Release Rate of 92% (using Asilomar definitions). If you include those that died, it was 89%. 

We believe that based on our intake, and Live Release Rate, that we are the 4th largest open admission shelter in the country to achieve a 90% or higher live release rate.

You can see the entire year end report here.

 

 

On imagery, adoption events and celebrating success

You may have seen this picture already. According to Facebook, nearly 200,000 people have.

But I'm sharing with a bit of commentary.

Last weekend I had the pleasure of presenting at the Best Friends No More Homeless Pets Conference about the s tory of KC Pet Project. 

As a part of my presentation, I featured 11 things that I felt our organization has done very well and has been a big part of our success. Four of them are represented in this photo. 

1) The power of adoption events -- this photo was taken last night, after a 3 day long ASPCA Mega-Match-A-Thon event. During the 3 day weekend, we partnered with two other area shelters. KCPP alone adopted out 228 pets in the matter of 3 days. In total, more than 700 pets found homes in our community. Events create momentum and get animals into homes. Animals in homes saves lives.

2) Getting everyone on the bus -- it's incredible to have an entire team working to save lives. Whether it's asking the morning cleaning crew to come in at 3 am to clean kennels so we can open earlier, or our front lines adoption team, or our veterinary team working overtime to get all animals altered, or our social media/promotions team, everyone has to be involved and be on board with saving lives. This is a big part of our team. But it's definitely not all of them. 

3) Celebrating Success -- People like to support successful organizations, and staff needs to take time to celebrate success. When you adopt out 228 animals in 3 days, that's a cause to take time to celebrate.

4) The power of positive imagery -- people love positive stories. Share them. And share them visually. This picture tells an amazing story -- of a happy (and worn out) staff, of empty kennels, and lives saved. 

It was a good weekend. 

One key that isn't shown in this picture, is the importance of volunteers. Our volunteer group stepped up big time to make sure every adopter had someone working with them, to have great, easy to digest bios on the kennels, and overall just provided a tremendous amount of support for us all weekend. Thank you volunteers. We couldn't do it without you.

Note #1: Remy, the dog in the picture, is actually owned by one of our staff members and was the mascot of our 2012 Mega Match-a-Thon. She came back to visit and celebrate with us. Don't feel sorry for this dog, I guarantee she's spoiled.

Note #2: I have no idea what Matt is doing on top of the kennels. 

Meeting your match

This weekend, Kansas City Pet Project, and 2 other area shelters, are a part of the ASPCA Mega Match A Thon. It has been an amazing event for us in the past and this year appears to be no different. On Friday, day 1 of our 3 day event, we did 81 adoptions -- getting us well on our way to our goal of 200 over the course of the weekend.   81 surpasses our single day adoption record of 77 that we did on the 4th of July 2012. 

One of the many challenges in pulling off a big adoption event like this is that we have a lot of adopters come in, and a lot of volunteers helping these adopters. That's not the problem, except that sometimes it's a challenge for volunteers (and staff, or me for that matter) to make good matches between dogs and adopters because they don't know the personalities of all 300 dogs on sight (and we rotate animals through on average of every 14 days, so they're not there for long usually). 

So a group of our volunteers made "key cards" to help peple make their matches. 

The cards are a fun way to help adopters quickly determine important things like energy level, personality, ability to live with cats, children and other dogs -- so that people can quickly identify pets that will fit their wishes and lifestyle.

As we like to say, we have a dog for just about everyone, but not every dog will work for everyone.

It was really fun, and impressive to watch the adopters walking through the kennels yesterday with their "key cards" as they looked for the match for their family. 

And in the spirit of "meeting your match" I thinks this was a great way to make adopting a dog easier, more fun, and more streamlined.

Thanks to our awesome volunteers who helped put these together. It was no small task. But their benefit is certainly being seen in the adoption numbers this weekend.