Return To Home Challenge

 View Only
  • 1.  Check in...

    Posted 10-06-2022 03:41 PM
    Hi All,

    Just checking in to see how everyone is doing with their challenge???

    ------------------------------
    Jessica Hendrickson
    Chief Animal Control Officer
    Kenai Animal Shelter
    ------------------------------


  • 2.  RE: Check in...

    Posted 10-17-2022 07:35 AM
    Thanks for getting our check in started, Jessica! We are halfway through the challenge period now and want to see how things are going for all our challengers. 

    • What changes have you made so far? 
    • What are you having success with?
    • What are your challenges?
    • Tell us about a successful reunion you've made so far!

    If you haven't yet, I encourage you to check out our resource library with items separated by return to home practice


    ------------------------------
    Charlotte Otero
    Community Strategist at Maddie's Fund
    she/her
    ------------------------------


  • 3.  RE: Check in...

    Posted 10-17-2022 09:25 AM
    Hello! 

    Washoe County Regional Animal Services located in Washoe County, Nevada chose to use the Return to Home Challenge as an opportunity to provide our community with access to public microchip scanning stations. We have installed 8 microchip stations across our county by partnering with a local pet store chain and two other animal rescue organizations in our area! The stations all include a microchip scanner that is corded to the wall and a holder to place the scanner in when not in use. Each station includes signage with instructions on how to use the scanner and a QR code that leads to our new website which was launched for this program! Once a person scans a lost pet they can go to our new helpingpetshome.com website to determine next steps. If they have found a microchip they can lookup the microchip registry using the AAHA microchip lookup tool and contact the microchip company to report the pet found so the owner can get in touch with the finder. If they are unable to find a chip, or the microchip information is no good etc. we have instructions on other things they can do to help a pet get home including walking them around the neighborhood, posting found signs, completing a found report with us, and holding the pet at their home for a short time if safe and  feasible while they attempt to locate the pet owner. If they run into any trouble our pet store partners have offered to provide support to any client who has questions or needs help and all store employees have been shown how the stations work. Our goal is to get pets home without them having to come to the shelter. 

    These stations are a realization of a more than 10 year effort to increase identification for pets in our community. 10 years ago WCRAS began providing free microchips through clinics and during business hours to any Washoe County pet.  We have seen a large increase in the last decade in the proportion of pets we encounter that have a microchip and knowing that we have a community dedicated to helping lost pets get home providing the public a way to use microchips to reunite pets just makes sense!

    This was also launched in addition to the expansion of our free personalized pet ID tags for Washoe County pets and our free collar and personalized ID tag for pets upon redemption. We have been travelling to a multitude of community events in October to demonstrate and educate the public about the scanning stations and provide personalized pet ID tags at no cost to any resident on the spot! We have given out over 120 pet ID tags to our community since October 1st!

    We have had extremely positive feedback from our community and all our partners since launching the microchipping stations.  Although we have not had any reported reunifications yet, we have had several reports of the community coming in to scan their own pet for a microchip to look it up and ensure the contact information is up to date, and a few instances where the pet was not microchipped so the finder was asked to follow our steps for reuniting a pet if they did not find a microchip. 

    Our biggest challenge so far is adding a more interactive way for individuals to be provided tailored instructions based on if they find ID or a microchip or if they are or are not able to contact an owner. We hoped to have this interactive survey up on our new website by October 10th so we could provide a more streamlined an tailored guide to our community members and better track the number of pets being scanned and reunited.  We have run into a few snags getting it up and running, but are confident it will be up this week!  

    Although we don't currently have record of any microchip station pet reunifications yet we are confident that we will soon have some wonderful stories to share!

    ------------------------------
    Quinn Sweet
    Outreach Program Coordinator
    Washoe County Regional Animal Services
    ------------------------------



  • 4.  RE: Check in...

    Posted 10-19-2022 10:13 AM
    Quick update! We had our first two verified reunifications through our public microchip scanning stations! One of the employees at the Pet Station Stores we partner with sent us a summary of the experience and we just had to share!

