Animal Welfare Professionals

On Thursday, October 2, 2025, join Maddie's® Monthly Foster Connection at 12pm PT/3pm ET. Finnegan Dowling, Shelter Program and Engagement Manager at Mutual Rescue, will be discussing your favorite long stay pets to identify strategies for marketing them to fosters and adopters.

Whether you're a staffer, volunteer, foster or adopter, we'd love to see you there!

Register for the session so that you can receive notifications about upcoming webcasts and participate in discussions after the webcast.

Webcast Description:

With every shelter stuffed to bursting, finding fosters and adopters is crucial. For some pets this is simple, but others are harder to place. In this workshop, we'll discuss your favorite long stay pets to identify strategies for marketing them to fosters and adopters. This workshop is not just for foster staff– it's open to anyone who is interested in marketing pets who are harder to place!

Make sure to bring information about your own favorite or most challenging long stay. We'll choose several and work through them together, discussing what works, what doesn't work and some innovative new ways that can get extra attention and help them find the right home. We'll discuss how we talk about behavioral and health challenges in bios and social media and discuss the optimal ways to be frank about issues while also not deterring potential adopters. We'll look at different social media channels and how to optimize content about those pets for those channels to get the message across and help these pets put their best paw forward. Be prepared for a fun, frank and useful webinar with a lot of workshopping and participation! 

To submit a question for our presenters or a long stay pet you'd like to discuss during the workshop, please fill out this form:

https://forms.gle/i1K3jAvzsJCfRtBs6 

About Finnegan Dowling:

Finnegan Dowling is Mutual Rescue's Shelter Engagement Manager. She has been in animal welfare for more than 25 years and has worked in shelters in Washington, Colorado, California, and Nicaragua. Prior to working for Mutual Rescue, she was the social-media manager for HSSV where her work was honored with Shorty and Communicator Awards. Finnegan's writing has been published in The Bark, Bay Woof, and Huffington Post. In her current role she works with shelters around the country to help them start day foster programs. She often presents on day fostering and marketing at animal welfare conferences. She has spoken at Best Friends, Virginia Federation of Humane Societies, New Mexico Humane Conference and many others. She lives in coastal Texas with an opinionated dog and her husband.

We had two pets that we weren't able to workshop, so we'll do them here:

Isobel from Kitty Kat Haven & Rescue; current profile: https://share.google/zswwOUEshym0luRER

Terri from Santa Barbara County Animal Services; current profile: 

https://24petconnect.com/DetailsMain/SNBR/A495890

On Thursday, October 2, 2025, join Maddie's® Monthly Foster Connection at 12pm PT/3pm ET. Finnegan Dowling, Shelter Program and Engagement Manager at Mutual Rescue, will be discussing your favorite long stay pets to identify strategies for marketing them to fosters and adopters.

Whether you're a staffer, volunteer, foster or adopter, we'd love to see you there!

Register for the session so that you can receive notifications about upcoming webcasts and participate in discussions after the webcast.

Webcast Description:

With every shelter stuffed to bursting, finding fosters and adopters is crucial. For some pets this is simple, but others are harder to place. In this workshop, we'll discuss your favorite long stay pets to identify strategies for marketing them to fosters and adopters. This workshop is not just for foster staff– it's open to anyone who is interested in marketing pets who are harder to place!

Make sure to bring information about your own favorite or most challenging long stay. We'll choose several and work through them together, discussing what works, what doesn't work and some innovative new ways that can get extra attention and help them find the right home. We'll discuss how we talk about behavioral and health challenges in bios and social media and discuss the optimal ways to be frank about issues while also not deterring potential adopters. We'll look at different social media channels and how to optimize content about those pets for those channels to get the message across and help these pets put their best paw forward. Be prepared for a fun, frank and useful webinar with a lot of workshopping and participation! 

To submit a question for our presenters or a long stay pet you'd like to discuss during the workshop, please fill out this form:

https://forms.gle/i1K3jAvzsJCfRtBs6 

About Finnegan Dowling:

Finnegan Dowling is Mutual Rescue's Shelter Engagement Manager. She has been in animal welfare for more than 25 years and has worked in shelters in Washington, Colorado, California, and Nicaragua. Prior to working for Mutual Rescue, she was the social-media manager for HSSV where her work was honored with Shorty and Communicator Awards. Finnegan's writing has been published in The Bark, Bay Woof, and Huffington Post. In her current role she works with shelters around the country to help them start day foster programs. She often presents on day fostering and marketing at animal welfare conferences. She has spoken at Best Friends, Virginia Federation of Humane Societies, New Mexico Humane Conference and many others. She lives in coastal Texas with an opinionated dog and her husband.

