This blog post originally ran in early 2020. With the Open Arms Challenge starting in November, we wanted to give you a little head start. 

We’ve put together two brand new courses on Maddie’s University^® — Dog Adoptions: Eliminating Roadblocks to Positive Outcomes and Open Cat Adoptions: Keep Them Moving, Get Them Home. We suggest taking them both, even if you only focus on dogs or cats, since the philosophies apply to both. 

It’s important to note that practicing open adoptions does not mean saying “yes” to everyone, no questions asked. As noted in Dog Adoptions, focusing on “eliminating roadblocks to adoption focuses on getting to know your adopters through conversation and not just focusing on the pass/fail application format.” Just think about how easy it is to misinterpret the tone of an email or text and how much easier it is to talk about it over the phone or in person. The same concept applies here. For example, a potential adopter may say they are going to declaw their cat because that’s what they did growing up, having no idea how painful it is. A simple conversation can go a long way.  

In Cat Adoptions you will learn how the adoption process can often feel like an interrogation to the potential adopter: Why do you want to adopt a pet? Do you travel? What will happen to the pet if you die? How many hours do you work? What happened to your previous pets? How much money do you make? Would you feel welcomed if you had to answer one or more of these questions?  

You’ll also learn how to evaluate your current adoption program, use data to combat assumptions and much more.  

Let’s come from a place of yes. It’s more fun to say yes, anyway!