CHAPTER 16 Linda M. Reider Michigan Humane Society, Rochester Hills, USA As the dog, cat, or other animal leaves our shelter, adoption event, or foster home with their new owner, we breathe a collective sigh of relief. On to the next animal needing care and placement! But in the back of our mind, we wonder how it will turn out. Will the animal adjust to the new home? Is the adopter equipped to handle potential behavior issues, known or unknown at the time of adoption? Could the pet be incubating an upper respiratory infection, and if so, will the person provide proper veterinary care? Will the adopter say good things about our organization or agency, encouraging others to come to us for their next companion animal? A year from now, will the person and animal still be living happily together (Figure 16.1)? Figure 16.1 Newly adopted puppy leaves the Michigan Humane Society with happy family. J Wolka, Michigan Humane Society. Reproduced with permission from J Wolka, Michigan Humane Society. In spite of the best efforts of animal shelters and placement groups to rehome animals permanently, a number of animals are returned shortly after adoption (Neidhart & Boyd 2002; Shore 2005; American Humane Association 2013). The second phase of a recent study by the American Humane Association (AHA) investigated pet retention 6 months postadoption at 6 US shelters, specifically examining the factors associated with nonretention. The study of 572 adopters of dogs and cats found that 7–13% of adopted animals were no longer in the home 6 months after adoption (American Humane Association 2013). While this is a very high retention rate, nationally, these results could mean that thousands of adopted animals are no longer in their homes 6 months postadoption. The AHA study found no overall differences between states, type of shelter (municipal or private), dogs and cats, male and female pets, first-time or experienced owners. Neither did the amount of research on pet ownership preadoption affect retention: Spur-of-the-moment adoptions were equally likely to result in retention for at least 6 months. One factor that appeared to be associated with retention rate was veterinary visits, with significantly lower rates for animals who had not seen a veterinarian postadoption; however, the data were not conclusive and further study of this result is indicated. In fact, it is more likely that vet visits were more likely to occur with those that were bonded than that vet visits increased retention. The AHA study also found evidence that adopters who seek advice about their new pet from family, friends, or a veterinarian were three times more likely to retain their pets than adopters who do not seek advice. Conversely, adopters who sought advice from shelters were only half as likely to keep their pets, a result that may be associated with the level of problems experienced and possibly using shelters as “last resort” guidance (American Humane Association 2013). Recognizing that adopters may have unfulfilled needs for input and guidance postadoption, some shelters have established proactive outreach shortly after adoption. Unfortunately, adopter support programs do not seem to be very common. A survey of 56 animal shelters in the USA and Canada showed that nearly half of the shelters did not have the time or resources to conduct follow-up checking on adopted animals (Burch et al. 2006). Only a handful of organizations from across the country responded to the author’s recent request on a national Listserv for information about existing adopter support programs. Those that responded gave similar reasons for having them in place. “We use [adopter support] to get a general sense of how we are doing as well as seeing if we need to follow up with adopters on particular issues they may be having,” was a typical response, while another shelter said their program was designed “to help us improve our customer service and to help keep pets from being returned.” The primary goal of an adopter support program is to help prevent relinquishment and other types of adoption failure by proactively reaching out to adopters periodically to offer and provide professional assistance with common problems experienced by new pet owners. The associated adopter surveys can also characterize the specific health and behavior problems in adopted animals and identify additional factors associated with animal retention (Lord et al. 2008). Feedback from adopters may be analyzed and used to drive change within the organization to improve the adoption experience and other aspects of adoption. This chapter describes how adopter support can be accomplished efficiently with a minimum of staff and volunteer effort. A complete Adopter Support program fulfills the following four functions: Proactive contact with adopters Information gathering from adopters postadoption and using the information gained to improve adoption and other programs Establishing ways for adopters to contact your organization for guidance or assistance Behavioral, medical, and customer service assistance for adopters In this chapter, we will Suggest why traditional approaches have often failed Define adoption success and failure and how to measure both Discuss the types of services adopters need and give examples of how organizations are meeting those needs Explain how to set up a system of postadoption contacts that both provides timely assistance to adopters experiencing problems and gathers usable data at appropriate intervals Give examples of how the information can be used to drive change in an organization and strengthen relationships with adopters for longer-term broad support Look at what one organization has learned over several years from their adopter surveys Provide samples of adopter surveys and other tools The words we choose make a difference in how people think. In this chapter, the term “adopter support” is used instead of “adoption follow-up” in order to emphasize assistance to adopters instead of “checking up” on them, which implies that adopters might be doing things wrong. We recommend using this terminology within your organizational culture to help staff and volunteers carry out the program with the proper mindset. Animals are referred to using “he” and “she” rather than “it.” We use “house training” instead of “housebreaking.” It is worthwhile to establish and teach terminology that reflects humane values throughout your adopter support program, and your organization in general. Traditionally, animal shelters sent adopters home with their new pets encouraging them to call if they have any problems. The problem with that approach is twofold: adopters may either avoid contact entirely or delay contacting the adopting organization until the problems they are experiencing are severe. Animal adoption groups may be difficult to contact via phone (or even e-mail) due to limited number of phone lines, high call/contact volume, and low staffing levels among other challenges. Those that try such programs may fail because of multiple factors: lack of staff or volunteers to return phone calls in a timely organized manner, cost and inconvenience of mailings, contact and/or response delay, difficulty grouping and analyzing responses, lack of resources to assist adopters with problems, etc. Even the most tech-savvy organizations may struggle with coordinating postadoption contacts and providing an efficient process to get adopters the professional help they need. The challenge is magnified for organizations with large numbers of adoptions. How do we know which problems and challenges adopters face in the weeks and months following adoption? Are there clues about the frequency and severity of issues so that adoption agencies may design adopter support programs that provide the kinds of assistance most needed by their adopters? These were questions that one organization, the Michigan Humane Society (MHS) set out to answer when they established a proactive adopter support program in late 2007. Since that time, MHS has reached out at regular intervals electronically and by phone to more than 50,000 adopters. The results were compiled using SurveyMonkey online survey tool. MHS adopter support week and month data presented here were averaged over 3 years and 7 months (January 2010 through July 2013), while the data from 1 year postadoption were averaged over 4 years and 7 months (January 2009 through July 2013). MHS adopted an average of 8044 animals annually between 2009 and 2012. MHS adopter support survey response rates averaged 26.3% at 1 week (7136 responses); 24.5% at 1 month (6551 responses); and 23.4% at 1 year postadoption (8791 responses), or approximately one in four adopters at all levels. Since the surveys were not linked, the level of respondent overlap is not known. As in the 2013 AHA study, nonresponse by a large percentage of adopters does not invalidate the data compiled but significantly limits the ability to extrapolate the findings to all MHS adopters. Despite this limitation, the consistency of the findings among 22,000+ adopters can help shed light on the most frequent issues they face at home with a newly adopted pet. At the 1 week point, an average of 22% of postadoption survey respondents reported health problems (mostly minor) and 13% reported behavior problems with adopted animals. One month later, behavior problems were reported at an average of 19%, while health problems declined to 9%. Therefore, at least a few hundred and possibly upwards of 2000 MHS adopters experienced health or behavioral problems each year. Published studies have also indicated that health and behavior issues arise postadoption (Kidd et al. 1992; Shore 2005; American Humane Association 2013) and postacquisition (Salman et al. 1998, 2000) and are presented by pet owners to veterinarians for guidance (Houpt et al. 1996), but the limited research available may not accurately estimate their frequency among shelter adoptions. If the problems experienced by adopters outweigh the benefits of ownership, the risk of relinquishment increases (Miller et al. 1996; Patronek et al. 1996). Perceived behavior problems were found to be the primary reason that dogs were returned to an animal shelter in Northern Ireland, (Wells & Hepper 2000). The return rate for adopted dogs in the USA was measured at 10% (Posage et al. 1998) and 18.8% (Patronek et al. 1995). Posage’s retrospective study looked at 1468 dogs coming to a humane society in Ingham County, Michigan, over a period of 3 years. Patronek studied 9378 dogs coming to a shelter in Chester County, Pennsylvania, over a period of 3½ years. Behavior problems were also associated with an increased risk of relinquishment of cats (Patronek et al. 1996). Proactive outreach to all adopters can help ensure that adopters know that professional help is available and sends the message that the organization is concerned about pets’ initial and long-term adjustment to their new family. Since some percentage of adopters are likely to experience postadoption problems with their animals, having various assistance programs in place can conceivably reduce relinquishment. Different types of postadoption assistance programs should be evaluated for efficacy at preventing relinquishment either to the source agency or to another entity. This chapter seeks to outline the various types of programs currently in place in American animal shelters, but program comparison is beyond its scope. In this chapter, the scope of an adopter support program is assumed to encompass the means of contacting adopters postadoption, the services offered by an organization to help them with their new pets, and the use of the information learned from adopters to fine-tune internal programs. It does not include the adoption process, programs provided for pets preadoption such as in-house behavior modification or fostering. It