SLIDE 1 The Blue Cross
Tailor-made Rehoming Service
Mandy Jones Head of rehoming services
SLIDE 2
Review of Blue Cross rehoming services
What do we do well? What could we do better? Competitor analysis How to ensure people choose a Blue Cross pet?
SLIDE 3
What we do well
High standard of animal care Successful matching Low return rate D 9% C 2% Short length of stay D 31 days C38 days 98% positive rehomer feedback
SLIDE 4 What we could do better
“if they want a pet enough, they have to fit around how we do things here“
Minimum 3 visits to rehome a dog Compulsory home check 70% of animals to adult only homes Multiple restrictions in profiles – children, other pets, time left alone etc…
Too many people leaving without an animal
SLIDE 5 Competitor analysis
www is an easy source of pets Consumer culture creates expectation of “quick fix” If we make it too difficult, people will go elsewhere – this doesn’t make them bad
Creates a market for puppy farmers disreputable breeders
SLIDE 6
Competitor analysis
SLIDE 7 Types of dogs admitted
Trend for fashion cross breeds becoming evident in centres Also trend for Husky and similar types in centres SBT & “types” remain
SLIDE 8 Tailor-made rehoming
Make it easy for people to choose a rescue pet Treat animals and people as individuals No standard rehoming criteria or rules All restrictions based on
All potential homes open to individual discussion Brandy & James
SLIDE 9 Animals are only half of rehoming
People of equal importance to animals Positive animal profiles and high standard of customer care Children should learn rescue is a good choice No routine home checks but time to find the right match Riley & Steve
SLIDE 10
Home Direct
New to BX, but not new to breed rescue! Rehome without admission to centre BX assessment and matching standards maintained No kennel stress Lower cost rehoming Now in 2nd year and over 100 rehomes, all species Additional space for “poundies” and other welfare work HD animals all neutered, vaccinated, wormed, chipped etc….no different to centre rehoming
SLIDE 11 Fostering Services
3 new full time regional fostering managers Respite foster carers Creates alternatives for animals not suited to centre life Link to Home Direct Sammy & Jane..…and 7 puppies!
SLIDE 12 Working homes
Good option for suitable dogs Research
sending dogs Assistance, medical alert, any suitable environment Border control dog Sam
SLIDE 13 Working homes
Not just Labs & Springers Medical alert dogs can be trained to alert
- wners of seizures &
- ther conditions
Tiny is training as a diabetes alert dog
SLIDE 14
Follow up
Blue Cross Behaviour Services Individual staff telephone calls Customer feedback monitoring www.rescuereview.co.uk Life Skills for Dogs
SLIDE 15
Outcomes 2011
Dog length of stay reduced by 5 days Cat length of stay reduced by 3 days Dog return rates reduced by 2% Cat return rates reduced by 1% Throughputs increased by 6% (over 300 additional animals rehomed) March 2012 dogs rehomed up 14%
SLIDE 16
Blue Cross and The Kennel Club
Close relationship with Petlog Work with breed rescue with less common breeds and some specific cases Have supported breed rescue with taking in dogs, not just transferring out Approx 39% of dog admissions appear to be pure breed (although very few come in with pedigrees)
SLIDE 17
Tailor-made rehoming service