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Shelter Spotlight: Richmond SPCA
Teaching Adopters New Tricks
Ever had somebody try to tell you something for your own good? That’s a challenge shelters face every day. Shelters want to tell adopters everything they’ll need to know to be successful with their new pets. But the trouble is, most adopters simply don’t know what they don’t know. All Susie Adopter wants is for the Adoptions Counselor to finish the lecture so she can take the new furry love her life home! Susie Adopter’s attitude is understandable, but the stakes are high. Every day, thousands of animals become homeless in this country for reasons that could be avoided if owners knew more about the health, exercise and stimulation needs of their pets. What’s a responsible shelter to do?
The really smart shelters are realizing that now that they’ve figured out dog and cat behavior, they’ve got to take a new look at human behavior, particularly what motivates humans to learn. Walk through the front doors of the Richmond SPCA, for example, and prepare for mind expansion. An array of cheerful colors illuminated by natural sunlight lifts your mood. Frequently changing displays tell you all about the special canines and felines waiting for new families. The varied living quarters are carefully designed spaces that not only make the animals more comfortable and show them at their best, but suggest the kinds of accommodations we should all be making in our homes to have well-adjusted pets. (After all, how many of our cats and dogs get to romp on a farm all day? They accept our four walls and busy schedules, but they still require farm-level stimulation!)
Keep exploring at the RSPCA and you’ll find canine sports classes, the most popular kids’ birthday parties in town, and a giant interactive computer monitor surrounded by kids playing learning games. It all combines for a fun-filled visit with serious logic behind it. As any great teacher will tell you, people learn best when they’re engaged in the subject. So RSPCA designed their space like a good museum exhibit—you can’t resist exploring and asking questions.
Recently RSPCA took another bold step to increase learning opportunities for adopters. Their entire adoption staff took a two-day ASPCA course on adult learning, and then completely revamped their adoption forms, processes and counseling to transform the adoption experience into an engaging learning experience. The results so far? Adoptions are up 40 percent over last year for the same time period!
The course on adult learning is part of an ASPCA initiative to facilitate more and better adoptions nationwide. Developed with a grant from the Kenneth A. Scott Charitable Trust, the course is taught by Imagine Humane, a project of ASPCA and PetSmart Charities. “In the 1990’s, shelters started focusing a lot of attention on animal behavior, which dramatically increased successful adoptions,” says Bert Troughton, Senior Director of Imagine Humane. “The next frontier to save even more lives will be learning how to train two-legged animals!” As adoption counselors at Richmond SPCA can attest, lots of the same rules apply: use a pleasant tone of voice, make the learning fun and provide lots of positive reinforcement. It turns out that adopters—just like old dogs—can learn!
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