New Facebook group reunites Eagle 久久热精品视频app Animal Shelter adopters and pets
In the weeks since the group was created, adopters have already built connections, found pets' littermates
Casie Laird/Courtesy photo
When Hannah Lovato joined the new Adopters of the Eagle 久久热精品视频app Animal Shelter Facebook group, she was looking for one thing: To find her dog’s siblings. As it turned out, she already knew the family of one of them.
Lovato’s family adopted Yote’, known then as Garlic, on Apr. 24, 2023. A DNA test showed that Yote’ had siblings Lovato might be able to find. Lovato posted a few pictures and some information about Yote’ in the group, and the connection was facilitated by Sam Geist, an animal care technician at the Eagle 久久热精品视频app Animal Shelter, almost instantly.聽
“Coincidentally, it was a parent of a kid that plays on our club basketball program,” Lovato said.
“I said, ‘No way, we already know you guys!'” Lovato said.
“It was really cool to be the missing piece in that, to be like, ‘Hey, have fun with this information that you have now!’ Geist said.
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Creating connection
In 2023, over 500 animals were adopted out of the Eagle 久久热精品视频app Animal Shelter. Many adopters reach back out to the shelter, asking to be connected with the adopters of their pets’ littermates. That can be a long process, said Rhiannon Rowe, the shelter’s manager.
“We thought (creating a Facebook group) would be a much easier way to streamline that process,” Rowe said.
The idea came from one of the Eagle 久久热精品视频app Animal Shelter’s rescue partners, Underdog, which has a similar group for connecting adopters. When Geist learned about the group, she immediately started thinking about how it might work in Eagle 久久热精品视频app.
“I just thought it was a really cool way for people to connect with their pets in mind, because I know people are super passionate about their pets,” Geist said.
While the Facebook page is run by employees of the animal shelter, it is not associated with the Eagle 久久热精品视频app government in any way, and they operate it as individuals, on their own time.
“I like to be active in (the Facebook group),” Geist said. “People don’t always know, especially if they adopted a while ago and their dog’s name is different, what the siblings looked like, but we remember that, so it’s really easy for me to go on (Facebook) and be like, ‘Hey, so and so, this is your dog’s sibling.'”
Shelter employees limit the information they share about adopters. “We’re definitely not going to release any personal information about the adopters. For us, right now, I think all we’re doing is if somebody posts their littermate, we can say, ‘Hey, this dog is your dog’s littermate.’聽聽But we’re going to put the ball in their court as far as how much information they want to share with each other,” Geist said.
The Facebook group was created on March 20, and page administrators spent some time adjusting the settings to be most amenable to the types of connection they wanted to foster, then opened it to the public around mid-April.
“We had almost 100 people join within the first two days, which was exciting. And we’re hoping that number keeps steadily going up,” Geist said.
Adopters are invited to share stories, experiences, DNA test results, ask for advice, search for littermates, and more.
“Most recently, we had a litter of really shy pups go out,” Geist said. “They came to us from another rescue and they were abandoned very young and just not properly socialized, and one of the adopters from that litter reached out and they were saying, ‘this puppy is really shy, has anybody else experienced this? What did you guys do? How did you make them feel comfortable?'” she said.
Sharing knowledge
Casie Laird adopted her dog, Swayze, a black and tan mix of 26 breeds at six months old from the Eagle 久久热精品视频app Animal Shelter in the summer of 2020.聽
“When I saw her picture, I was like, ‘I love her, I want that dog,'” Laird said.聽
From the start, the shelter told Laird that Swayze, known then as Waywood, was terrified of almost everything. “I never even got to pet her (before the adoption),” Laird said.
But Laird was prepared to handle a scared dog. “I have wild horses that I’ve gentled, I’ve gotten them where I can vet them and put collars on them, and so I was like, ‘I have wild horses, this shouldn’t be a problem,'” she said.
On the fourth day after Swayze’s adoption, she escaped. Swayze was gone for 20 days, mostly lingering around Eagle. Laird, the Eagle 久久热精品视频app Animal Shelter and Services team, and other Eagle 久久热精品视频app residents tracked Swayze for 20 days.
Laird eventually learned that Swayze was going to Pastatively Italian Cuisine, a restaurant that has since closed, every night at 9:30, and they were feeding her meatballs. That night, she put the restaurant’s meatballs into a trap, and Swayze followed the meatballs.
“Now, we joke about when she was camping for three weeks,” Laird said.
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These days, Swayze has the run of 45 acres in Rifle, and spends her time playing with Roxy, who was also adopted from the Eagle 久久热精品视频app Animal Shelter, and chasing deer and cars off the property. “She would never leave me now. She’s so sweet,” Laird said.
Roxy, a pitbull and German shepherd mix who was called Chanel at the shelter, “is so different (from Swayze),” Laird said. From the second she was adopted, Roxy was confident and comfortable, the polar opposite of Swayze, according to Laird. “They’re best friends right now,” she said
Laird has offered her knowledge to others in the Adopters of the Eagle 久久热精品视频app Animal Shelter Facebook group.
“After my experience with Swayze, I learned a ton during that, trapping her and dealing with a traumatized dog, and I’ve also done dog training with my other dogs,” Laird said. “I like helping people that adopt shelter dogs that need help,” she said.
Recently, she has been in contact with someone who adopted a dog that was so scared that she wouldn’t let anyone touch her.
“I’ve been going back and forth with her, sharing things that we’ve done to help our animals build confidence,” Laird said.
“That was a huge thing for me, is I wanted people to be able to reach out to their peers and people who might not have the dog training to go and (ask), ‘What worked for you? What didn’t work for you? Am I doing everything OK?’ and have that validation,” Geist said.
More members, more connection
Hannah Lovato’s family has now met Yote’s local sibling at a club basketball event, but the families have not yet put the dogs together. “It’s in the works,” Lovato said.
She is still hoping to find two of Yote’s siblings, potentially through the Facebook group.
“I just think it’s a great place to connect with other adopters and try to get the litters back together,” Lovato said.
“You can post anything,” in the Facebook group, Laird said. “Your cute pics, what you’re proud of, happy birthday to your dog. It’s a great place to go for support and learning, too, and for connection,” she said.
“Seeing all these happy adopters connecting with other adopters,” has been a highlight of the Facebook group thus far, Rowe said. “We’re hoping that down the road we might be able to post some more content, maybe some helpful tips for adopters, anything we find that might be relevant to new pet owners,” she said.
One of the shelter employees posted puppy photos of dogs whose adopters posted in the group.
“That was a huge success. Folks loved that. It was really cute,” Rowe said.
Going forward, Geist said she hopes for “more members, more awesome photos, more stories, just more connection,” in the group.
“It’s a great place to connect if you’ve adopted an animal from our facility,” Rowe said. “We’re a community, and we’re here to help each other out, and we want what’s best for these animals, even after they’ve left the shelter. (The group is) a chance to connect and help these pets throughout their whole lives,” she said.
The Adopters of the Eagle 久久热精品视频app Animal Shelter Facebook page is only open to those who have adopted from the shelter.
“If you’re requesting to join the group, make sure that you’re reading all the rules and answering all the questions,” to gain entry, Geist said.
Those who have not yet adopted from the Eagle 久久热精品视频app Animal Shelter can join the Eagle 久久热精品视频app Animal Shelter and Services Facebook page that people to see what animals are up for adoption or learn information about the facility.
“And then once they come and adopt, then they can join our other group,” Rowe said.