may, however, include services such as a pet food bank for pet owners struggling financially, referrals to veterinary offices, dog training classes and other behavior advice, low-cost microchipping, and online adopter communities. Outreach to adopters via e-mail and/or phone postadoption is the critical first step of adopter support. Without proactive outreach, a shelter is relying on adopters with problems to self-identify and misses the opportunity to remain top of mind. If outreach can be set up through an online survey mechanism, the shelter will reap the additional benefit of easy-to-analyze results. With just a little training, shelter management can be empowered to respond to time-sensitive issues with adopters and evaluate trends in order to improve adoption programs. What we now know about the types of postadoption problems reported by adopters can help animal shelters prioritize programs to establish. Because behavior problems are more frequently reported than other issues, shelters are encouraged to set up or refer training classes; electronic, telephone, and/or in-person behavior consultations; and/or provide printed behavior tip sheets to adopters. Shelters with staff trained in pet behavior may be able to guide adopters with many common behavior problems and teach classes onsite. Other shelters without these resources may instead collaborate with trained professionals in the community. Health problems are also commonly reported postadoption. Shelters with veterinary staff may make follow-up care available (and affordable), while those without such professionals can establish relationships with local veterinarians for follow-up care. Customer service issues postadoption should also have a streamlined avenue for response and resolution. Adopter support programs have four main components: contacting adopters; assisting adopters; gathering and analyzing adopter feedback; and using the information gained to improve the organization’s programs and services. Programs that encompass all four components need not be overly taxing or complicated. In general, a shelter will need to collect adopter contact information, set up a process to contact and survey adopters, establish ways for adopters to reconnect with the organization for assistance with problems, and report back what is learned to the organization’s leadership and management. Change can be hard. Asking for public feedback on programs can be intimidating. Staff and volunteers in animal groups may fear the worst! Organizations may experience some internal opposition to establishing an adopter support program. MHS staff members feared that the phones would ring off the hook with adopters’ problems, swamping an already-stressed system. In reality, while more adopters reported behavior issues in their new pets, only about 4% actually requested help with behavior problems through the MHS adopter support program. These figures made it easier to gain acceptance organizationally since the numbers were not overwhelming. Sharing other organizations’ experiences, the types of information possible to collect, and being willing to fine-tune adopter support to better meet the needs of different departments or aspects of an organization’s work all may help build support and enthusiasm among its staff members and volunteers. In addition, feedback shared with all staff and volunteers at regular intervals on how the program is working can reenergize people who work in a field in which burnout and compassion fatigue are all too common. Organizations considering establishing an adopter support program need not be put off by lack of paid staff. At MHS, volunteers both manage and conduct the majority of the Adopter Support functions, from surveying through behavior guidance. Agencies wishing to start out small may choose to establish an assistance aspect (such as a behavior helpline) without the survey component; may minimize the frequency of contact with adopters (once versus three times); or may limit surveys to adopters of animals most at risk for postadoption problems based on the known behavioral or medical needs of the animals. The latter approach is taken by the Wisconsin Humane Society, which maintains a list of adoptions for which follow-up contact is needed. These might be adopters who take home an animal that staff may have deemed to be behaviorally challenging or just new pet owners who may need additional guidance. While scope limitations can reduce the number of contacts needed, they may also have potential consequences, the most significant of which are misjudging and therefore not offering the types of assistance adopters need and missing adopters who need help. It is important to recognize that adopters’ perception of problems (versus whether the shelter staff considers a problem “real”) is the driver of the need for help and potential relinquishment. Many people adopting animals who would not otherwise be identified in advance as having problems responded to adopter support outreach at MHS. Some shelters identify those animals they feel are most likely to pose challenges to adopters and reach out proactively only to those people. Other shelters choose to contact all adopters because it is impossible to predict which adopters will need assistance with their new pets. It is almost as easy to contact them all as it is to only contact a portion of adopters, but how to do that? The challenges and cost of contacting adopters via traditional mailed letters are myriad. In addition to the constantly rising cost of first-class mail, the slow turnaround for response and the necessity to hand-enter data for analysis must be added. The statistics for e-mail usage have risen over recent years. As of June 2012, about 80% of the population (Internet World Statistics 2013) and the majority of adults in the USA (85% as of May 2013) are now online (Zickuhr 2013). However, it is important to note that younger and more affluent people are more likely to be online. Among internet-using adults, more than 90% use e-mail (U.S. Census Bureau, Statistical Abstract of the United States 2012). Even though it is likely that some of the e-mail addresses collected at adoption will be undeliverable, it may be worth contacting the majority of the adopters electronically, especially if staffing adopter support is a challenge. Although e-mail is less personal than a phone call, it is more affordable when factoring in staff or volunteer time. Electronic contact backed up by phone calling is therefore recommended for adoption groups of all sizes, but especially for shelters that place a large number of animals into adoptive homes. “We made the change from paper-based information sharing to e-mail–based about 6 months ago and we couldn’t be happier,” explains a staff member with the Humane Society of Pinellas (HSP) in Clearwater, Florida. “Our program is designed to keep the adopter engaged with the shelter so that when/if problems arise with the pet, we are top of mind and can help address the problem before it becomes a deal breaker.” In order to limit the number of phone calls needed, it is critical to collect e-mail addresses from as many adopters as possible at the time of adoption. Adoption staff may need to be trained specifically on how to request an e-mail address for postadoption assistance while reassuring adopters that their e-mail addresses will not be sold or shared outside of the organization. MHS had their shelter software modified so that a pop-up reminder box appeared if the e-mail was not entered by staff. MHS also tracked and rewarded staff members for e-mail collection for the first year of the program to improve compliance. It may also be helpful for staff to read back the e-mail address out loud to the adopter as they enter it, as incorrect spellings will result in undeliverable e-mails. Regardless of whether paid staff or volunteers will be employed, organizations are advised to identify a coordinator for the survey component of the adopter support program to provide oversight and consistency. In addition to the coordinator, a small number of volunteers for phone contact will be needed. By using e-mail contact efficiently, the number of phone calls can be minimized. Most phone calls to adopters who do not have e-mail will reach answering machines or voicemail during weekdays. Evening or weekend calls may be more effective at reaching adopters for live surveying. Even if only messages are left, adopters who retrieve them will hear the positive “thank you for adopting” and “call us if we can be of assistance” messages left by adopter support callers. The Wisconsin Humane Society reports more success with e-mail than phone contacts; however, other agencies such as the McKamey Animal Center (Tennessee) get better phone response than e-mail. The next decision for an organization is when to contact adopters. The Richmond SPCA (3500 annual adoptions, Virginia) contacts all adopters by phone between 3 and 7 days postadoption to check in to see how their pet is doing. If adopters have identified any challenges that have arisen with their new companion in the home, then the adoption staff will provide additional counseling and resources tailored to help resolve those specific challenges. The Animal Rescue League Shelter and Wildlife Center (6000 annual adoptions, Pennsylvania) reaches out via e-mail and/or phone once at 2 weeks postadoption to “gauge customer service results and troubleshoot for potential problems.” The Animal Shelter of the Wood River Valley (500 annual adoptions, Idaho) contacts adopters at 2 weeks, 2 months, and 6 months using a combination of e-mail, phone, and mail messages. The McKamey Animal Center (2000 annual adoptions) contacts adopters at 3 days (by phone) and then e-mails adopters at 3 weeks (customer service survey) and 3 months (specific questions about the adopted pet). This schedule is also used by the Woods Humane Society (1200 annual adoptions, California) with an additional e-mail contact at 6 months. This shelter purposely assigns postadoption calls to their customer service staff members to encourage adopters to give honest feedback about the adoption counseling staff members. MHS began by contacting adopters at 1 week and 1 month postadoption. They wanted to reach out quickly to let adopters know of their concern and willingness to assist with any adjustment, health, behavior, or customer service issues. At 1 month postadoption, the number of behavior problems was expected to increase, so contact at that point was deemed important, reaching people at a time when they might be struggling to address them. Other organizations also reach out at 3 or 6 months, thus providing ongoing periodic contact, although some research indicates that the success rate for such contact decreases significantly in as little as 6 months postadoption (Neidhart & Boyd 2002). More study of the contact success rate postadoption is indicated. MHS added 1 year postadoption contact once their program had been running for a full year in order to gain information about longer-term adjustment, attachment, and quality of life. The 1 year point may also be predictive of longer-term ownership according to studies (Patronek et al. 1996; New et al. 2000). Organizations may estimate the number of adopter support volunteers needed for an e-mail survey component with backup phone calls by using the number of contact points they choose to institute postadoption, their annual number of adoptions, valid e-mail collection percentage, and volunteer output estimates. MHS has found that their volunteers generally prefer a 1–2 h shift once a week. This is enough time for each volunteer to make 20–30 phone calls, given that a number of them will reach only voicemail systems and therefore take little time. The e-mail component and call list preparation may require a separate volunteer with more