On Thursday, October 2, 2025, join Maddie's® Monthly Foster Connection at 12pm PT/3pm ET. Finnegan Dowling, Shelter Program and Engagement Manager at Mutual Rescue, will be discussing your favorite long stay pets to identify strategies for marketing them to fosters and adopters.

Whether you're a staffer, volunteer, foster or adopter, we'd love to see you there!

Register for the session so that you can receive notifications about upcoming webcasts and participate in discussions after the webcast.

Webcast Description:

With every shelter stuffed to bursting, finding fosters and adopters is crucial. For some pets this is simple, but others are harder to place. In this workshop, we'll discuss your favorite long stay pets to identify strategies for marketing them to fosters and adopters. This workshop is not just for foster staff– it's open to anyone who is interested in marketing pets who are harder to place!

Make sure to bring information about your own favorite or most challenging long stay. We'll choose several and work through them together, discussing what works, what doesn't work and some innovative new ways that can get extra attention and help them find the right home. We'll discuss how we talk about behavioral and health challenges in bios and social media and discuss the optimal ways to be frank about issues while also not deterring potential adopters. We'll look at different social media channels and how to optimize content about those pets for those channels to get the message across and help these pets put their best paw forward. Be prepared for a fun, frank and useful webinar with a lot of workshopping and participation! 

To submit a question for our presenters or a long stay pet you'd like to discuss during the workshop, please fill out this form:

https://forms.gle/i1K3jAvzsJCfRtBs6 

About Finnegan Dowling:

Finnegan Dowling is Mutual Rescue's Shelter Engagement Manager. She has been in animal welfare for more than 25 years and has worked in shelters in Washington, Colorado, California, and Nicaragua. Prior to working for Mutual Rescue, she was the social-media manager for HSSV where her work was honored with Shorty and Communicator Awards. Finnegan's writing has been published in The Bark, Bay Woof, and Huffington Post. In her current role she works with shelters around the country to help them start day foster programs. She often presents on day fostering and marketing at animal welfare conferences. She has spoken at Best Friends, Virginia Federation of Humane Societies, New Mexico Humane Conference and many others. She lives in coastal Texas with an opinionated dog and her husband.

Thank you all so much for coming today! Tomorrow I'm going to take a dive into Isobelle, who looks like a whole party on paws, and Terri, who has the most beautiful face that makes me want to cuddle her all day long. If you'd like the slides from today, I've attached them in a PDF file here in case they can be useful to anyone. Thank you all again, animal welfare heroes!

On Thursday, October 2, 2025, join Maddie's® Monthly Foster Connection at 12pm PT/3pm ET. Finnegan Dowling, Shelter Program and Engagement Manager at Mutual Rescue, will be discussing your favorite long stay pets to identify strategies for marketing them to fosters and adopters.

Whether you're a staffer, volunteer, foster or adopter, we'd love to see you there!

Register for the session so that you can receive notifications about upcoming webcasts and participate in discussions after the webcast.

Webcast Description:

With every shelter stuffed to bursting, finding fosters and adopters is crucial. For some pets this is simple, but others are harder to place. In this workshop, we'll discuss your favorite long stay pets to identify strategies for marketing them to fosters and adopters. This workshop is not just for foster staff– it's open to anyone who is interested in marketing pets who are harder to place!

Make sure to bring information about your own favorite or most challenging long stay. We'll choose several and work through them together, discussing what works, what doesn't work and some innovative new ways that can get extra attention and help them find the right home. We'll discuss how we talk about behavioral and health challenges in bios and social media and discuss the optimal ways to be frank about issues while also not deterring potential adopters. We'll look at different social media channels and how to optimize content about those pets for those channels to get the message across and help these pets put their best paw forward. Be prepared for a fun, frank and useful webinar with a lot of workshopping and participation! 

To submit a question for our presenters or a long stay pet you'd like to discuss during the workshop, please fill out this form:

https://forms.gle/i1K3jAvzsJCfRtBs6 

About Finnegan Dowling:

Finnegan Dowling is Mutual Rescue's Shelter Engagement Manager. She has been in animal welfare for more than 25 years and has worked in shelters in Washington, Colorado, California, and Nicaragua. Prior to working for Mutual Rescue, she was the social-media manager for HSSV where her work was honored with Shorty and Communicator Awards. Finnegan's writing has been published in The Bark, Bay Woof, and Huffington Post. In her current role she works with shelters around the country to help them start day foster programs. She often presents on day fostering and marketing at animal welfare conferences. She has spoken at Best Friends, Virginia Federation of Humane Societies, New Mexico Humane Conference and many others. She lives in coastal Texas with an opinionated dog and her husband.

