Here's my tuppence worth which is probably totally unworkable!!

Although all necessary info is available on the adoption pages i.e neutered, housetrained etc i am always drawn to sites that give more general thoughts and like has been previously said it can pull on the heart strings and maybe give that feeling of already knowing the dog concerned. Maybe just a few dogs at a time, ones that are already in foster care so a good insight into their characters exists and the story behind the dog can be told.

Also i know you have said that Jacky was removed because of the work involved answering general queries on him because he was such a beauty but would it be possible to feature more dogs if their was a team of people willing to be telephoned on their home numbers to give information on certain ones? I don't mean arranging anything, just giving out character and needs information, provided by yourself, giving them time to think it over, then passing on their details once they have decided that they want to go ahead. I'm sure there must be a lot of people like me with time at home with children and a home phone that would be willing to help.

As i said probably unworkable but it was just a thought!!

Hi Dave,

For my sins I work for West Lothian Council.  Like many places we have an internal "intranet" system.  You can advertise pretty much anything on it and the advert stays in place for as long as you wish.

Might be an idea to put the gal website address on - there are a fair few employees in West Lothian.  Even if the person reading it is not interested quite often they know someone who might be.

What do you think?

Rhona

Gail wrote:

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Also i know you have said that Jacky was removed because of the work involved answering general queries on him because he was such a beauty but would it be possible to feature more dogs if their was a team of people willing to be telephoned on their home numbers to give information on certain ones? I don't mean arranging anything, just giving out character and needs information, provided by yourself, giving them time to think it over, then passing on their details once they have decided that they want to go ahead. I'm sure there must be a lot of people like me with time at home with children and a home phone that would be willing to help.

---

What finally got me to phone, although I had been thinking about it for a while, was one dog's particular story in the Herald (Sooty).

Would it be possible to take advantage of the current tide of publicity and persuade a paper to run a picture of one of the dogs, with some information about it's character and how long it has been homeless etc.  Perhaps one dog per week?

I could ask the local radio station if they would consider this type of thing - although obviously they wouldn't be able to show a pic.

There is so much positive feeling, and outrage, about gh's just now (post Co. Durham story) that we ought to be able to make it work to our advantage.

Another thought Dave - I think when people see the dogs in the flesh it is the best advert as it pulls at the heart strings seeming the homeless dogs - so how about dedicating one of the monthly dog walks or a particular day to taking lots of the homeless dogs from the kennels and foster homes instead of our own - if they all went a walk with their red "I need a home" jackets on (depending on how many we have?)  and we took gal leaflets to hand out to people  it might work?

I know some of the homeless dogs come along depending on who can bring them - but if we organised volunteers in advance (I would be happy to bring a couple) then it could make a big impact? 

Said I'd post some comments so here goes -

weeewelamb wrote:

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Hi Dave What about putting a poster with pictures of, say, 3 individual dogs and a wee story under each photo. You know, something to pull at the old heart strings and get us all to put them up in our vet's waiting room.The posters could just have one dog on them if ,for some reason, you wanted to concentrate attention on one particular dog.We could change them on a regular basis to keep peoples interest.

Julie

---

Good idea Julie - we did a mail drop to ALL the vets, pet shops and doggie related shops in Scotland about 3 years ago so I think it's probably time to do this again. Individual Dogs is a good idea and probably more effective but it's a bit more difficult to do, just the time factor in doing new posters, converting them to PDF and putting them on the forum for folks to print. Some of you may have notice I've now got a book of homeless dogs with A4 posters of the dogs currently at Rachels, I'll print some more off and make them available at events for folks to pick up..

Gail wrote:

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Here's my tuppence worth which is probably totally unworkable!! Although all necessary info is available on the adoption pages i.e neutered, housetrained etc i am always drawn to sites that give more general thoughts and like has been previously said it can pull on the heart strings and maybe give that feeling of already knowing the dog concerned. Maybe just a few dogs at a time, ones that are already in foster care so a good insight into their characters exists and the story behind the dog can be told.