advanced technical skills. Mentioned are two examples of estimating volunteer needs for the adopter support program using fictional organizations (one large, one small). The generic formula is: where W is the number of annual adoptions, X is the average number of weekly adoptions, Y is the average number of weekly e-mails, Z is the average number of weekly phone calls, * is the estimated percentage of valid e-mail addresses collected for adopters (varies by organization and over time has increased nationally), and ** is the estimated number of phone calls each volunteer is able to make in a shift. Example 1: Foster-based rescue group contacting adopters three times postadoption: ABC Rescue adopts 1000 animals annually, so 1000 adoptions/52 weeks = 19 average adoptions per week. If 70% of adopters supply valid e-mail addresses, then 19 × 0.7 = 13 adopters need to be e-mailed each week. The remaining 6 adopters will require phone calls. ABC Rescue decides to contact adopters at 1-week, 1-month and 1-year intervals. A single volunteer should be able to make six 1-week calls, plus six 1-month calls, plus six 1-year calls in a single shift. ABC Rescue may decide to ask the same volunteer to also handle the e-mailing and call list creation or choose to have a second volunteer fill that role. It is important for this group to have a backup person trained to step in if the primary volunteer must step back for any reason. So ABC Rescue will require one or two volunteers to institute their adopter support survey component. Example 2: Large shelter contacting adopters twice after adoption: XYZ Animal Shelter adopts 12,000 animals annually, so 12,000 adoptions/52 weeks = 231 average adoptions per week. If 75% of adopters supply valid e-mail addresses, then 231 × 0.75 = 173 adopters need to be e-mailed each week. The remaining 58 adopters will require phone calls. XYZ Animal Shelter decides to contact adopters at 1 week and 6 months postadoption. So every week 58 adopters will need calls at the 1 week postadoption point, and 58 more will need calls at the 6 month point, for a total of 116 calls that would need to be made; 116 calls/25 calls per shift = 5 calling volunteers needed, plus at least one volunteer for e-mail and call list creation. A backup person to fill in for absences and turnover would also be wise. XYZ Animal Shelter will therefore require six to seven volunteers for their Adopter support survey component. At MHS, the adopter support survey component is coordinated by a single staff person assisted by three volunteer team leaders. MHS adopts about 7500 animals annually and attempts to contact all adopters three times postadoption, at 1-week, 1-month, and 1-year intervals. MHS has about five calling volunteers at any given time. The Richmond SPCA does not use volunteers for initial adopter contact, but instead staff adoption counselors make all the phone calls. Since calls are largely made during the daytime, many of the calls reach voicemail systems instead of live persons. Follow-up e-mails are sent in these cases. Before an organization designs a program to assist people postadoption, it must decide what it hopes to achieve with such a program. It may be fair to assume that shelters strive for successful adoptions, as defined by following five components: Organizations are cautioned against using a single measure, such as permanence, as their sole evaluation of adoption success. Reliance on adoption statistics alone, even taking into account returns, does not guarantee the broader concept of adoption success. Take for example a human-socialized animal who has been an indoor pet for years being adopted to a strictly outdoor setting without adequate fulfillment of social or even physiological needs. The adoption may be permanent, but is it truly successful from the animal’s perspective? The same could be said for an animal used to freedom in a home being adopted to an environment where he or she is kept confined to a crate for 23 h a day to cope with house-training problems. Or there is the example of an animal adopted by an owner who subsequently loses their job and is unable to provide adequate nutrition or veterinary care for the pet but is unwilling to relinquish the animal. Keeping all five components of adoption success in mind, organizations can use them to design the types of support programs and networks that will be of most assistance to adopters. A good adopter support program should strive to identify adoptions that do not meet one or more aspects of success and offer appropriate intervention to solve behavior problems and/or other issues so that animals and humans can live successfully together. Adopter support surveys should contain the types of questions that allow adopters to report adjustment, health, behavior, and customer service issues, plus questions that might indicate poor quality of life for animals. Volunteers and staff members who become aware of unsuccessful adoptions should know where to refer adopters for help. A menu of services designed to address specific problems may be required, to include behavior counseling and training, guidance for health problems, referrals to pet-related services in the community, information about opportunities for increasing bonding with new pets, efficient response to customer service issues, a transparent accessible return process, programs to assist financially struggling adopters with such items as veterinary care and basic animal food and supplies, etc. With the current emphasis on more open conversational adoption counseling that involves less background checking and relies on establishing rapport and trust, the existence of a broad-based adopter support program can reassure and organizations’ adoption counselors that postadoption issues will be identified and addressed. This can help counselors become more comfortable using the conversational style. Adoption counselors can focus on developing strong positive relationships with adopters before they take home a pet. Adopter support then becomes the link between the two parties in order to continue the relationship. It should increase adoption success, reduce relinquishment (including returns), improve customer service, and integrate adopters into an organization for the long term as supporters. Measuring your organization’s adoption success allows you to evaluate the effectiveness of your adoption program more accurately than simply looking at the number of adoptions, or even live release rates. While these are important statistics to track and maximize, they are not complete measures of adoption success. Since the definition of adoption success is broader than just the number of animals placed into adoptive homes, multiple components are necessary to measure it. This is the starting place for measuring adoption success. Organizations should track all of their adoptions on an ongoing basis. The major shelter software programs track number of adoptions and provide reports that subdivide them by species, location, time period, etc. If an agency is small, it may be able to track the number of adoptions on a simple spreadsheet. Adoption rates should also be calculated by species and age group. The formula for an adoption rate is the number of adoptions divided by the number of animals received (intake). For example, an agency that receives 100 adult cats and adopts 75 of them in a given time period (usually month or year) would record a 75% adoption rate for adult cats. Since rates can vary significantly between juveniles and adults, and among types of animals, it is a good idea to calculate and compare these rates in order to effectively understand and improve adoptions. Adoptions are usually a major component of an agency’s annual Live Release Rate and/or Save Rate, which also includes animals reclaimed by owners (strays), transferred to other agencies, etc. Different ways of calculating these rates are available. Learn more on this topic, including categorizing animals by health status and additional considerations for community coalitions of animal groups, at www.aspcapro.org. Organizations have traditionally used adoption return rates to measure adoption success. While it is important to measure and report return rates, they are only one component of adoption success. Returns are animals adopted from your organization who are later returned for any reason, including health or behavior problems, poor match with adopter, adopter life changes, etc. Returns should be tracked and subtracted from your adoptions in order to get a clearer picture of adoption success. A return percentage can be calculated by dividing the number of returns by the number of adoptions over a specific period of time. Agencies typically report returns on a monthly, quarterly, and/or annual basis. They are looking at the number of returns compared with adoptions in a given month, quarter, or year. For example, if an agency adopts 100 animals in January and receives 10 returns during that same month, their adoption return rate would be 10% (10 returns/100 adoptions). They can then look for trends in returns, with a rise in return rates generally considered to be negative. Did something change in the adoption or animal evaluation program that could account for a rise or fall in returns? Was there a change in animal health, such as a disease outbreak? Shelters may see a rise in return rates associated with establishing open adoption policies and long-term relationship development with adopters. While there are no national statistics on rates of return, an organization should be familiar with its own rate and establish levels it considers to be unacceptable. A new effort is underway to compile national statistics from US animal shelters by the nonprofit ShelterAnimalsCount.org. Not all returns should be considered to be bad, however. For example, MHS experienced a slight rise in returns when they instituted a 60-day money-back adoption guarantee in June of 2010. At the same time that returns to MHS increased, MHS adopters also reported reduced animal relinquishment to other agencies. It is possible that the new money-back guarantee encouraged adopters to return animals to MHS instead of to other organizations. The timing of the return may influence how returns are categorized. Some agencies count returns only within the previous 6 months or 1 year. The argument for this is that animals returned after longer periods of time are less likely to be related to issues with the adoption and more likely to be associated with life changes experienced by the adopter and therefore unrelated to the adoption. However, late returns could also be related to changes in behavior in animals adopted as juveniles. Establishing a time limit for counting an animal as returned makes it easier to track and report a return rate. Other agencies count returns without using time limits. Identifying returns can be difficult, especially if someone other than the adopter brings the animal back; when the adopter does not disclose the animal as having been adopted; or when an animal is simply abandoned at a shelter after hours. Microchipping all adopted animals, ensuring that microchips are registered immediately to the new owner, and implementing mandatory effective scanning upon intake can help ensure that returned animals are identified. Returns do not provide the complete picture of animals given up postadoption. Not all adopters who have decided not to keep an adopted animal will choose to return the pet to the source organization, even if the organization has language in the adoption contract mandating that returns come back to them. Some people are reluctant to return a pet to a caged-type setting in an animal shelter or to one with a low perceived Save Rate. Some will instead seek out a foster-based group or a group that specializes in the type of animal, such