Omg, Isobelle looks so regal in that first picture! She can truly live up to her name of Queen and be photoshopped on a throne, in a carriage, having tea, attending a ball, etc.  If you can get a video of her doing a little butt wiggle before chasing a toy, or movement in general, you could also do a play on 'dancing queen' from Abba. 

My other immediate thought was 'the two sides' of Isobelle, being nice and being mischievious. Some of those photos definitely have a look of mischief. 

Honestly, I just like to see all the cute pictures  :) 

Thank you all so much for coming today! Tomorrow I'm going to take a dive into Isobelle, who looks like a whole party on paws, and Terri, who has the most beautiful face that makes me want to cuddle her all day long. If you'd like the slides from today, I've attached them in a PDF file here in case they can be useful to anyone. Thank you all again, animal welfare heroes!

On Thursday, October 2, 2025, join Maddie's® Monthly Foster Connection at 12pm PT/3pm ET. Finnegan Dowling, Shelter Program and Engagement Manager at Mutual Rescue, will be discussing your favorite long stay pets to identify strategies for marketing them to fosters and adopters.

Whether you're a staffer, volunteer, foster or adopter, we'd love to see you there!

Register for the session so that you can receive notifications about upcoming webcasts and participate in discussions after the webcast.

Webcast Description:

With every shelter stuffed to bursting, finding fosters and adopters is crucial. For some pets this is simple, but others are harder to place. In this workshop, we'll discuss your favorite long stay pets to identify strategies for marketing them to fosters and adopters. This workshop is not just for foster staff– it's open to anyone who is interested in marketing pets who are harder to place!

Make sure to bring information about your own favorite or most challenging long stay. We'll choose several and work through them together, discussing what works, what doesn't work and some innovative new ways that can get extra attention and help them find the right home. We'll discuss how we talk about behavioral and health challenges in bios and social media and discuss the optimal ways to be frank about issues while also not deterring potential adopters. We'll look at different social media channels and how to optimize content about those pets for those channels to get the message across and help these pets put their best paw forward. Be prepared for a fun, frank and useful webinar with a lot of workshopping and participation! 

To submit a question for our presenters or a long stay pet you'd like to discuss during the workshop, please fill out this form:

https://forms.gle/i1K3jAvzsJCfRtBs6 

About Finnegan Dowling:

Finnegan Dowling is Mutual Rescue's Shelter Engagement Manager. She has been in animal welfare for more than 25 years and has worked in shelters in Washington, Colorado, California, and Nicaragua. Prior to working for Mutual Rescue, she was the social-media manager for HSSV where her work was honored with Shorty and Communicator Awards. Finnegan's writing has been published in The Bark, Bay Woof, and Huffington Post. In her current role she works with shelters around the country to help them start day foster programs. She often presents on day fostering and marketing at animal welfare conferences. She has spoken at Best Friends, Virginia Federation of Humane Societies, New Mexico Humane Conference and many others. She lives in coastal Texas with an opinionated dog and her husband.

She is a stunning kitteh and I love the two sides idea. I'm waiting for some additional info on her from her foster but my first thought is that this QUEEN is a prime candidate for some anti-marketing. People LOVE naughty cats, particularly ones that can live with large dogs and other cats. I love her bio and am excited to come up with some tactics and ideas for her. 

Omg, Isobelle looks so regal in that first picture! She can truly live up to her name of Queen and be photoshopped on a throne, in a carriage, having tea, attending a ball, etc.  If you can get a video of her doing a little butt wiggle before chasing a toy, or movement in general, you could also do a play on 'dancing queen' from Abba. 

My other immediate thought was 'the two sides' of Isobelle, being nice and being mischievious. Some of those photos definitely have a look of mischief. 

Honestly, I just like to see all the cute pictures  :) 

Thank you all so much for coming today! Tomorrow I'm going to take a dive into Isobelle, who looks like a whole party on paws, and Terri, who has the most beautiful face that makes me want to cuddle her all day long. If you'd like the slides from today, I've attached them in a PDF file here in case they can be useful to anyone. Thank you all again, animal welfare heroes!

On Thursday, October 2, 2025, join Maddie's® Monthly Foster Connection at 12pm PT/3pm ET. Finnegan Dowling, Shelter Program and Engagement Manager at Mutual Rescue, will be discussing your favorite long stay pets to identify strategies for marketing them to fosters and adopters.

Whether you're a staffer, volunteer, foster or adopter, we'd love to see you there!

Register for the session so that you can receive notifications about upcoming webcasts and participate in discussions after the webcast.

Webcast Description:

With every shelter stuffed to bursting, finding fosters and adopters is crucial. For some pets this is simple, but others are harder to place. In this workshop, we'll discuss your favorite long stay pets to identify strategies for marketing them to fosters and adopters. This workshop is not just for foster staff– it's open to anyone who is interested in marketing pets who are harder to place!