Also i know you have said that Jacky was removed because of the work involved answering general queries on him because he was such a beauty but would it be possible to feature more dogs if their was a team of people willing to be telephoned on their home numbers to give information on certain ones? I don't mean arranging anything, just giving out character and needs information, provided by yourself, giving them time to think it over, then passing on their details once they have decided that they want to go ahead. I'm sure there must be a lot of people like me with time at home with children and a home phone that would be willing to help.

As i said probably unworkable but it was just a thought!!

---

Another good idea about the little blurb I put at the bottom of each dog - I'll endevour to make it a bit longer 'Blue Boy' almost got a paragraph! This is difficult for me, it's hard to make up a nice ditty about the dogs based on the info I get from their assessments but I'll try!

Having other people to answers queries is something we've kinda tried but it just doesn't work, need to have one point of contact where the dogs are concerned I'm afraid (trust me on this!)

Amber wrote:

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Agree with above great suggestions. Dunno if you remember Dave, the dog I took over from Ireland last year, Susie (whom you kindly agreed to adverstise on the GAL site) - when I finally got round to making up a poster for her, with a nice photo and giving details, and sent to around 12 local vets, I had around 10 enquiries! When previously there had been none. Months after she was rehomed, I was still getting phone calls, so there is a bit of work involved in  keeping the posters up to date! I think maybe people that are looking for a dog, respond more to an individual story.

Maybe you could do this for some of the harder to home males that have been up for adoption for a long time? Think one of the problem as I see it, is the 'easy' small bitches go quickly and the big males get stuck and no one wants them. Maybe you could do a little feature in the newsletter/website or somewhere on how great the male greyhounds are?

Another would be to highlight the ones that are in foster care, as people are more likely to want these dogs that are throroughly assessed and have been living in a home, than one straight from a kennel, so you could have a higher 'turnover' of ones in foster?

---

Again with the posters! OK, they will be available at GAL events and if you ask nice I'll post some out to folks

On the last comment regards folks wanting a dog from a foster home more than one from a kennel - I always make the point that the only difference if a Foster dogs asssessment is just more advanced than a kennel dogs - I never tell anyone our dogs are house trained and call me suspicious but if somoene wants to adopt but will only take one from a foster home then they generally don't get one from GAL.

RhonaW wrote:

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Hi Dave,

For my sins I work for West Lothian Council.  Like many places we have an internal "intranet" system.  You can advertise pretty much anything on it and the advert stays in place for as long as you wish.

Might be an idea to put the gal website address on - there are a fair few employees in West Lothian.  Even if the person reading it is not interested quite often they know someone who might be. What do you think?

Rhona

---

Go for it!! the more advertising the better - if anyone has anything like this then get GAL on it! If you are not sure what to write get in touch!

silverhippo wrote:

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Hi Dave, One thing I think is that you need to get more homeless dogs to events. I was surprised that there was only the one at the Edinburgh Hot Dog Show. I think that sometimes even if they are looking for a dog people are put off by greyhounds as they have never met one and see them as those racing dogs. Meeting one on the other hand soon changes their mind and shows they make lovely companions. We were talking to a couple at the show, they had been having a picnic on the grass and Tara had tried to beg off them on the way past so they came over to see what was going on. They were saying that they were thinking of getting a dog and I got a long list of potential breeds, we of course proposed a greyhound. The thing is that they had a long list of breeds and I think that by today greyhounds may or may not be on the list. If there had been a homeless one that they had seen and liked we would have had a better chance. In the same way possibly getting more dogs to local events and galas would have the same effect. Not just the ones that are dog centred as sometimes a glut of dogs is not helpful. I realise that what I am suggesting means more work and is harder to organise and may well be something you have already considered. Edit I notice that other similar charities use this technique http://www.retiredgreyhounds.co.uk/index.asp?pageid=38 Claire

-- Edited by silverhippo at 16:36, 2006-07-24

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This simple comes down to one thing Claire - lack of volunteers - it's something we've ALWAYS had problems with, no matter how much calling and begging we always struggle. We struggle to move dogs from one side of Glasgow to another so getting homeless dogs to Edinburgh was pretty much a battle we were never going to win, there's only so much we can ask you guys to ask. Looking at that events list on the RGT website I'd just love it if GAL could have that many events and awareness days but bottom line it ain't gonay happen, we've already cancelled a couple of events and can collections this year because we couldn't get any volunteers and indeed the Fife event on Sunday only just went ahead with 4 volunteers and 2 dogs

FAJ wrote:

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I'd be happy to help with this. As I see it, there is no difference between Jacky and our Harry in their behaviour. I'd be very happy to speak to potential interested people about the responsibilities of having a keen dog, obviously on the understanding that all rehoming decisions are made by GAL. Fiona

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As above Fiona the homing only works if there's one point of contact from initial contact to GAL till rehoming..