as a breed-specific or species-specific rescue. An adopter support program may be able to provide a rough estimate of the percentage of adopted animals who are given away to others instead of being returned by inserting this question into adopter surveys. In addition to returns and relinquishments to other agencies, some animals will die or get lost shortly after adoption. This number has been shown in at least one study to be significant (American Humane Association 2013). These outcomes may also be tracked in adopter support surveys. The other components of adoption success (quality of life, attachment, personality match, customer service) can be measured using surveys of adopters at specific intervals postadoption. Questions can be designed to gain information from the adopters’ perspective on all of these measures. The challenge comes in getting enough responses to adequately represent your adopters. We will look at this more closely in the survey design part of the chapter. Adopters may be thrilled (and a little nervous) in the first few days postadoption. They may share the photos and news about their new family member with family, friends, and coworkers in person and online. Many people purchase toys, beds, and supplies to welcome the new pet. Some refer to this as the “honeymoon” period to describe the pleasant interactions and joy experienced by the adopter, as they fall in love with the animal they have chosen and the bond develops between the animal and human. At the same time, they may also experience some hard realities. As described in Chapter 3 focused on relinquishment, there are many risks to the bond. Since they are fully outlined in that chapter, a few examples here will suffice. The new dog urinates on the floor instead of outdoors. The cat hides under a bed and refuses to come out to socialize. There may be squabbles between existing pets and the new animal as territories are challenged and existing social networks are disrupted. Children and other family members may need to learn appropriate animal interaction skills. Animals who appeared perfectly healthy at the time of adoption may show signs of illness shortly after arrival in the home or may have vomiting or diarrhea associated with stress or a change in diet. Sometimes, the adopter experiences an unexpected life change (job loss, move, divorce) that makes affording or even keeping their new pet difficult. There may also be unanticipated conflicts with landlords or neighbors. Immediately after adoption, some adopters need help with customer service issues. At MHS, an average of 2.6% of adopter support survey respondents requested customer service assistance postadoption. These issues may range from help returning an animal to reporting feedback on the adoption experience. Whether people get the customer service help they need in a timely manner is likely to influence their overall impression of your organization, which in turn affects positive word of mouth in the community. NOTE: All challenges adopters experience should be considered to be important. Some staff members or volunteers with extensive knowledge about animal behavior and health may try to trivialize certain problems, but if something is an issue for the adopter, organizations are encouraged to treat that concern respectfully and respond with helpful information. An example is the cat adopter who contacted MHS adopter support about her cat not covering feces in the litter box. Many animal shelter staff members would roll their eyes at such a small problem, but not only can unusual litter box behavior be an early sign of a medical problem or behavioral issue, to the adopter, it is important and may result in dissatisfaction even to the point of relinquishment. The adopted animal is transitioning to the new living arrangement right along with the human family. Without an established routine and lacking a strong bond to the adopter, behavior problems may surface. One national study has clearly shown that behavior problems were the most frequently given reasons for canine relinquishment and the second most given reason for feline relinquishment (Salman et al. 2000). At MHS, an average of 16.4% of postadoption survey respondents reported behavior problems with their adopted animals (14.3% at 1 week; 19.3% at 1 month; 15.5% at 1 year). More behavior problems were reported in dogs at 1 month postadoption (28.3% of respondents) than at 1 week (21.0%) and 1 year (21.4%), but there were clearly many adopters reporting behavior problems at all three survey points. In comparison, cat adopters reported problem behavior at one-third to one-half the rate of dog adopters: 8.5% at 1 week; 11% at 1 month; and 10% at 1 year postadoption (Figure 16.2). Figure 16.2 Percent of respondents reporting behavior problems post adoption. MHS most commonly reported behavior problems in both dogs and cats at 1 month postadoption were destructive behavior (which was reported more frequently in dogs) and lack of household manners. Dog adopters also reported higher rates of house-training issues, while cat adopters reported problems with high energy and aggression to humans (Figure 16.3). Figure 16.3 Behavior problems reported at 1 month post adoption as percent of all reported behavior problems. Since cats and dogs were reported to have some different behavior problems and different levels of the same behavior problems in the MHS surveys, the organization provides postadoption behavior guidance by trained feline and canine specialists. While it is important that shelters identify and inform potential adopters of animals’ current health issues, they should also plan to help adopters with illnesses that may appear shortly after adoption, since many illnesses have incubation periods during which animals may not show symptoms. Providing postadoption support includes gathering information about these new illnesses and referring new pet owners to appropriate veterinary care. The current trend of placing more animals with treatable or manageable health conditions must also be taken into account when evaluating the incidence of postadoption reports of conditions. At MHS, an average of 21.3% of respondents reported that their pets had a health problem after 1 week of ownership. This number declined to 9.0% at 1 month and 5.1% at 1 year postadoption and was in all cases slightly lower for cats than dogs, but not significantly so. At 1 week, the most common health problems reported were upper respiratory infections and parasites. Of the 21.3% of the surveys that responded “yes” to a health problem, just over half (57.6%) had upper respiratory infections. Another 15.4% reported intestinal parasites, despite preadoption treatment in the shelter, indicating the need for emphasizing postadoption parasite testing and treatment if indicated. After 1 month of ownership, the number of reports of sick animals declined. After a year, the reported numbers declined again. While these common illnesses can appear during an animal’s stay in a shelter, other illnesses may not be discovered until after the owner has the animal at home. For example, it can take time for new pet owners to realize that their pet has an allergy (unless the animal was adopted with the condition already apparent). Of the health problems reported after a week of ownership, 4.1% were allergies. This number grows to 7.7% at 1 month and 21.8% at 1 year. Note that these numbers are based on owner report, not veterinary diagnosis. Allergies therefore run counter to the general trend of decreasing reports of health problems postadoption over time. It is important that shelters inform new owners about potential health conditions that may be discovered after a period of time at home and that shelters strongly encourage adopters to establish relationships with veterinarians right away. At 1 month, 41.9% of health problems reported were new since adoption at MHS, which could point to illnesses with an incubation period; illnesses that were induced by the stress of moving to the new home; or incomplete knowledge of, or communication about, existing health problems at time of adoption (Figure 16.4). Figure 16.4 Incidence of postadoption health problems reported. It is helpful for shelters to document animals’ health issues preadoption as well as after the animal has been adopted. Gathering this data can give a shelter insight as to which illnesses are most common, enabling the shelter to evaluate their shelter medicine protocols and provide precautionary instructions to adopters. At MHS, upper respiratory infections were the most commonly reported illness. While only 10% of MHS adopters reported their animals had health problems at 1 week postadoption, those who did so primarily identified upper respiratory infection as the problem. In fact, of the animals reported ill, 52% of dogs and 64% of cats had signs of this infection. Therefore, MHS now provides all adopters with information that was developed by their shelter medicine veterinarian about symptoms and treatments of upper respiratory infections at the time of adoption. The incidence at which adopters establish a relationship with a veterinarian may also be a factor in adoption success. MHS data indicated that dog adopters are more likely than cat adopters to take their adopted pet to a veterinarian. This mirrors national studies which show that cat owners are less likely to use veterinary services than dog owners (American Veterinary Medical Association 2012). Organizations may promote veterinary contact by providing veterinary referrals, by providing coupons for free postadoption exams at area clinics, or by setting up appointments for adopters. Adopters automatically qualify to become clients of the Richmond SPCA’s full-service low-cost veterinary clinic. Adopted pets with immediate postadoption medical issues may visit this clinic for a free exam and subsidized treatment. The Wisconsin Humane Society has arrangements with more than 100 area veterinarians to provide a free examination to adopters within the first 5 days of adoption. MHS offers all adopters 10% off for a full year at their own veterinary clinics as an incentive (Figure 16.5). Figure 16.5 Percentages of respondents taking new pet to veterinarian post adoption. Setting up programs to help adopters with life changes that affect their ability to keep or care for their pets can also be part of adopter support. Examples include a pet food bank; pet-friendly housing lists; help rehoming a pet without the animal having to return to the organization; and temporary short-term housing for owner transitions. MHS established a food bank for struggling pet owners that uses unopened bags and cans of pet food. They recently switched to using an identification card to put appropriate controls on the amount and frequency participants use the program. Pet-friendly housing lists are maintained by a number of shelters. They must be updated periodically to reflect changing policies at area housing complexes. The Upper Peninsula Animal Welfare Society in Marquette (Michigan) is an example of a shelter that offers a program for owners wishing to rehome their pet without relinquishing their animal. An example of short-term housing would be opening a shelter’s foster program to temporary housing for owners who do not wish to surrender their pet during a hospital stay or other such situation. Contracts are generally used that detail how the cost of care will be covered, animal reclaim, etc. A significant, often overlooked aspect of a successful adoption is customer service. It is important that adopters have a good experience with the shelter staff and/or adoption volunteers, that they return to adopt in the future, and they speak positively about the shelter to friends and family. This may be achieved by providing excellent customer service during adoption, providing a method