Make sure to bring information about your own favorite or most challenging long stay. We'll choose several and work through them together, discussing what works, what doesn't work and some innovative new ways that can get extra attention and help them find the right home. We'll discuss how we talk about behavioral and health challenges in bios and social media and discuss the optimal ways to be frank about issues while also not deterring potential adopters. We'll look at different social media channels and how to optimize content about those pets for those channels to get the message across and help these pets put their best paw forward. Be prepared for a fun, frank and useful webinar with a lot of workshopping and participation! 

To submit a question for our presenters or a long stay pet you'd like to discuss during the workshop, please fill out this form:

https://forms.gle/i1K3jAvzsJCfRtBs6 

About Finnegan Dowling:

Finnegan Dowling is Mutual Rescue's Shelter Engagement Manager. She has been in animal welfare for more than 25 years and has worked in shelters in Washington, Colorado, California, and Nicaragua. Prior to working for Mutual Rescue, she was the social-media manager for HSSV where her work was honored with Shorty and Communicator Awards. Finnegan's writing has been published in The Bark, Bay Woof, and Huffington Post. In her current role she works with shelters around the country to help them start day foster programs. She often presents on day fostering and marketing at animal welfare conferences. She has spoken at Best Friends, Virginia Federation of Humane Societies, New Mexico Humane Conference and many others. She lives in coastal Texas with an opinionated dog and her husband.

Totally agree! She is perfect for anti-marketing and there are a LOT of people out there who love a spicy kitty. My input on Isobel is, SHOW ME THE MISCHIEF!! Here's an example- these two kept getting into weird places in their foster home and their foster got video: https://www.instagram.com/reel/DGtDNjSJPWS/  When it was posted they were immediately adopted.

She is a stunning kitteh and I love the two sides idea. I'm waiting for some additional info on her from her foster but my first thought is that this QUEEN is a prime candidate for some anti-marketing. People LOVE naughty cats, particularly ones that can live with large dogs and other cats. I love her bio and am excited to come up with some tactics and ideas for her. 

Omg, Isobelle looks so regal in that first picture! She can truly live up to her name of Queen and be photoshopped on a throne, in a carriage, having tea, attending a ball, etc.  If you can get a video of her doing a little butt wiggle before chasing a toy, or movement in general, you could also do a play on 'dancing queen' from Abba. 

My other immediate thought was 'the two sides' of Isobelle, being nice and being mischievious. Some of those photos definitely have a look of mischief. 

Honestly, I just like to see all the cute pictures  :) 

Thank you all so much for coming today! Tomorrow I'm going to take a dive into Isobelle, who looks like a whole party on paws, and Terri, who has the most beautiful face that makes me want to cuddle her all day long. If you'd like the slides from today, I've attached them in a PDF file here in case they can be useful to anyone. Thank you all again, animal welfare heroes!

On Thursday, October 2, 2025, join Maddie's® Monthly Foster Connection at 12pm PT/3pm ET. Finnegan Dowling, Shelter Program and Engagement Manager at Mutual Rescue, will be discussing your favorite long stay pets to identify strategies for marketing them to fosters and adopters.

Whether you're a staffer, volunteer, foster or adopter, we'd love to see you there!

Register for the session so that you can receive notifications about upcoming webcasts and participate in discussions after the webcast.

Webcast Description:

With every shelter stuffed to bursting, finding fosters and adopters is crucial. For some pets this is simple, but others are harder to place. In this workshop, we'll discuss your favorite long stay pets to identify strategies for marketing them to fosters and adopters. This workshop is not just for foster staff– it's open to anyone who is interested in marketing pets who are harder to place!

Make sure to bring information about your own favorite or most challenging long stay. We'll choose several and work through them together, discussing what works, what doesn't work and some innovative new ways that can get extra attention and help them find the right home. We'll discuss how we talk about behavioral and health challenges in bios and social media and discuss the optimal ways to be frank about issues while also not deterring potential adopters. We'll look at different social media channels and how to optimize content about those pets for those channels to get the message across and help these pets put their best paw forward. Be prepared for a fun, frank and useful webinar with a lot of workshopping and participation! 

To submit a question for our presenters or a long stay pet you'd like to discuss during the workshop, please fill out this form:

https://forms.gle/i1K3jAvzsJCfRtBs6 

About Finnegan Dowling:

Finnegan Dowling is Mutual Rescue's Shelter Engagement Manager. She has been in animal welfare for more than 25 years and has worked in shelters in Washington, Colorado, California, and Nicaragua. Prior to working for Mutual Rescue, she was the social-media manager for HSSV where her work was honored with Shorty and Communicator Awards. Finnegan's writing has been published in The Bark, Bay Woof, and Huffington Post. In her current role she works with shelters around the country to help them start day foster programs. She often presents on day fostering and marketing at animal welfare conferences. She has spoken at Best Friends, Virginia Federation of Humane Societies, New Mexico Humane Conference and many others. She lives in coastal Texas with an opinionated dog and her husband.