Sunny girl wrote:

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I think the poster idea is a good one. I would be willing to go round putting them up. I have never seen any of GALs newspaper adverts (I don't read the papers you advertise in  )  I found GAL by chance on the net and not everyone has a computer. 

I would be more than willing to go round putting up posters in Edinburgh, and as Rhona suggested all our work places would be a good place to get an add or a poster displayed.

In order to cut down on the work you could feature some dogs but put a very general comment, like to find out about these dogs and others contact GAL. That way you wouldn't have to keep replacing them.

I know we can print off A4 posters but maybe some bigger ones for vets etc would help.

But hey what do i know. You seem to be doing a really good job the way your going.

Landess

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again with the posters!! I've some available now if anyone wants any!

Lesley wrote:

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What finally got me to phone, although I had been thinking about it for a while, was one dog's particular story in the Herald (Sooty).

Would it be possible to take advantage of the current tide of publicity and persuade a paper to run a picture of one of the dogs, with some information about it's character and how long it has been homeless etc.  Perhaps one dog per week?

I could ask the local radio station if they would consider this type of thing - although obviously they wouldn't be able to show a pic.

There is so much positive feeling, and outrage, about gh's just now (post Co. Durham story) that we ought to be able to make it work to our advantage.

---

This is something that wuld only work at a local level, we've tried for years to get any sort of discount for our advertising inthe Herald and Times but to no avail, possibly a localpaper might be more adept at doing a regular piccy and dog story, again this comes down to time, anyone able to call all the local papers in Scotland for GAL - our committee and volunteers with jobs are working flat out as usual and can't manage to do this sadly.

Lorna wrote:

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What about asking the Good Morning Scotland people from BBC Scotland (who had the SSPCA lady on talking about the Durham story recently) if they would do a feature on GAL. They mentioned us several times in the interview so they might want to help us?  Maybe you have already thought of that one?

---

We did have some press contacting us after the story broke - they never got back to us - bolt guns and dead dogs make a story - 200 dogs getting rehomed doesnt.

Lorna wrote:

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Another thought Dave - I think when people see the dogs in the flesh it is the best advert as it pulls at the heart strings seeming the homeless dogs - so how about dedicating one of the monthly dog walks or a particular day to taking lots of the homeless dogs from the kennels and foster homes instead of our own - if they all went a walk with their red "I need a home" jackets on (depending on how many we have?)  and we took gal leaflets to hand out to people  it might work?

I know some of the homeless dogs come along depending on who can bring them - but if we organised volunteers in advance (I would be happy to bring a couple) then it could make a big impact? 

---

Again this is down to volunteers, I'm lucky if I can get 2 or 3 homeless dogs to the Glasgow walks...

Slippy wrote:

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What about getting a load of jackets like the "I need a home" ones but printed with some other slogan eg "100 dogs like me need a nice home". You could sell these to GAL members (so no cost to GAL) and we could use them when walking our dogs. Or on the GAL walks.

---

This is another of my touchy subjects at the moment - those coats cost us £7 - I ordered 30 new ones at the start of the year and you know what - I've 6 left, they aren't returned at events, it's a tad annoying (just like volunteer badges - no one ever give us them back!) Anyways rant over, we are restricted to a certain amount of lettering so the 100 dogs thing wouldn't fit - happy to look into getting some more (if I can bear the financial loss to GAL) if you folks can think of a good short slogan! 

