The Blue Cross Tailor-made Rehoming Service Mandy Jones Head of rehoming services
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?
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
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
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 owners! Creates a market for puppy farmers disreputable breeders
Competitor analysis
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 over-represented
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 objective assessments All potential homes open to individual discussion Brandy & James
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
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 2 nd 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
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!
Working homes Good option for suitable dogs Research organisation before sending dogs Assistance, medical alert, any suitable environment Border control dog Sam
Working homes Not just Labs & Springers Medical alert dogs can be trained to alert owners of seizures & other conditions Tiny is training as a diabetes alert dog
Follow up Blue Cross Behaviour Services Individual staff telephone calls Customer feedback monitoring www.rescuereview.co.uk Life Skills for Dogs
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%
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)
Tailor-made rehoming service
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