Omg, Isobelle looks so regal in that first picture! She can truly live up to her name of Queen and be photoshopped on a throne, in a carriage, having tea, attending a ball, etc.  If you can get a video of her doing a little butt wiggle before chasing a toy, or movement in general, you could also do a play on 'dancing queen' from Abba. 

My other immediate thought was 'the two sides' of Isobelle, being nice and being mischievious. Some of those photos definitely have a look of mischief. 

Honestly, I just like to see all the cute pictures  :) 

Thank you all so much for coming today! Tomorrow I'm going to take a dive into Isobelle, who looks like a whole party on paws, and Terri, who has the most beautiful face that makes me want to cuddle her all day long. If you'd like the slides from today, I've attached them in a PDF file here in case they can be useful to anyone. Thank you all again, animal welfare heroes!

On Thursday, October 2, 2025, join Maddie's® Monthly Foster Connection at 12pm PT/3pm ET. Finnegan Dowling, Shelter Program and Engagement Manager at Mutual Rescue, will be discussing your favorite long stay pets to identify strategies for marketing them to fosters and adopters.

Whether you're a staffer, volunteer, foster or adopter, we'd love to see you there!

Register for the session so that you can receive notifications about upcoming webcasts and participate in discussions after the webcast.

Webcast Description:

With every shelter stuffed to bursting, finding fosters and adopters is crucial. For some pets this is simple, but others are harder to place. In this workshop, we'll discuss your favorite long stay pets to identify strategies for marketing them to fosters and adopters. This workshop is not just for foster staff– it's open to anyone who is interested in marketing pets who are harder to place!

Make sure to bring information about your own favorite or most challenging long stay. We'll choose several and work through them together, discussing what works, what doesn't work and some innovative new ways that can get extra attention and help them find the right home. We'll discuss how we talk about behavioral and health challenges in bios and social media and discuss the optimal ways to be frank about issues while also not deterring potential adopters. We'll look at different social media channels and how to optimize content about those pets for those channels to get the message across and help these pets put their best paw forward. Be prepared for a fun, frank and useful webinar with a lot of workshopping and participation! 

To submit a question for our presenters or a long stay pet you'd like to discuss during the workshop, please fill out this form:

https://forms.gle/i1K3jAvzsJCfRtBs6 

About Finnegan Dowling:

Finnegan Dowling is Mutual Rescue's Shelter Engagement Manager. She has been in animal welfare for more than 25 years and has worked in shelters in Washington, Colorado, California, and Nicaragua. Prior to working for Mutual Rescue, she was the social-media manager for HSSV where her work was honored with Shorty and Communicator Awards. Finnegan's writing has been published in The Bark, Bay Woof, and Huffington Post. In her current role she works with shelters around the country to help them start day foster programs. She often presents on day fostering and marketing at animal welfare conferences. She has spoken at Best Friends, Virginia Federation of Humane Societies, New Mexico Humane Conference and many others. She lives in coastal Texas with an opinionated dog and her husband.

I love this!  Thank you!

Omg, Isobelle looks so regal in that first picture! She can truly live up to her name of Queen and be photoshopped on a throne, in a carriage, having tea, attending a ball, etc.  If you can get a video of her doing a little butt wiggle before chasing a toy, or movement in general, you could also do a play on 'dancing queen' from Abba. 

My other immediate thought was 'the two sides' of Isobelle, being nice and being mischievious. Some of those photos definitely have a look of mischief. 

Honestly, I just like to see all the cute pictures  :) 

Thank you all so much for coming today! Tomorrow I'm going to take a dive into Isobelle, who looks like a whole party on paws, and Terri, who has the most beautiful face that makes me want to cuddle her all day long. If you'd like the slides from today, I've attached them in a PDF file here in case they can be useful to anyone. Thank you all again, animal welfare heroes!

On Thursday, October 2, 2025, join Maddie's® Monthly Foster Connection at 12pm PT/3pm ET. Finnegan Dowling, Shelter Program and Engagement Manager at Mutual Rescue, will be discussing your favorite long stay pets to identify strategies for marketing them to fosters and adopters.

Whether you're a staffer, volunteer, foster or adopter, we'd love to see you there!

Register for the session so that you can receive notifications about upcoming webcasts and participate in discussions after the webcast.