Lorna wrote:

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Another idea - stolen from the USA !  I used to be a member of Greytalk when I first had Harley and remembered reading that many adoption groups there use open or low security prisons as foster homes for their dogs.  The dogs get house trained and taught basic obedience. In return the prisoners benefit from caring for an animal and learing dog training skills which helps integrate them back into society.

I know it's not a quick solution but it might be something to think about looking into. I read on the internet there is a programme at Ford open prison in England where inmates train dogs for disabled people. 

Just an idea for the pot! 

Here is a link to one of us US groups programmes:

http://www.tlcgreyhoundadoption.com/kcfp.html   

http://www.4greyhounds.org/secondchance.html - watch this video is lovely!

  (this one brought a tear to my eye - so lovely to see the prisoners on the video clips with their new doggie friends ) 

---

Lorna, I so love this idea - not sure thugh if GAL is quite big enough for something like this, the volunteer thing again!

Lesley wrote:

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Another thought involving the press: a press release describing this unexpected surge of unwanted dogs, which would otherwise have been pts, along with the fact that we desperately need people to consider adopting - now more than ever - plus all usual reasons gh's make great pets etc., etc.  It should go to the nationals, but also to anyone with local papers (like me - we have three local papers plus a local radio station) who should then put their own name as contact.

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Lesley, we've a press release going out next week for the GALa and I've asked our PR man Steve to try to incorporate summitlike this in that..

doggymental wrote:

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I think this has been mentioned previously but perhaps asking the local radio stations to dedicate a time slot each week to give info on our beautiful greys, Dave maybe you or Denise could be interviewed and really pull the heart strings!!

---

I'd love to do this but it's the time thing - you've prolly not hear lots but me and Denise have been on the radio more times than youve had hot dinners! A regular spot would be good but too time consuming I'm afraid - even to get this set up would take time we just haven't got..

KEEP THE IDEAS COMING GUYS I'M REALLY PLEASED AT THE RESPONSE SO FAR BUT WOULD LIKE MORE INPUT..THANKS

weeewelamb wrote:

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What about targeting dog shows.  All the people who go to dog shows must be doggy people so, chances are, we’d get a lot of interest if we took the GAL info and some homeless hounds.

The Scottish Kennel Club show at Ingliston on August 26th and 27th might be a good one. ( forgive me if this has already been tried )

It wouldn’t necessarily have to be a breed show---obedience trials or agility competitions may also be worthwhile.

Julie

---

This is just down to volunteers again Julie, I'd really really love it for GAL to be out and about every weekend spreading the good word - when GAL first started to get a bit bigger we went to other peoples events, Highland Games etc, if we went home with £20 in donations and a couple of applications we'd be extatic, this was before we had the bulk of our shop stuff, anyways now we're 'big' we only go to the bigger events or ones we organise ourselves BUT there's SO many smaller events that we could go to, all it takes is a couple of volunteers, couple of dogs, couple of collecting cans a paste table and some leaflets and we're sorted, awareness is the key here not just collecting money - anyways rambling now, we've tried to encourage folks as part of the kenel fund initiatives to explore their local areas for smaller events and then go to represent GAL, we supply all the kit, however this hasn't been too successful, there's a few extra things we've been to this year that we wouldn't have gone to but bottom line (as ever) lack of bodies to represent GAL.

Regards the SKC show - we've attended both the SKC shows for the last 3 years - a huge money raiser for GAL, combined, both shows raised over £2,000 in shop sales and donations for each of the last 3 years - sadly the SKC this year changed their policy and rather than allowing charities to attend for free they started charging charities 'trade' rates for a pitch - would have cost us over £1,000 for both SKC events this year and we couldn't afford that outlay (remember the money raised the last few years was mostly based on shop sales so that total isn't all profit!)

Dave - I imagine this is a problem all the greyhound rescue charities have in Scotland. What about joining forces all over Scotland for a one week campaign of events to raise awareness?

Now there's a challenge for you.

Dave wrote:

Said I'd post some comments so here goes -

Slippy wrote:
What about getting a load of jackets like the "I need a home" ones but printed with some other slogan eg "100 dogs like me need a nice home". You could sell these to GAL members (so no cost to GAL) and we could use them when walking our dogs. Or on the GAL walks.