of communication for any postadoption issues that arise, veterinary services, and even grief counseling when appropriate. Each of these areas should allow adopters to count on knowledgeable, helpful staff from the shelter to get them through pet-related issues. Chapter 14 highlights the components to improve the human interactions between adopter and staff. Some adopters appreciate the opportunity to engage with an organization and even other adopters after they are home. A large number of MHS adopters, for example, post photographs and stories about their new pets on the dedicated Pet Parenting page of their website. Adopters may also wish to take part in special fundraising events, reunions of litters or other animal groupings, adopted pet play groups, and special websites for adopters to communicate online about their new pets. Adopters may want to join an annual walk-a-thon fundraiser to which they can bring their adopted pet AND help support other animals finding new homes. Adopters should become supporters and donors and even eventually put animal organizations in their wills! An online survey tool can help an organization contact adopters by e-mail and phone efficiently and analyze the feedback they provide in a single platform that supports both survey methods. While good surveys are not so easy to write, many survey tools have sample questions and some are included in Appendices 16.1, 16.2, 16.3, and 16.4. Clear language, standardized questions, and appropriate use of skip logic—all are survey-writing skills—may be learned. There are many online survey services from which to choose. Very basic services may be free for a limited number of responses, but a fee-based platform may be more appropriate for organizations with a large number of adoptions or for asking detailed questions. Some services offer reduced rates for nonprofits. MHS uses Survey Monkey® because of the robust analysis aspect. The HSP and the McKamey Animal Center both use Constant Contact to survey adopters. A shelter’s adopter support survey should ideally allow for both electronic and manual data entry, so that survey responses from adopters who are e-mailed can be combined with those surveyed by phone. The level of service should be adequate for the number of responses expected, which should not exceed the number of adoptions multiplied by the number of times adopters will be surveyed. So if an agency adopts about 1000 animals annually and wishes to survey adopters three times postadoption, it will need to pay for a service that allows for 1000 × 3 = 3000 responses. A shelter may find other internal uses for an online survey tool in addition to adopter support. MHS uses SurveyMonkey® to survey foster caregivers, conference attendees, volunteers, staff, and for many other purposes. It is also helpful if the online survey allows for the use of skip logic, which will hide or show questions based on adopters’ responses, thus streamlining surveys and maximizing the number of responses. The added cost for a tool that allows for skip logic may be worth the investment. An example of using skip logic to streamline a survey is as follows: A question is placed near the beginning of your survey asking the type of animal adopted (cat, dog, etc.). Skip logic can be set up on that question which will send the respondent to species-specific follow-up questions based on their response. Cat adopters could then be routed to a question about whether their cat is wearing a collar and tag, while dog adopters might see a question about whether they have taken their new dog to a training class. Cat adopters will not see the dog questions, and vice versa, but both can see later questions that apply to both species. Skip logic is also useful in asking questions of adopters who no longer have their animals due to having returned or relinquished them. A question may be placed early in the survey to determine whether the person still has the pet. Skip logic could then direct an adopter who no longer has their pet to follow-up questions asking where the animal is now and why the adoption did not work out, and then speed them to the end of the survey. Shelters are encouraged to learn about survey design in order to maximize both response rate and usefulness of the data collected. Since it can be hard to get people to respond to unsolicited surveys, it is best to communicate at the outset the reason for the survey and how it will help the shelter help other animals and assure confidentiality of the adopter’s information. It is also important to avoid bias when developing the survey. Questions should be neutral (neither assuming a positive or negative response but allowing for both). The survey should have enough questions to adequately cover the topic (e.g., asking adopters about their new pet’s adjustment, health, behavior, and other areas about which they may wish to share information with the shelter) along with a sufficient range of response values to allow respondents to clearly report their postadoption experiences (Kitchenham & Pfleeger 2002). Pretesting the survey with a small group of people can help identify missing and unnecessary questions, along with instructions and questions that are unclear. Without this step, shelters run the risk of designing a survey for which answers will not consistently reflect the experiences of adopters. Ideally, the people asked to pretest the survey should represent adopters. Two options for such a group are using actual adopters for a limited period of time or using staff and/or volunteers who have adopted animals from the organization. The reliability of the survey relates to how well the results may be reproduced. The adopter support survey should provide similar answers when given to similar groups of people. The MHS surveys, for example, have provided consistent types and distributions of responses over a number of years from thousands of adopters. Since MHS asks some of the same questions at three intervals, there is likely to be a large practice effect if the same adopters take their surveys. This means that their answers the second or third time around may be different simply because they have had time to think about them. However, with animals and people continuing to change and adjust to each other over time, the responses from a single individual may also be expected to evolve (Kitchenham & Pfleeger 2002). Rewording questions within the same survey is not generally recommended for self-administered (e-mailed) surveys versus telephone surveys. Rewording adds to the survey length and implies that the shelter does not trust the adopters’ responses. A survey’s validity is usually measured against other surveys that have been used for the same purpose. In the realm of adopter support, this can be difficult as there are few adopter surveys that have been tested for validity and reliability in the published literature (Kitchenham & Pfleeger 2002). Many online survey tools offer a variety of customizable features, including choice of color scheme, ability to insert an organization’s logo, redirection to a specific website at the end, etc. If different questions will be asked at different points of time, then multiple surveys may have to be developed. Each survey will need a unique name. MHS uses simple names like “2014 One Week.” A brief introductory paragraph on the first page should thank the person for adopting the pet, ask them to complete the survey even if they no longer have the animal, let them know the purpose of the survey, list the adopter support e-mail address and phone number, and let them know the survey is brief. If an incentive will be offered to adopters for responding, it should be mentioned at the outset. Electronic coupons for services, pet supplies, or other merchandise are examples of incentives. Coupon expiration dates should be kept up-to-date. MHS has offered a discounted veterinary visit at the 1 week-level; discounted microchipping at the 1-month level; and a reduction in the adoption fee at the 1-year level. All their coupons can be used by the adopter or given away to a friend, coworker, or family member. The organization has also offered discounted dog training, emergency planning kits for pet owners, and even donated a safe durable toy to a needy shelter pet as a survey-response incentive. MHS experienced a decline of about 5% in response rate when the discounted veterinary services incentive were replaced with the donated toy incentive. Survey incentive coupons may be a good way to partner with animal-related businesses in the community. Common categories of adopter support survey questions include animal adjustment, animal health, animal behavior, animal relinquishment, need for assistance with postadoption problems, adopter satisfaction with animal match, quality of life for animal, development of bond between animal and adopter, customer service experience during adoption, and adopter attitude toward organization at large. When drafting questions, organizations may wish to review other organization’s surveys and the sample questions at the end of this chapter. Other internal departments should be invited to submit questions for inclusion. Survey tools can require that certain questions be mandatory while allowing flexibility on others. Avoid the impulse to include too many questions. An adopter survey should be able to be completed in just a few minutes to maximize response rate. Many survey tools will provide a completion measurement showing the percentages of respondents who started and finished the survey. Tracking survey completion will provide real-time feedback on whether a survey is too long. Reminders may be used to boost survey response. MHS sends reminders to nonresponders 1 week after the first request to take the survey. MHS has found this reminder to boost their response rate by 6–16%. Since MHS uses SurveyMonkey® to store e-mail lists and generate e-mail messages, it is easy to send reminders, as the survey tool stores all of the responses. Because adopters’ contact information may change and because of animal relinquishment, shelters may see gradually diminishing response rates over time. But response rates may remain consistent, as they have for MHS, due to adopters who do not respond to the 1-week survey but who do respond to later surveys. Information learned from some of the adopter support survey questions used by MHS is presented later. Survey examples may be viewed in Appendices 16.1, 16.2, 16.3, and 16.4. MHS research found gradual adjustment over time as reported by adopters. After 1 week, approximately 67% of respondents reported that their animals had adjusted extremely well, 19% reported moderately well, 4% fair, and less than 1% reported poor adjustment or no adjustment. At 1 year, by comparison, approximately 91% reported that their animals had adjusted extremely well, 7% reported moderately well, 1% fair, 0.2% reported poor adjustment, and zero respondents reported their animal had not adjusted at all. Recent data on the relationship between reported adjustment and retention indicated that pets who took between 2 weeks and 2 months to adjust were more likely to be retained by their adopters (American Humane Association 2013, Figure 16.6). Figure 16.6 Adopted animal adjustment. While it is impossible to ask animals directly about their quality of life, adopters may be asked to report back on various aspects of their pet’s lifestyle as an indirect measure. However it may be difficult to write neutral questions for these areas. Many questions may appear to have obvious “right” or “wrong” answers based on what adopters think is expected of them, especially since they may have received such information during the adoption counseling experience. Therefore, while 99.6% of MHS adopters surveyed at 1 year postadoption reported that their animal slept indoors and 97.3% reported