Webcast Description:

With every shelter stuffed to bursting, finding fosters and adopters is crucial. For some pets this is simple, but others are harder to place. In this workshop, we'll discuss your favorite long stay pets to identify strategies for marketing them to fosters and adopters. This workshop is not just for foster staff– it's open to anyone who is interested in marketing pets who are harder to place!

Make sure to bring information about your own favorite or most challenging long stay. We'll choose several and work through them together, discussing what works, what doesn't work and some innovative new ways that can get extra attention and help them find the right home. We'll discuss how we talk about behavioral and health challenges in bios and social media and discuss the optimal ways to be frank about issues while also not deterring potential adopters. We'll look at different social media channels and how to optimize content about those pets for those channels to get the message across and help these pets put their best paw forward. Be prepared for a fun, frank and useful webinar with a lot of workshopping and participation! 

To submit a question for our presenters or a long stay pet you'd like to discuss during the workshop, please fill out this form:

https://forms.gle/i1K3jAvzsJCfRtBs6 

About Finnegan Dowling:

Finnegan Dowling is Mutual Rescue's Shelter Engagement Manager. She has been in animal welfare for more than 25 years and has worked in shelters in Washington, Colorado, California, and Nicaragua. Prior to working for Mutual Rescue, she was the social-media manager for HSSV where her work was honored with Shorty and Communicator Awards. Finnegan's writing has been published in The Bark, Bay Woof, and Huffington Post. In her current role she works with shelters around the country to help them start day foster programs. She often presents on day fostering and marketing at animal welfare conferences. She has spoken at Best Friends, Virginia Federation of Humane Societies, New Mexico Humane Conference and many others. She lives in coastal Texas with an opinionated dog and her husband.

Cheryl, I sent you a message through the forum inbox to get some more info about her behavioral quirks. If you get a chance, tell me more about her 

I love this!  Thank you!

Omg, Isobelle looks so regal in that first picture! She can truly live up to her name of Queen and be photoshopped on a throne, in a carriage, having tea, attending a ball, etc.  If you can get a video of her doing a little butt wiggle before chasing a toy, or movement in general, you could also do a play on 'dancing queen' from Abba. 

My other immediate thought was 'the two sides' of Isobelle, being nice and being mischievious. Some of those photos definitely have a look of mischief. 

Honestly, I just like to see all the cute pictures  :) 

Thank you all so much for coming today! Tomorrow I'm going to take a dive into Isobelle, who looks like a whole party on paws, and Terri, who has the most beautiful face that makes me want to cuddle her all day long. If you'd like the slides from today, I've attached them in a PDF file here in case they can be useful to anyone. Thank you all again, animal welfare heroes!

On Thursday, October 2, 2025, join Maddie's® Monthly Foster Connection at 12pm PT/3pm ET. Finnegan Dowling, Shelter Program and Engagement Manager at Mutual Rescue, will be discussing your favorite long stay pets to identify strategies for marketing them to fosters and adopters.

Whether you're a staffer, volunteer, foster or adopter, we'd love to see you there!

Register for the session so that you can receive notifications about upcoming webcasts and participate in discussions after the webcast.

Webcast Description:

With every shelter stuffed to bursting, finding fosters and adopters is crucial. For some pets this is simple, but others are harder to place. In this workshop, we'll discuss your favorite long stay pets to identify strategies for marketing them to fosters and adopters. This workshop is not just for foster staff– it's open to anyone who is interested in marketing pets who are harder to place!

Make sure to bring information about your own favorite or most challenging long stay. We'll choose several and work through them together, discussing what works, what doesn't work and some innovative new ways that can get extra attention and help them find the right home. We'll discuss how we talk about behavioral and health challenges in bios and social media and discuss the optimal ways to be frank about issues while also not deterring potential adopters. We'll look at different social media channels and how to optimize content about those pets for those channels to get the message across and help these pets put their best paw forward. Be prepared for a fun, frank and useful webinar with a lot of workshopping and participation! 

To submit a question for our presenters or a long stay pet you'd like to discuss during the workshop, please fill out this form:

https://forms.gle/i1K3jAvzsJCfRtBs6 

About Finnegan Dowling:

Finnegan Dowling is Mutual Rescue's Shelter Engagement Manager. She has been in animal welfare for more than 25 years and has worked in shelters in Washington, Colorado, California, and Nicaragua. Prior to working for Mutual Rescue, she was the social-media manager for HSSV where her work was honored with Shorty and Communicator Awards. Finnegan's writing has been published in The Bark, Bay Woof, and Huffington Post. In her current role she works with shelters around the country to help them start day foster programs. She often presents on day fostering and marketing at animal welfare conferences. She has spoken at Best Friends, Virginia Federation of Humane Societies, New Mexico Humane Conference and many others. She lives in coastal Texas with an opinionated dog and her husband.