---

This is another of my touchy subjects at the moment - those coats cost us £7 - I ordered 30 new ones at the start of the year and you know what - I've 6 left, they aren't returned at events, it's a tad annoying (just like volunteer badges - no one ever give us them back!) Anyways rant over, we are restricted to a certain amount of lettering so the 100 dogs thing wouldn't fit - happy to look into getting some more (if I can bear the financial loss to GAL) if you folks can think of a good short slogan! 

Steve wrote:

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What about an email viral campaign to raise awareness? If you've got some web boffins (Glendy?) who have the know how it might work? Not sure how much traffic you get through the web but that's how I found GAL.

---

If an email viral campaign is what I think it is Im not sure about it - I know I get fed up with spam emailes - what do others think?

silverhippo wrote:

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This is something we probably already do but do we have any generic leaflets? We were in pets at home with Tara and Zak yesterday and were speaking to a couple of women who were very taken with Zak. One was saying that her husband was very taken with greys but they couldn’t get one as they had a cat. We explained that we also had a cat and that organisations such as GAL can advise on a cat safe dog. They went away quite keen but I had wished I had been able to give them some kind of leaflet.

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Claire, we have loads of GAL business cards and they are available to all our supporters to hand out, you really shouldn't go walking your dogs without a couple in your pocket you can get some off me next time I see you - This goes to everyone else if you want GAL business cards just let me know and I'll send you some!

Missy wrote:

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Dave What about video clips of each homeless dog. It can give any prospect owner and idea of the character of the dogs (cheekyness, cuteness, quietness etc).

I do like the USA site perhaps have an area of the website dedicated to rescues and sob stories to pull peoples heart strings and like the USA site have donations on each page. Even if you don't home a dog you might get more money.

Another idea would be to have an area on the website like the forum for each and every dog in GAL's care (and past care) including the rehomed, rainbow bridge etc. e.g. Rescue, rehoming, arrival to new home, continual story of homed life and then rainbow bridge (with pictures and maybe video clips). For those people without the internet what about a DVD with the dogs on with other stories of rescues, homelife etc to go with the information packs.

---

Hi Katrina - Videos - great idea and happily we're on top of that one watch out on the GAL website v. soon

Not sure if there's enough space on every GALpages for a donate button

We do have a homed dogs bit on the site - perhaps we could enhance it a wee bit, any ideas? Maintenance is really the issue to be honest, takes time to create webby pages, what doother folks think?

Steve wrote:

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Dave - I imagine this is a problem all the greyhound rescue charities have in Scotland. What about joining forces all over Scotland for a one week campaign of events to raise awareness?

Now there's a challenge for you.

---

A challenge indeed Steve - cards on the table GAL don't work with many of the other charities in Scotland due to procedural differences, sad I know as we're all doing the same job but there you have it...

Lorna wrote:

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What about a leaflet drop using the Royal Mail

http://www.royalmail.com/portal/rm/content1?catId=600112&mediaId=3100081

We could target specific postal areas - doesn't look too expensive but would depend on how much the printers would charge.  A leaflet with a few pictures of homeless dogs with their stories might draw in some interest? 

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interesting one Lorna, I like it, one for the committee to consider, I'll put it to them

FAJ wrote:

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How about "My pals need homes"? I'd be happy to buy a couple for Harry and Pearly to wear whilst we're out and about. Especially at the likes of the Edinburgh walks. We can't get over to Glasgow very easily to transport homeless dogs but I don't mind pretending that our two need a home in the name of a good cause! (gasps for breath at the thought of them being taken off me.........)

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thats brill Fiona i really like that!

Carole2 wrote:

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Don't know how you would feel about this, but maybe take a deposit for the coats say £5 to help cover the cost if they are not returned?

Carole

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Again with the posters! OK, they will be available at GAL events and if you ask nice I'll post some out to folks

On the last comment regards folks wanting a dog from a foster home more than one from a kennel - I always make the point that the only difference if a Foster dogs asssessment is just more advanced than a kennel dogs - I never tell anyone our dogs are house trained and call me suspicious but if somoene wants to adopt but will only take one from a foster home then they generally don't get one from GAL.