"A person is the best thing to happen to a shelter pet."

If you've been reading the blog for any length of time, you may have picked up on the fact that I am a big supporter of animal rescue and shelter pets. Not only is Bella a rescued shelter dog, but I volunteer with a couple of different rescue groups as a sort of pay-it-forward gesture to those who saved her in the first place.

Well, shortly before Thanksgiving week, I received an email from a 'fellow animal lover' (thanks to Christine from Brando and Bogart for that bit of phrasiology) asking me to share some information with you, my dear readers. Since the request had to do with saving lives and getting animals out of shelters and into loving homes, all you have to wonder is how quickly I said "Sure! Where do I sign up?"

Have you heard of The Shelter Pet Project?

You've probably seen a few of the ads floating around cyberspace lately but did you know The Shelter Project is a collaboration between The Humane Society of the United States, Maddie's Fund and The Ad Council with the primary goal of making "shelters the first place potentional adopters turn when looking to get a new pet?" The current series of ads is designed to highlight the bond between shelter pets and their adopters in an upbeat, light-hearted (not soul-crushing) way.

According to the Project's web site, "seventeen million people will acquire a dog or cat within the next year." yet "2.7 million healthy and treatable pets are still losing their lives in shelters each year."

Think about that: it would only take about 15% of that 17 million to save all 2.7 million pets!

Pet adoption is on the rise having increased by 2% in the last 2 years and euthanasia is dropping but myths and stereotypes about shelter pets still abound. We need to continue increasing public awareness to the joys of adopting shelter pets and The Shelter Pet Project is a great way to start.

Check out one of the ads from the current series:




Isn't that great? How would you like that to be your dog? And that's the goal of the campaign.

So, how can you help?

The easist thing you can do is to help spread the word by telling your friends:

• Like The Project on Facebook, 
• Follow them on Twitter, and 
• Subscribe to their channel on Youtube.

But you can also direct all your friends, and anyone else who tells you they are thinking of getting a new pet, about The Shelter Pet Project website. There they'll be able to search for dogs and cats in their area who are looking for new homes. The web site can also put them in touch with shelters and rescue groups in their area. All they need to do is enter their zip code.

So I hope you'll help me in spreading the word about this wonderful campaign to help make shelter pets the first option people think of when looking for a new pet for their home. And when it's your turn to add a new pet to your family, please remember: "A person is the best thing to happen to a shelter pet. Be that person. Adopt."

Bella and I thank you.