Fur-Ever Homes Series: Expert Insights on Tackling Pet Homelessness (Debra Fair)

In the final interview in our ‘Fur-Ever Home’ series we sat down with Debra Fair, Executive Director at Pedigree Foundation, to hear more about how we can ensure sustained care for our pets. Debra leads strategy in development, donor recruitment, shelter and rescue relationships and fundraising for Pedigree Foundation, which is dedicated to driving adoptions and helping dogs in need find their ‘forever homes’. 

Debra has three Cavalier King Charles Spaniels from breeder rescue centres named Lily James, Chloe Stella McCartney and Tug McGraw. 

How does the Pedigree Foundation collaborate with Mars and other organizations to address the issue of pet homelessness?

Pedigree Foundation believes in community connections as the key to solving the issue of pet homelessness – bringing together animal welfare organizations, shelters, and rescues across the US and Canada through our grant support and collaborative partnerships. With our foundation’s passionate guiding belief that every dog deserves a loving home, we were keen to partner with Mars to leverage these relationships and our expertise to help drive solutions to the issue. No organization can solve it by themselves. Collaboration is the key!

As ensuring sustained care was one of three key themes emerging from the Project’s data, what is the first step for potential pet owners to make sure their pets will get continuously the right care? 

It all starts long before deciding to become a pet owner! Ensuring sustained care means thinking about the past, the present, and the future. For potential pet owners, the first step without a doubt is to conduct a readiness assessment – asking yourself what is your current life situation and does a pet fit in with your lifestyle and plans for the future?

Things to take into consideration include financial readiness to cover the costs of veterinary care, supplies, food, and any unexpected medical issues, but also whether your lifestyle is compatible with the needs of the pet (and which pet). This includes factors like your family situation, travel schedule, exercise habits, and whether you live in an apartment or house with a garden. Involve your entire household in the decision-making process to ensure everyone is committed to the responsibility of pet ownership.

It’s also important to consider your pet’s needs as well as your own. For example, consider the age and life stage of the pet you are looking to add to your family - puppies require a significant time commitment, while an older dog may already be trained. Similarly, you can research specific breed characteristics and personality of an animal to ensure they align with your preferences and ability to care for the pet long-term. The right match is one of the key foundations for both, an owner and a pet, to have a great, happy and satisfying relationship for years. 

WHISKAS’ recent research shows a rise in searches for low-maintenance, quiet dogs that don’t need training or walks. Their ad, “The Meowzer,” humorously suggests that the perfect dog might be… a cat! The key message: choose a pet that fits your lifestyle, your expectations of what you can get from a pet and what you can give to it, and future plans!

Finally, before getting a pet, establish a network of trusted friends, family, or pet sitters who can help care for the pet if you need to travel or are away from home.

That last point is interesting – aside from pet owners, who else has a responsibility when it comes to ensuring pets receive sustained care? 

Honestly, everyone has a role to play! But if I had to break it down, I’d say shelters and rescue organizations, volunteers and community members, and pet companies all share this responsibility. Shelters and rescue organizations need to make sure their adoption processes are more accessible and welcoming. They can use volunteers and community connections to share adoption success stories and run innovative programs like Dogs Day Out programs which lets potential adopters experience pet ownership firsthand. It’s part of the reason we developed the “Build Your Dog Adoption Super Highway” toolkit, to help shelters and rescues identify and address the systemic barriers to successful pet adoptions, with the goal of increasing adoption rates and reducing pet homelessness.

Community members who have fostered pets can become advocates, sharing their positive experiences. Fostering allows potential adopters to assess their readiness and ability to care for a pet, without the full commitment of adoption right away. 

In the end, it’s all about collaboration. Everyone – from shelters to volunteers to pet companies, legislators, and regulators – needs to work together, using their unique strengths to support pet adoption and prevent homelessness. We know that pets help people improve their physical health and with loneliness - it’s a big reason why people seek them out. Pet ownership is a way that people can connect with their broader community. Owning a pet, especially a dog, can lead to interactions and relationships with other pet owners in the local area - like dog parks, breed-specific meetups, and other community-based pet activities. Pets can serve a dual role - providing companionship and alleviating loneliness for the individual owner, while also facilitating connections and a sense of community among pet owners. That symbiotic relationship fills me with optimism in the fight against pet homelessness.

The State of Pet Homelessness Project data found that while on the one hand, the majority of people who adopted their pet from a shelter would recommend doing so, less than 60% of potential pet owners consider adoption from a shelter. How do we convert the experience of adoption into a recommendation and scale it?

It’s about shelters establishing connections with their local community of volunteers, fosterers and adopters who are willing to help amplify and tell the benefits of their adoption story. Social media and marketing also have a big role to play – we have volunteers in shelters and rescue homes that are great at photography or writing and we need to harness and leverage these skill sets. 

We’re very excited about The Pedigree “Adoptable” campaign, which we believe can absolutely transform our efforts of finding a loving home for all dogs. “Adoptable” is a first-of-its-kind initiative that combines AI technology with Pedigree’s global ad reach to put real, adoptable shelter dogs at the center of global advertising and turn every Pedigree ad into an ad for a shelter dog.

The “Adoptable” launch saw a significant uplift in adoption rates. Within the first two weeks, 50% of shelter dogs featured had been adopted, with traffic to shelter site profiles increasing 6 times. Potential pet parents were 12% more likely to adopt when the adopter comes into the shelter site via an Adoptable asset.

Where can people go to for further advice?

You can start with Pedigreefoundation.org, which is full of advice and resources for existing dog owners and those considering fostering, adopting, or looking after one. For local resources, Pedigree brand market-specific sites are also very useful for credible information that is tailored to the country you live in.  I also encourage people to find their local rescue shelter or adoption center and build a relationship with them – the better they know you, the more tailored advice they will be able to give! I really advocate for people doing their own research, and talking to friends, neighbors, colleagues, and family – especially when you’re thinking about what type of pet might suit your lifestyle.