that their pet was outside alone for less than 3 h each day, the results may not represent reality as adopters may know they are expected to keep their pets inside. It is worth noting, however, that the AHA’s 2013 study found that pets who slept on a family member’s bed were more likely to stay in their adoptive homes than pets who slept elsewhere in the house. The study also found that 90.6% of pets reported to have slept outdoors were retained (American Humane Association 2013). At 1 year postadoption, the overwhelming majority of MHS adopters (95.8% for dogs and 95.5% for cats) reported being “strongly attached” to their pets. At the same point, 93.1% of respondents reported having “never seriously considered giving up their pet,” while 5.9% said they had considered relinquishing the pet. Only 1.0% were considering relinquishment at that survey point. At 1 year postadoption, MHS used a matrix to ask adopters whether the pet had met their expectations by ranking a number of facets of pet ownership. The results from MHS show that adopters had some expectations met more effectively than others and that in some areas there was a difference between dogs and cats. For example, 91.5% of adopters reported being very satisfied with their adopted dogs, compared with 87.7% for cats. Overall, adopters were least satisfied with the facet of trainability of the dogs (55.7% very satisfied) and cats (56.0% very satisfied) that they adopted, and there was little difference between the species. These results might indicate more need for educating owners about postadoption training resources and managing their expectations regarding normal pet behavior. One week is an excellent point at which to inquire about the adoption experience as the event is still fresh in the adopter’s mind. MHS uses a matrix-style question which asks adopters to rate several aspects of the adoption experience on a scale of one to five (very satisfied, satisfied, neutral, dissatisfied, and very dissatisfied). It is possible that results on such a matrix may be highly positive, as they are for MHS. While it is tempting to take positive results at face value, it is important to take the “halo effect” into account. This is a cognitive bias in which one’s judgments can be influenced by one’s overall impression of a person, or in this case, an organization. The public may have an overall positive impression of “humane societies” which can result in more positive ratings than are truly deserved. Organizations should not discount neutral or lower ratings, even if they are small percentages, and should look closely at the numbers of adopters who were only “satisfied” instead of “very satisfied” with specific measures. MHS asked several questions about animal identification, which enabled that organization to determine that the main reason that cats were not wearing a collar and tag or microchip was not cost, but rather, that the cat would be kept indoors. Adopters did not see the importance of identification for indoor cats, so MHS began microchipping all adopted cats before leaving the shelter. The steps to surveying adopters electronically are creating a periodic list of e-mails for adopters, setting up an e-mail box for responses, creating standard initial and reminder messages, and sending the messages. These are the technical aspects of adopter support programs. Adoption records should be pulled once a week in spreadsheet format, such as Excel. If an organization uses sheltering software, there should be a report that will provide the information needed for creating both e-mail contact lists and phone survey lists each week. Both PetPoint and ShelterBuddy software programs have adopter support reports available on request, as they were created for MHS. A template may be created in which to paste or enter the weekly data (see Appendix 16.5). The information needed to create the e-mails and phone-calling sheets includes Animal Identification Number, Animal Name, Adopter First and Last Name, Type of Animal (Species), Date of Adoption, Adopter E-mail, and Adopter Phone Number. Agencies with multiple adoption locations may choose to include the Adoption Location. Other optional information may include the Animal Breed and/or Person entering the adoption (Operator). The latter is helpful in tracking and rewarding staff for valid e-mail collection at time of adoption (see Appendix 16.5). The Weekly Adoption List should always reflect a full 7 days. In order to prevent gaps and missed adoptions, it should cover consistent days of the week. Agencies that regularly backdate adoptions because they receive and/or process adoption paperwork after the animal has gone home (common in off-site locations and events) should train staff to use a “hard stop” for backdating purposes. At MHS, for example, the hard stop is Saturday morning. So if an animal is adopted from an off-site location on a Friday, and the paperwork does not arrive back at MHS for entry into the shelter system software until Monday, that animal is entered as having been adopted on Saturday so as not to be missed when the Weekly Adoption List is pulled. This is necessary because the list including Friday’s adoptions will already have been pulled by the volunteer by Monday, before the adoption has been entered. In order to be included in adopter support, the animal must appear in the current week’s list, which begins on Saturday. If a shelter’s software also offers a Returned Animals report, that can also be pulled for the same period as the Weekly Adoption List, so that those animals who are adopted and returned within 1 week can be deleted from the list and awkward communications with adopters who no longer have their animals prevented. A separate unique e-mail box should be established from which to send out adopter support communications. When it is used as the return address then it will collect undeliverable messages for updating shelter records. Most survey tools will allow the creation and storage of message templates. A sample one is included at the end of this chapter (see Appendix 16.6). The subject line should clearly refer to the adoption. A generic subject line that just references the organization may be quickly discarded as spam or a fundraising request. Messages may be personalized by including the adopter’s name in the greeting. MHS recommends thanking the person for adopting the animal, requesting their response to the survey (link included), and explaining that the information they provide will help the organization assist them AND improve services for other animals. Any incentive for survey response, such as a coupon, should be mentioned. The adopter support telephone number may be listed in case an adopter needs help but is not inclined to take the survey. It is critical to include a link to opt out of future electronic communications to avoid being misidentified as a spammer. Reminder messages should be brief, friendly and assume the person has just not had time to respond. The HSP includes pet care information in the e-mails sent out to survey adopters at 1, 2, 3, and 48 weeks postadoption. “We used to give all this information in printed form at the time of adoption, but we found it was never seen. There is a much higher success rate now that the information is provided electronically at appropriate intervals,” explains an HSP staffer. Included in their e-mails are reasons to keep pets indoors, information on the local tethering law, scratching/declawing information, positive training, referrals to the organization’s surrender prevention program, emergency planning, dog parks, vaccine information, and a coupon for their veterinary clinic. Most survey tools will require entry, either manually or by copy-and-paste, of the e-mail addresses from the weekly sheet into a distribution list, and will automatically delete duplicates. That way an adopter of two or more animals will receive only one message. In addition, other fields may be included in the distribution list, such as animal identification number (for ease of tracking postadoption adjustment of specific animals), adopter name, or adoption location (for agencies with multiple adoption sites). Weekly distribution lists (labeled by date) can be used for multiple contacts (e.g., 1 week, 1 month, and later). Messages can be set up to be sent at a particular time of day, such as the middle of the night, to reach people first thing in the morning. A survey tool should track those that have responded so that reminders will only go to nonrespondents. They will also alert you to undeliverable e-mail messages so those can be highlighted to receive phone calls instead. It is worth noting that MHS has experienced periodic delays in the reporting of undeliverable messages, which interrupted the calling sequence and resulted in extra work for the volunteers responsible for creating the call sheets. It is also possible to send e-mails without the help of the survey tool, but benefits like stored distribution lists and response tracking will be missed. Organizations will also have to take care not to appear to be spamming by limiting the number of e-mails sent out at a time, and entering adopter e-mails in the blind copy (BCC) area to avoid unintentional sharing of private adopter contact information. For an example of a generic e-mail message inviting adopters to take an online survey, see Appendix 16.6. If a shelter wishes to minimize volunteer or staff time needed for adopter support, then it can reach out by phone only to those adopters without e-mail addresses and those for whom the e-mail addresses were undeliverable. The majority of calls may reach an answering machine or voicemail. It should take volunteers only about 2 min to leave a message, while it is likely to require 10–15 min to conduct a survey. Even if most calls result in messages, adopters will learn that the organization cares about their individual adoption enough to follow up. This proactive “touch” with adopters may also encourage them to call or e-mail for help if they experience postadoption problems in the future. Volunteers making phone calls to survey adopters and enter their responses manually will need special training along with online access. Agencies may choose to provide a workstation in the facility or allow volunteers to make calls from home. One drawback to calling from home is that the volunteer’s personal phone number may appear on the phone screens of adopters with caller identification service if they do not block their number before each call. This can be not only a privacy issue for volunteers, but also can reduce the number of successful phone contacts because adopters may not answer calls from numbers they do not recognize. Volunteers calling from home may also need to pay for long-distance calls to out-of-area adopters. An adopter support workstation at MHS includes a desktop computer with Internet access; a telephone; a notebook of weekly call sheets; colored markers for recording calls; note cards prestuffed with the coupons and incentives offered for survey completion; and a list for recording contact information for adopters who need follow-up calls for health, behavior, or customer service issues. Sympathy cards are also available in the rare cases they are needed. MHS encloses a flyer about pet loss grief support services in every sympathy card. The type of volunteer who may fit well with adopter support phone calling is one who is has basic computer skills, enjoys talking with people about their animals, has good telephone skills, and can commit to volunteering for about 2 h once a week on a regular basis. It is an especially good assignment for people who want to help animals but who are not able or comfortable volunteering hands-on with the animals. Not all volunteers will enjoy the repetitive nature of this assignment, but MHS has found