Offer online viewing of your homeless animals through your own website.

Register your homeless pets at Petfinder.com

This website gets lots of traffic and is a known “brand” for animal shelters.

 Get listed on the websites of all area animal rescue groups

Google “animal rescue” or “animal shelter” “your state” or “your community”

Early in our lives, we were both homeless. We were so happy when we found our home and each other. . . Sam & Foxy

Showcase your pets on TV

If your community has a local TV station, approach a producer to include a segment every week on your adoptable pets. Also ask to include those pets on the station’s website each week.

Partner with local retailers to showcase your adoptable pets

The obvious pet adoption prospects are pet food stores but consider other possibilities such as greenhouses, landscapers, home improvement, farmers’ markets, etc. An upscale landscaping and home furnishings store in our area partners with an animal rescue group at least once a month to showcase adoptable pets. The store announces these events via press releases in the local paper.

Find pet adoption opportunities in your local newspapers’ print and online versions

Many newspapers and weekly entertainment magazines have set up pet pages once a week or even more. Find out the policies for including photos of some adoptable pets. Use clever copy and eye-catching photos. Upload videos if that feature is available and asks for free ad space.

Showcase your pets in any pet-related weekly or monthly newspapers in your area

For example, the San Francisco area has “Fetch the Paper: For Bay Area Pets & Their People.” They accept listings of adoptable pets, calendar listings, and some very clever contests and fun information that animal lovers might like, such as the best off-leash places for dogs to play.

New Mexico has Petroglyphs: New Mexico’s Resource Publication for Animal Lovers.” Animal Rescue groups and shelters can list their events here. You can also download The New Mexico Animal Resource Directory from this site. This directory lists rescue groups all over the state as well as animal activist groups.

Participate in these opportunities to showcase your adoptable pets and list your events in both print and online versions.

View more adoption ideas on our blog

Target local events, fairs, festivals, etc. as possibilities to showcase adoptable pets

Contact the Chamber of Commerce or tourism bureau to get a listing of the scheduled events for your community for the next year.

For example, a weekly newspaper in our area hosts a “block party” every year for artists, performers, and businesses to exhibit. Live performances and the “Animal Zone” with pet adoptions are a part of this celebration.

Best Friends Animal Society’s Pet Adoption Resources

This Utah-based organization is one of the best-known and active groups in our country. Learn from their excellent Pet Adoption Resources page, which links to excellent ideas for finding homes for hard to place cats and dogs, how to write winning descriptions of animals for adoption, how to set up foster communities, and much more including:

• Make a Flyer.Fill in the blanks and upload an image of the pet. You can indicate adopt, lost, found, or foster. Just click “create flyer” and you’ll have a one-page flyer you can immediately print.
• Taking the Animals to the People: The Furburbia Story by Aimee St. Arnaud– describes in a 14-page manual has the Furburbia pet adoption center in a Salt Lake City mall works.