While we can try to prepare adopters during the application process, there are always going to be some hiccups, especially with first time adopters. Providing physical guides can help decrease questions for your staff and prevent issues with the animal. In this article we will talk about the 4 categories of topics you should provide for adopters and give you some examples of what those can look like.
4 Categories for materials
You may have preferences for wording or design but you should always make sure you are checking these boxes:
Normal behaviors – This includes decompression, age and breed appropriate behavior, and situational behavior. For example, it is normal for a dog to bark when they first arrive home or have potty accidents even if they were potty trained in a foster home. Cover the most common scenarios to help ease the minds of your adopters when issues arise.
Training resources – If you have any relationships with trainers, include their contact info along with the reason hiring a trainer can be essential to success. If you do not have a relationship with any trainers, visit our email templates to get started.
Provide some inserts about common training scenarios – potty training, litter training, leash training, etc. This can help adopters get started on the right foot.
Emergency contacts – We hope adopters won’t have to use these but it can be life saving to include the number or magnet of a local emergency hospital, the Pet Poison Hotline, and your local missing animals group.
House keeping – Include information on any things adopters will need to complete once they get home. This may include registering a microchip, registering the dog with the town, joining your adopter community, etc.
All of this should be supplementary to information that you cover with your adopters. Head over to our article on How to Set Adopters up for Success for more tips.
Happy rescuing!
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