that some people do it well and stay with the same volunteer position for months and even years. Expect some volunteer turnover, though, and have a plan for ongoing recruitment and training. Training should encompass the overall purpose and scope of adopter support program; using the call list; making and recording calls; leaving messages; taking and entering manual survey responses; sending thank-you and sympathy cards; maintaining privacy of adopter information; and referring adopters experiencing postadoption challenges with their animals. Volunteers should specifically be trained to avoid giving behavior or medical advice over the phone. Their role is simply to record and refer calls so that adopters will receive timely contact from designated internal or external support programs that will provide consistent professional advice. For a sample volunteer training manual, see Appendix 16.7. Volunteers should loosely follow a script for consistency when making calls to adopters. The very first message after identifying themselves as a volunteer with MHS is “thank you for adopting!” The next is “How’s it going with the new pet?” If the answer is positive, they proceed to the survey. If the answer is not then the volunteer tries to determine if the adopter would benefit from assistance and if so, fills out the adopter support Phone Calls Needing Follow-up form (see Appendix 16.8) before proceeding to the survey. People who do not wish to take an MHS survey are thanked and provided with the adopter support toll-free phone number for future contacts before the call is ended. It is also helpful to try to collect an e-mail address that was blank or correct one that was undeliverable, to prevent having to call the person the next time. If the person on the phone is either the adopter or another responsible adult in the family (avoid surveying children or other people who were not involved in the adoption), then the volunteer opens the survey on their computer screen and manually enter the answers to the questions as relayed by the adopter. At the end of the survey, the volunteer offers the incentive to be mailed and addresses a prestuffed envelope containing the coupon associated with the specific survey. Contact results (took survey, left phone message, animal deceased, no answer, wrong number, number disconnected, etc.) are recorded and tallied on the call sheet. MHS does not leave messages asking adopters to call back as volunteers are not always available to take surveys from callers. Multiple calls to the same adopter will increase the number of volunteers needed for the adopter support program. However, response percentages may be increased by such practices. Volunteers should be trained not to lead the adopter to specific answers by anticipating their responses. They should also get the adopter to give their answer in the exact terms available. For example, if the question about animal adjustment offers “excellent, very good, fair, poor, or terrible” as the answer choices, and the adopter responds “fine,” then the volunteer should follow up with asking whether “fine” means “excellent, very good, or fair” instead of assuming they know the answer. This will require patience and politeness on the part of the volunteer. Patience will also be required as many adopters want to relay stories, sometimes lengthy, about their new pet and will need to be politely redirected to the survey. Listening skills will also be needed for dealing with unhappy adopters, so that their concerns can be accurately recorded for assistance. Volunteers should avoid agreeing with unhappy adopters, instead remaining neutral and offering to document and refer the concerns for timely action. A Follow-Up Form for such information should be supplied to calling volunteers, along with a clear process for referring them either internally or externally. Regular and meaningful appreciation of adopter support volunteers is important to longevity in their critical role. The coordinator should be available for mentoring, problem-solving, and should identify volunteers with leadership potential and/or expertise in the technical aspects of the program for growth and development. Adopter support volunteers should have opportunities to improve the surveys periodically based on their experiences “in the trenches” with real adopters on the phone. Animal shelters and foster-based groups are notoriously difficult to reach, both before and after adoption finding the right person within the organization to handle the specific inquiry can involve long waits, repeat calls, or “phone tag”—all of which can discourage all but the most persistent adopters seeking help with postadoption problems. Organizations wishing to assist adopters postadoption will need to set up processes by which adopters can either be counseled by the organization or referred to outside entities that will provide this service. Local partnerships and collaborations may help many agencies with limited resources in this regard. A key component of any adopter support program is establishing easy ways for adopters to access help that is both professional and timely. Since not all adopters will use the same mode of contact, it is best to set up both telephone and electronic contact options. MHS set up a toll-free adopter support phone line and a dedicated e-mail address for adopter inquiries. The toll-free aspect encouraged adopters from out of area to call, and the number was selected so that the corresponding letters spelled an easy-to-remember phrase (1-87-PETSRFUN). The MHS phone line was automated to save on staff time. It featured a recorded message directing adopters to select a category (health, behavior, customer service) and then leave a message with the nature of their question or concern. The cost of the phone line has been minimal: it averaged US$5–10 per month for the first several years, in addition to the charge for the line. MHS has noticed an interesting shift in the way adopters contacted adopter support over time. Within the first month of adoption, the majority (76.9%) of adopters needing assistance reported having contacted the organization by phone compared with by e-mail (23.1%). But at 1 year postadoption, adopters were about evenly split on method of contact (43.7% via phone; 56.3% via e-mail). The organization screens both e-mails and phone messages from adopters needing assistance. It is recommended to establish and clearly communicate a time limit for response (e.g., 48–72 h). If adopters experience true health or behavior emergencies with their newly adopted pets, they should be directed to call their nearest emergency veterinary clinic (for urgent health needs) or animal control facility (e.g., for bite situations). Adopters are likely to need assistance with three main categories of issues: behavior, health, and customer service. In addition, the shelter may wish to create referrals or programs to assist with other areas. An Adopters’ page on the organizational website is a good place for referrals of all types: dog parks, emergency veterinary clinics, online discussion groups, food bank, downloadable behavior tips, boarding kennels, trainers, groomers, etc. Since many adopters become repeat customers (approximately one-third at MHS), a shelter may want to showcase animals for adoption on the Adopters’ page. Organizations should decide whether they have or can develop internal resources or programs to provide guidance in health or behavior. The need for postadoption support also provides an excellent opportunity to develop partnerships with local businesses and other organizations. At MHS, health questions are routed to the organization’s veterinary clinics, with specific staff members (usually technicians) tasked with responding to inquiries within 48 h. The Wisconsin Humane Society has its own veterinary department for shelter medicine. Adopters of pets with some health issues may see the shelter veterinarian and access treatment free of charge within a 14-day window postadoption. The Richmond SPCA operates their Clinic for Compassionate Care, a full-service veterinary clinic for adopters and low-income pet owners. The Animal Rescue League Shelter and Wildlife Center has a voicemail box specifically for postadoption medical concerns, and operates its own subsidized veterinary clinic. Organizations without veterinary staff could partner with area veterinary clinics to provide this resource. Adopters from the Woods Humane Society can take their new pet to any local veterinarian in the county for a free appointment within 72 h of adoption. The McKamey Animal Center has arranged for a free wellness visit at any of 26 area veterinary clinics in their service area. Such arrangements may be welcomed by local veterinarians seeking to build their clientele. They may even be willing to offer discounted services or products to new adopters, such as a free examination or discounted booster vaccinations. The resulting open communications that develop due to formalized relationships between local vets and animal adoption groups or shelters can be beneficial to all parties, helping to break down prejudices and promote understanding and cooperation. One unique program offered by the HSP is their Connie Brooks Bay Area Disaster Animal Response Team (DART) Medical Fund. Established in 2013 with an initial grant, this fund accepts donations to assist with ongoing cost of care for animals adopted with known health conditions such as diabetes or food allergies. In a single year, it assisted over 30 dogs and cats adopted from the shelter. Not all health situations postadoption can wait for a response. It is important for an organization to also have a clear path for adopters who experience postadoption medical emergencies. Offering an after-hours phone number to new adopters is one option. Another would be to direct adopters to a local veterinary emergency clinic. Emergency options should be clearly communicated in adoption paperwork adopters take home, and be included on your after-hours telephone message. Shelters use different methods for responding to behavior questions from adopters. Some provide handouts on specific behavior issues specific to the adopted pet, while others send home a booklet with general information. Others have questioned how much this material is used, and have moved to providing behavior tips online. As mentioned earlier, HSP attaches specific behavior tips to their periodic adopter support e-mails. This shelter now sends home a single flyer on initial pet adjustment at time of adoption. The Woods Humane Society also discontinued sending home large amounts of behavior information at the time of adoption, instead publishing them electronically on their website, where they can be kept up-to-date easily and draw adopters back for continued engagement. MHS’ and Richmond SPCA’s online tip sheets were based on those published by the Denver Dumb Friends League. The McKamey Animal Center, the Animal Rescue League Shelter and Wildlife Center, and the Wisconsin Humane Society all use the specific information published by the ASPCA for animal behavior issues. The Richmond SPCA’s training staff talks with adopters of pets with known behavior issues before those pets leave the shelter, to ensure the adopters understand the behavior of the pet and will follow the recommended plan to manage the behavior. All adopters receive the adoption center’s direct phone and e-mail contact information to help ensure speedy response to postadoption challenges. A single trained staff member fields all incoming behavior inquiries coming through the center’s behavior helpline, which is also open to the public and was established in about 2002. The organization indicates that the calls have become more challenging over time. The majority of the calls come from the public; about two-third relate to dogs