I relied via email on Friday , but it must not have gone through.  Here is what I said with more detail added.

She has very strong opinions about when and how she wants to be touched - more so than any other friendly and affectionate cat I've fostered.

Cheryl, I sent you a message through the forum inbox to get some more info about her behavioral quirks. If you get a chance, tell me more about her 

I love this!  Thank you!

Omg, Isobelle looks so regal in that first picture! She can truly live up to her name of Queen and be photoshopped on a throne, in a carriage, having tea, attending a ball, etc.  If you can get a video of her doing a little butt wiggle before chasing a toy, or movement in general, you could also do a play on 'dancing queen' from Abba. 

My other immediate thought was 'the two sides' of Isobelle, being nice and being mischievious. Some of those photos definitely have a look of mischief. 

Honestly, I just like to see all the cute pictures  :) 

Thank you all so much for coming today! Tomorrow I'm going to take a dive into Isobelle, who looks like a whole party on paws, and Terri, who has the most beautiful face that makes me want to cuddle her all day long. If you'd like the slides from today, I've attached them in a PDF file here in case they can be useful to anyone. Thank you all again, animal welfare heroes!

On Thursday, October 2, 2025, join Maddie's® Monthly Foster Connection at 12pm PT/3pm ET. Finnegan Dowling, Shelter Program and Engagement Manager at Mutual Rescue, will be discussing your favorite long stay pets to identify strategies for marketing them to fosters and adopters.

Whether you're a staffer, volunteer, foster or adopter, we'd love to see you there!

Register for the session so that you can receive notifications about upcoming webcasts and participate in discussions after the webcast.

Webcast Description:

With every shelter stuffed to bursting, finding fosters and adopters is crucial. For some pets this is simple, but others are harder to place. In this workshop, we'll discuss your favorite long stay pets to identify strategies for marketing them to fosters and adopters. This workshop is not just for foster staff– it's open to anyone who is interested in marketing pets who are harder to place!

Make sure to bring information about your own favorite or most challenging long stay. We'll choose several and work through them together, discussing what works, what doesn't work and some innovative new ways that can get extra attention and help them find the right home. We'll discuss how we talk about behavioral and health challenges in bios and social media and discuss the optimal ways to be frank about issues while also not deterring potential adopters. We'll look at different social media channels and how to optimize content about those pets for those channels to get the message across and help these pets put their best paw forward. Be prepared for a fun, frank and useful webinar with a lot of workshopping and participation! 

To submit a question for our presenters or a long stay pet you'd like to discuss during the workshop, please fill out this form:

https://forms.gle/i1K3jAvzsJCfRtBs6 

About Finnegan Dowling:

Finnegan Dowling is Mutual Rescue's Shelter Engagement Manager. She has been in animal welfare for more than 25 years and has worked in shelters in Washington, Colorado, California, and Nicaragua. Prior to working for Mutual Rescue, she was the social-media manager for HSSV where her work was honored with Shorty and Communicator Awards. Finnegan's writing has been published in The Bark, Bay Woof, and Huffington Post. In her current role she works with shelters around the country to help them start day foster programs. She often presents on day fostering and marketing at animal welfare conferences. She has spoken at Best Friends, Virginia Federation of Humane Societies, New Mexico Humane Conference and many others. She lives in coastal Texas with an opinionated dog and her husband.

Omg, Isobelle looks so regal in that first picture! She can truly live up to her name of Queen and be photoshopped on a throne, in a carriage, having tea, attending a ball, etc.  If you can get a video of her doing a little butt wiggle before chasing a toy, or movement in general, you could also do a play on 'dancing queen' from Abba. 

My other immediate thought was 'the two sides' of Isobelle, being nice and being mischievious. Some of those photos definitely have a look of mischief. 

Honestly, I just like to see all the cute pictures  :) 

Thank you all so much for coming today! Tomorrow I'm going to take a dive into Isobelle, who looks like a whole party on paws, and Terri, who has the most beautiful face that makes me want to cuddle her all day long. If you'd like the slides from today, I've attached them in a PDF file here in case they can be useful to anyone. Thank you all again, animal welfare heroes!

On Thursday, October 2, 2025, join Maddie's® Monthly Foster Connection at 12pm PT/3pm ET. Finnegan Dowling, Shelter Program and Engagement Manager at Mutual Rescue, will be discussing your favorite long stay pets to identify strategies for marketing them to fosters and adopters.

Whether you're a staffer, volunteer, foster or adopter, we'd love to see you there!

Register for the session so that you can receive notifications about upcoming webcasts and participate in discussions after the webcast.

