Town animal shelters get creative as they seek homes for hard-to-adopt dogs

Town animal shelters are tasked with the job of being salespeople, having to display, promote and market animals to get them adopted.

But an aggressive dog can be a hard sell, and as a result, some pooches end up spending years, or even their lifetimes, at no-kill shelters. These days, more shelter workers and volunteers have gotten creative to find these dogs homes: Posting fashion shoots and quirky TikTok videos, seeking television news exposure, and showing off dogs at publicity events have become the norm.

“You try anything and everything and you just keep at it,” said Kim Nichols, executive director and CEO of the Animal Rescue Fund of the Hamptons Inc., or ARF, a nonprofit animal adoption center. “You have to have a bit of patience because those matches that you think will never happen, do happen.”

Certain breeds, such as pit bulls, carry a stigma of aggression that often leave them overlooked, shelter directors said. Similarly, black animals have the reputation of not photographing well, so they, too, get passed over, they said.

Over five years, ARF workers frequently took Sassy, a black pit bull, out to visit school groups and to different events in attempts to get her adopted.

“She was so exceptionally well-trained, loved people, but we couldn’t get anybody to pay attention to her,” Nichols said.

Then the group’s social media person placed a 10-second video of the dog “dancing” on TikTok, calling her “Tippy Tappy Sassy.” Someone in Georgia saw the video and shared it with friends in upstate New York, who drove down to meet her and then adopted her, Nichols said.

“Social media is the most incredible thing that has ever happened to shelters,” she said.

Difficult hurdles

But sometimes, the happy image of a dog belies underlying problems.

Often the issue is “stranger danger,” where a dog becomes aggressive with anyone unfamiliar to them, Nichols said.

Others exhibit dog aggression, which can be a difficult behavior to control and modify, shelter directors said.

While shelters do bring in trainers, for municipal shelters that rely on government funding, training can be cost prohibitive and is therefore limited.

In addition, some issues, such as dog aggression, cannot be fixed in a shelter, because the negative stimulus is always around the dog, said Leigh Wixson, director of the Smithtown animal shelter. 

Shelter directors said that often, potential adopters don’t have the patience to train dogs and help them adapt to a new home.

“The Cesar Millans of the world show people all these transformative videos, but they don’t show all the failures of the ones who took 500 tries,” Wixson said, referring to the famous trainer known as The Dog Whisperer. “The expectations are unrealistic for a lot of people.”

Pit bull Blaze, 12, has been the Smithtown shelter’s longest resident, having arrived there seven years ago, followed not long after by Betty Boop, 15. Neither dog has gotten much attention despite the shelter’s efforts, Wixson said.

“Anytime someone sees a long stay at the shelter, that’s an automatic turnoff for the majority of people, that something’s wrong with this dog,” Wixson said. 

Betty has severe arthritis and is aggressive with other animals, while Blaze has stranger danger.

That hasn’t stopped the shelter from doing everything they can to promote them in hopes of finding that perfect match.

Last year for March 14, known as “Pi Day,” workers smashed pies on their faces and filmed the dogs licking the dessert off to show how gentle they can be. Workers also reenacted famous movie posters and put together a blooper reel for TikTok. 

Last year the shelter also created adoption coasters for Betty and Blaze that were delivered to local restaurants during the busy holiday season. Local students helped to distribute the coasters and ran social media marketing campaigns featuring every establishment.

Transparency is key

While getting the attention of potential adopters is key, so is transparency, shelter directors said.

“There’s nothing worse than getting someone hurt because we were quiet about something or having an animal bounce back and forth between homes,” Wixson said.

While being upfront on the dogs’ needs, workers try to promote the softer side of the pooches on social media, showing them dressed in outfits, enjoying belly rubs or just acting playful, said Jennie Withers, the deputy director of the Babylon Town shelter.

Jackie has been the longest resident ever at the Babylon Town shelter at nearly six years. The pit bull can only be in a home with adults and no other pets, workers said. She was adopted twice before.

Recently, a shelter volunteer got in contact with a television station, which ran a segment on Jackie. The story caught the attention of Keith Kalb, who had been considering getting a dog.

“I felt really sorry for her,” Kalb, 51, said. “I felt like she could be a good fit for me and ideally, me a good fit for her.”

When the pair met, Jackie came right up to Kalb and sat in his lap.

“She’s a very caring dog, just like I saw on the news,” he said.

Shelter workers have been taking Jackie to supervised visits at Kalb’s Queens home to get the dog acclimated to the new environment.

“It’s a learning experience for both of us,” Kalb said. “It’s a matter of the right match. All the puzzle pieces have to be there.”