    "We had a woman call us tonight saying she had two very wet dogs (A German Shepard and Husky) and she was hoping someone had just been through our dog wash with them. I told her no one had used it recently (and these dogs were very wet) but we did have a microchip reader she could use. 

    A few minutes later she was in the store and both dogs were microchipped. It didn't take long for us to get ahold of the owner and he drove down and picked up his doggies. Entire process from first call to our store to the owner arriving was less than 45 minutes. 

    Best day I've ever had at a job. "

    This reunification was able to be completed quickly and without involving any shelter officers or staff allowing our officers to focus on other calls! We hope that this is the first of many reunifications to come.

    ------------------------------
    Quinn Sweet
    Outreach Program Coordinator
    Washoe County Regional Animal Services
    ------------------------------



  • 5.  RE: Check in...

    Posted 10-19-2022 01:48 PM
    Hello! This is Jessica "JJ" from the Kenai Animal Shelter in Kenai, Alaska. 

    Changes: During the challenge period we set aside two days for check the chip/microchip your pet if they need one. We advertised on our social media page and found a lot of people sharing and interested. YEAH!! We also developed a webform for people to use to alert us about their lost animal which includes a way for them to send us a photo of the animal. We have  heard good things about this so far. People like that they can give us all the information they need at one time instead of back and forth communication to get us the information. And they like that it can be submitted even when we are closed. We had submissions to the form within 24 hours of the form being posted. We also designated a location on our city website to post public lost animals. (Which we have not done in the past).    

    We set up a Petco Love Lost account and have our animals posted through them. We also are creating a Nextdoor app page (It took longer to get approved then we would have anticipated both from our City and the program itself).  But finally have the approval and are actively working on creating our page!!

    Successes: Have seen an increase in animals getting microchipped and their microchips checked to see if they are working. People have been very positive!! We also got invited to a community Halloween event to encourage more microchipping, microchip animals and check the chips as a result of our posts! 

    Challenges: My goal was to get a policy approved to microchip stray animals upon redemption, but that was not approved. In the state of Alaska, animals are considered property and we are not to alter property without owner permission. So, our compromise is to encourage and promote microchips for stray/impounded animals since at this time, we can't make people to get one. We have been working on educating the owners of strays/impounds and most are electing to get the microchip despite us not having a policy mandating them to. So the situation may still be a win in the end. 

    Successful reunion: We had a female cat we were able to get home in approximately 20 minutes because she had a microchip. A neighbor caught her in a live trap and thought her to be a non-owned, wild cat. We got her out of the live trap and scanned her and quickly located her microchip. Contacted the company and got owner information . Contacted the owner who got dressed and headed right to the shelter to get his cat.  Overall shelter stay was 20 minutes!!! 


    ------------------------------
    Jessica Hendrickson
    Chief Animal Control Officer
    Kenai Animal Shelter
    ------------------------------



  • 6.  RE: Check in...

    Posted 10-25-2022 08:32 AM
    Hi All

    I know all I know I am a little behind the curve with check in but I have been following the chat just had to take a breather to actually contribute. Well here goes:
    • What changes have you made so far? 
    I am new to Animal Welfare but I have found a lot of support using the resources using Maddies University and Community Conversations.  I come from a Human Service background, after hearing the different weekly community conversation forums I began to embrace my background and use it to bridge the "Us and Them" mindset at my organization.  I realized we need to really embrace the care part of my organization name.  We offered a survey,  and provide the community with some basic information.  I used our largest social media platforms.
    • What are you having success with?
     I have also found places where we are not including our community in the conversations that are about them.   I hosted my first event.  I talked to pet owners about microchipping, and scanned pets.  Pets Owners were honest about not having animals microchipped, some I scanned could not be located in our system; which turned out to be about the brand that was used to microchip the animal.  
    • What are your challenges?
    The biggest challenges thus far has been with the microchips I received from the finano. My management team are concerned with being able to register the pet  easily and get the pet home when the time  arises.  The microchip is affordable with our very limited budget but the price does not sway the desire to keep our to reunite  animals  as quickly as possible; that is our first priority.  This challenge turned out to be a learning on the job experience.  Thank you!