Webcast Description:

With every shelter stuffed to bursting, finding fosters and adopters is crucial. For some pets this is simple, but others are harder to place. In this workshop, we'll discuss your favorite long stay pets to identify strategies for marketing them to fosters and adopters. This workshop is not just for foster staff– it's open to anyone who is interested in marketing pets who are harder to place!

Make sure to bring information about your own favorite or most challenging long stay. We'll choose several and work through them together, discussing what works, what doesn't work and some innovative new ways that can get extra attention and help them find the right home. We'll discuss how we talk about behavioral and health challenges in bios and social media and discuss the optimal ways to be frank about issues while also not deterring potential adopters. We'll look at different social media channels and how to optimize content about those pets for those channels to get the message across and help these pets put their best paw forward. Be prepared for a fun, frank and useful webinar with a lot of workshopping and participation! 

To submit a question for our presenters or a long stay pet you'd like to discuss during the workshop, please fill out this form:

https://forms.gle/i1K3jAvzsJCfRtBs6 

About Finnegan Dowling:

Finnegan Dowling is Mutual Rescue's Shelter Engagement Manager. She has been in animal welfare for more than 25 years and has worked in shelters in Washington, Colorado, California, and Nicaragua. Prior to working for Mutual Rescue, she was the social-media manager for HSSV where her work was honored with Shorty and Communicator Awards. Finnegan's writing has been published in The Bark, Bay Woof, and Huffington Post. In her current role she works with shelters around the country to help them start day foster programs. She often presents on day fostering and marketing at animal welfare conferences. She has spoken at Best Friends, Virginia Federation of Humane Societies, New Mexico Humane Conference and many others. She lives in coastal Texas with an opinionated dog and her husband.

Omg, Isobelle looks so regal in that first picture! She can truly live up to her name of Queen and be photoshopped on a throne, in a carriage, having tea, attending a ball, etc.  If you can get a video of her doing a little butt wiggle before chasing a toy, or movement in general, you could also do a play on 'dancing queen' from Abba. 

My other immediate thought was 'the two sides' of Isobelle, being nice and being mischievious. Some of those photos definitely have a look of mischief. 

Honestly, I just like to see all the cute pictures  :) 

Thank you all so much for coming today! Tomorrow I'm going to take a dive into Isobelle, who looks like a whole party on paws, and Terri, who has the most beautiful face that makes me want to cuddle her all day long. If you'd like the slides from today, I've attached them in a PDF file here in case they can be useful to anyone. Thank you all again, animal welfare heroes!

On Thursday, October 2, 2025, join Maddie's® Monthly Foster Connection at 12pm PT/3pm ET. Finnegan Dowling, Shelter Program and Engagement Manager at Mutual Rescue, will be discussing your favorite long stay pets to identify strategies for marketing them to fosters and adopters.

Whether you're a staffer, volunteer, foster or adopter, we'd love to see you there!

Register for the session so that you can receive notifications about upcoming webcasts and participate in discussions after the webcast.

Webcast Description:

With every shelter stuffed to bursting, finding fosters and adopters is crucial. For some pets this is simple, but others are harder to place. In this workshop, we'll discuss your favorite long stay pets to identify strategies for marketing them to fosters and adopters. This workshop is not just for foster staff– it's open to anyone who is interested in marketing pets who are harder to place!

Make sure to bring information about your own favorite or most challenging long stay. We'll choose several and work through them together, discussing what works, what doesn't work and some innovative new ways that can get extra attention and help them find the right home. We'll discuss how we talk about behavioral and health challenges in bios and social media and discuss the optimal ways to be frank about issues while also not deterring potential adopters. We'll look at different social media channels and how to optimize content about those pets for those channels to get the message across and help these pets put their best paw forward. Be prepared for a fun, frank and useful webinar with a lot of workshopping and participation! 

To submit a question for our presenters or a long stay pet you'd like to discuss during the workshop, please fill out this form:

https://forms.gle/i1K3jAvzsJCfRtBs6 

About Finnegan Dowling:

Finnegan Dowling is Mutual Rescue's Shelter Engagement Manager. She has been in animal welfare for more than 25 years and has worked in shelters in Washington, Colorado, California, and Nicaragua. Prior to working for Mutual Rescue, she was the social-media manager for HSSV where her work was honored with Shorty and Communicator Awards. Finnegan's writing has been published in The Bark, Bay Woof, and Huffington Post. In her current role she works with shelters around the country to help them start day foster programs. She often presents on day fostering and marketing at animal welfare conferences. She has spoken at Best Friends, Virginia Federation of Humane Societies, New Mexico Humane Conference and many others. She lives in coastal Texas with an opinionated dog and her husband.