and one-third to cats. The Richmond SPCA is the largest provider of dog training in the community of about 1,000,000 people and has a robust staff of professional trainers. Their School for Dogs is a fee-based board-and-train reward-based approach, and is specifically recommended by the shelter for adopters of puppies, shy dogs, adolescent dogs, and adopters with little time for training. The Wisconsin Humane Society’s behavior helpline receives approximately 1000 calls per year, mostly from adopters, but also from the general public. Callers may leave a message and get a response within 24 h Monday through Saturday. Four staff members respond to all the calls. This shelter also refers adopters to area dog trainers and behavior consultants, in addition to its own classes. They offer free in-shelter behavior consultation for more challenging behavior issues within 2 weeks of adoption, and have negotiated discounted rates for their adopters with outside specialists. Behavior questions that come in to the MHS Adopter support phone line are routed directly to the MHS Pet Behavior Helpline, which is staff-directed but manned by trained volunteers. This behavior line is message-based with 24–48 h turnaround on response. It is also available free of charge to the general public with the goal of preventing animal relinquishment to MHS or other area agencies. MHS’ Behavior Helpline was originally developed as a supplement to the organization’s public dog training classes in 1997. At that time, the availability of classes using positive reinforcement training techniques was low in the Detroit metropolitan area. Callers with canine behavior problems were provided guidance and then referred to the training classes if deemed appropriate. Volunteers avoided giving phone guidance for aggression but instead referred to partnering animal behavior specialists. The volume of calls peaked in 2000 with close to 2000 calls and e-mails annually, and has since gradually declined to slightly less than 1000 in 2013. The potential for the volume of contacts to rise again may be directly related to shelters and rescue groups knowingly placing more animals with treatable or manageable behavior problems as defined by the Asilomar Accords (www.asilomaraccords.org 2013). The most common behavior issues addressed by the MHS Behavior Helpline in 2012 were house training (for dogs and cats) and aggression to humans for dogs. The MHS Behavior Helpline comprises 7–14 volunteers trained to provide consistent behavior counseling for the most common issues in cats, dogs, rabbits, and other companion animals. Callers considering relinquishment are transferred to the organization’s call center for intake guidance and appointments. The Behavior Helpline is not able to handle emergencies, but live staffing would make this possible. The biggest hurdle for the program is volunteer recruitment and training, which can take from 1 to 4 months, depending on the individual’s level of experience with animal behavior. Volunteers are expected to enter the results of every call into an online survey for review by staff as quality control. Most of the shelters interviewed had at least one staff member with extensive experience and/or advanced training in animal behavior, and used them to guide adopters with common postadoption behavior challenges such as house training or destructive behavior. But several referred more serious problems including aggression, nonmedical-based litter box avoidance, and separation anxiety to area professionals. A shelter in Oregon reached out to a veterinary behavior specialist to arrange for discounted services for an adopted cat with complicated behavior issues, but indicated that the cost of such treatment was still out of reach for most adopters, even when discounted. Many shelters establish partnerships with dog training businesses to encourage adopters to take part in formal training for their new canines. The Woods Humane Society refers adopters to a positive reinforcement dog trainer who offers a US$20 discount for adopters within the first 30 days of adoption. The McKamey Animal Center refers adopters to a small list of well-established local trainers and behavior specialists with which they have both a philosophy match and personal experience. The Lincoln County Animal Shelter (Oregon) benefited from a local dog trainer who became a volunteer dog walker. The volunteer donates two free in-home one-on-one training sessions for adopted dogs. While not all adopters take advantage of the training, the shelter manager says that it is appreciated by adoption staff as it “shows our level of commitment to the animals and adopters.” Some shelters offer their own training classes for adopters. An example is the Animal Rescue League Shelter and Wildlife Center which offers free obedience training with many adoptions. Outside of veterinarians, businesses or professionals to consider as potential partners include dog trainers, animal behavior specialists, animal behavior consultants, veterinary behaviorists, and certified applied animal behaviorists. It is important to carefully evaluate the individuals or businesses your organization as there is significant variability in philosophy, approach, and professionalism of such entities. Customer service issues, including those elicited by the adopter support process, should be handled by the organization in an efficient manner. For example, routing such calls and e-mails to the shelter management at the location from which the animal was adopted would expedite the response in most cases. Foster-based groups may wish to identify a person to handle all customer service contacts. Adopters may experience life changes that make owning a pet difficult postadoption. The loss of a job or home can jeopardize pet ownership for some people. Some shelters have food banks to help prevent pet owners with financial constraints from relinquishing their animals. Depending on the service area, this might or might not be a critical need in a community. The HSP recently overhauled their food pantry program, making it more structured to ensure it was reaching people truly in need. Now pet owners seeking this service fill out a form and their visits are tracked. In 2012, this humane society’s food pantry served 846 animals with 862 pantry visits. They distributed 8000 pounds of dry food and 2200 cans of wet food, and also offer a new food delivery program for homebound pet owners. Conversely, the Cat Adoption Team (Oregon) discontinued their walk-in food pantry after 5 years as they felt it was being abused. They found that affording cat food was not the primary reason for cat relinquishment to their shelter. Instead the organization partnered with Meals on Wheels TM by providing cat food for homebound community members. The cat food is not delivered at the same time as human meals, and has attracted new volunteers interested specifically in delivering food for pets. Some other shelters have scaled back or discontinued their food pantries, having found them to be time-consuming and difficult to administer. Assistance with other types of postadoption questions from adopters may be met by posting lists online and for phone referral that include groomers, pet-friendly housing, dog parks, boarding, pet supply retailers, and even pet-related events. The Wisconsin Humane Society offers a monthly pet loss grief seminar. Another organization adds new adopters to a Facebook online community which allows for ongoing interaction between the organization and adopters, posting of updates about adopted pets, and creates a quick easy pipeline for communicating about events, and fundraisers The HSP has established a special website (www.PinellasPASS.org) for adopters that provides links to all kinds of support services designed to prevent relinquishment. The Pinellas Alternative to Shelter Surrender website is monitored daily by an adoption staff member, who responds to inquiries from owners facing challenges with their pets that could result in relinquishment. The website averaged 93 hits daily in early 2013, and includes the link to the shelter’s behavior helpline. An online survey tool can also provide a basic analysis which can be exported in different formats if desired. Filters can be designed and applied in order to subdivide and compare survey responses for different time periods, species, adoption locations, breeds, etc. Periodic analysis is recommended at time periods appropriate to the organization (see Appendix 16.9) or key staff can be empowered to view the analysis on an ongoing basis. Results can be tied to performance reviews, especially for customer service ratings. While surveys should be honed to include only the questions that are most important to collect data around, not all data will be relevant to all audiences. It is important to remember that your adopter support surveys, like all surveys, have limitations. The survey results will reflect only the opinions of the respondents, not your entire pool of adopters. However, the higher the response rate and the more consistent the responses across various groups of adopters, the more likely it will provide an accurate view of what adopters experience and think. A summary of the responses can be prepared annually for the organization’s internal use. The news is likely to be good, but it can also highlight areas of challenge. If senior management continually ignores weak areas, reporting the data can dishearten staff. Building organization-wide support for the adopter support program can be accomplished by occasional presentations to all staff and volunteers, and by using what is learned to improve programs and services. MHS used adopter feedback from early adopter support surveys to change cat tag sizes (responses from the survey identified that the tags were too large and therefore not being used by cat adopters); lobby for a better phone system; and determined that pit bull-type dogs were adjusting well in their new homes. The organization added an additional phone survey at 2 days postadoption for all dogs adopted through off-site events when it was determined that there was a higher return rate than normal for these animals, allowing MHS to provide assistance with issues more quickly. The existence of 1-year postadoption surveying enabled MHS to qualify for higher monetary rewards at their off-site cat centers from host companies, and their 1-week and 1-month postadoption health data formed the basis of a peer-reviewed study by the Ohio State University College of Veterinary Medicine (Lord et al. 2008, Figure 16.7). Figure 16.7 Michigan Humane Society adopter with new family member. © Wiley.
Adopter support: Using postadoption programs to maximize adoption success
Notes on terminology
Challenges to providing adopter support
Types of postadoption problems adopters face
Adopter support program scope
Developing an adopter support program
Overcoming internal challenges
Staffing adopter support
Contacting adopters: which ones, how, and when
What is “Adoption Success?”
Measuring adoption success
Number of adoptions and adoption rate
Returns and relinquishments
Other measures of adoption success
Five ways to support adopters
Behavior guidance
Health care
Life change assistance
Customer service
Adopter engagement
Gathering and analyzing adopter feedback
Survey design
Adopter support survey questions
Adopter support surveys: what can be learned?
Animal adjustment
Quality of life, attachment, and satisfaction with match
Customer satisfaction with adoption experience
Conducting electronic surveys
Creating an adopter contact list
Creating electronic messages
Sending electronic messages
Conducting phone surveys
Assisting adopters
Adopter accessibility
Types of assistance to offer
Analyzing, using and reporting adopter feedback
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