    ------------------------------
    Nicole King
    Fund Development Manager
    Fort Wayne Animal Care and Control
    ------------------------------



  • 7.  RE: Check in...

    Posted 10-17-2022 09:16 AM
    Just the other day we quickly reunited a cat with her owner after a good Samaritan brought the cat to us. Luckily the good Sam also posted on local FB groups and the owner saw it so came the next day for our cat. We microchipped her cat and she was so excited, she brought us her other cat for a low-cost microchip as well. Both cats also went home with a new collar and ID tag from our new Tag machine we began using at the beginning of this challenge! Her cats are indoor/outdoor so hopefully this will keep them in the neighborhood without another trip to the shelter! Dana-CARE STL

    ------------------------------
    Dana Widmer
    Grant Manager
    CARE STL
    ------------------------------



  • 8.  RE: Check in...

    Posted 10-18-2022 09:58 AM
    Pet Network Humane Society, based in Incline Village, Nevada has launched 'Free Tag Tuesdays' - a free personalized pet ID tags for community pet owners. Additionally, we are a partner organization for Washoe County's mobile microchip scanning initiative with our local Pet Station. Our local partner station includes a microchip scanner that is corded to the wall and a holder to place the scanner in when not in use. Each station includes signage with instructions on how to use the scanner and a QR code that leads to a new Washoe County website which was launched for this program! Once a person scans a lost pet they can go to the new helpingpetshome.com website to determine next steps. If they have found a microchip they can lookup the microchip registry using the AAHA microchip lookup tool and contact the microchip company to report the pet found so the owner can get in touch with the finder. If they are unable to find a chip, or the microchip information is no good etc. there are instructions on other things they can do to help a pet get home including walking them around the neighborhood, posting found signs, completing a found report with Washoe County Animal Services, and holding the pet at their home for a short time if safe and  feasible while they attempt to locate the pet owner. If they run into any trouble our pet store partner- Pet Station Incline Village has offered to provide support to any client who has questions or needs help and all store employees have been shown how the stations work. Our goal is to get pets home without them having to come to our Incline Village shelter. 

    ------------------------------
    Hillary Abrams
    Pet Network Humane Society
    ------------------------------



  • 9.  RE: Check in...

    Posted 10-19-2022 12:12 PM
    Our plan at Heartland centers around education and micro-chipping. We held out first microchip clinic last Friday and got 52 pets from our community chipped and registered. Next week we will be holding our 2nd clinic in a nearby college community, so we are hopeful to chip at least that many at that clinic.
    We are also working to educate our community on what community cats are and working hard to promote our TNR program as to not continue the vacuum effect. Along the lines of education, we are sharing step by step approaches to people who are calling in with found animals:
    1. Look for a tag
    2. Walk the neighborhood / ask neighbors
    3. Post on facebook
    4. Contact us with details - we ask them to hold the animal for a bit to allow the facebook posts or owners come forward, we have the info to share and to reference if call come in.
    5.  Our police brings them into the pound if the finder cannot be a temp foster

    For lost animals, we assist the humans in posting to our social media pages as well as theirs. We help them create a Pawboost alert and give them steps they can take such as walking their neighborhood, putting a litterbox outside, and calling vets.

    ------------------------------
    Abigail Benson
    Director of Operations
    Heartland Humane Society
    ------------------------------



  • 10.  RE: Check in...

    Posted 10-31-2022 04:27 PM
    Hello all. I am so excited to report today, on the last day of the RTH Challenge, we have a successful "return to home" story.  Our rescue received a call from the Whatcom Humane Society (about a 5 hour drive from our home base)  inquiring if we adopted out a Beagle. My first impulse was to say no because we have not had any Beagles in our care. However, we did offer microchip services to a family who has vacation property in our neck of the woods. We are in rural North Central Washington. I gave the owner's information to Whatcom Humane Society and also texted the owner. The owner took a couple of hours returning my call. I learned later he was looking for his dog and did not have cell reception. I gave him the information from Whatcom Humane Society and less than an hour later, they were reunited. I would call that a win!




    ------------------------------
    M K Bdeir
    Matchmaker
    Fur Ever Yours Dog Rescue
    Tonasket
    5096206997
    ------------------------------