More than a thousand words...

Ari, available through Georgetown Animal Outreach.

You hear the phrase "A picture is worth a thousand words" all too often. When it comes to photography for shelter and rescue animals, however, the phrase is lacking. A picture is worth SO much more than words. A photo can be the difference between life or death for a shelter animal. 

Online shopping is just part of our culture. Last week, I ordered vegan marshmallows online, so believe me when I say that online shopping for any and everything is normal. That includes our pets! Of course, marshmallows don't compare to an animal in any form, however, an online pet profile is often the very first impression that potential adopters have with your shelter or rescue animals. It NEEDS to be an amazing impression.

At the end of each day, I review the data we collect on my website to see how potential customers are interacting with my site as well as the products. One huge area of focus with my website is my online presentation of each item. I ensure each item has a clear photo and of course a description showcasing what my customers will be purchasing.

With pets, those same aspects of their profile are important. A beautiful photo and a short biography sharing your adoptable pet's personality can be the difference of a potential adopter closing that window or making the decision to set up a meet and greet or visit the shelter. A shelter website with many clear, beautiful photos of their pets gives these potential adopters the image that she shelter is a clean and friendly place to visit! Many individuals believe that shelters are a sad place to visit, if you can present yourself in a happy, exciting way, more potential adopters will want to visit. (Of course, I mean you need to come across pleasant online AS WELL as in person.) If your online presentation is great, you are giving your shelter pets a bigger and better chance for adoption. 

Whitney, available for adoption through Love A Bull. 

I get asked to visit shelters and rescues outside of my immediate area all the time and while I would love to travel everywhere and spend all of my time photographing shelter pets, I can't.

I do, however, work with an amazing organization called Hearts Speak, which is a community of photographers and artists working to ensure all shelter and rescue pets are given a beautiful photo to help them find their forever families! Reach out to one of the hundreds of Hearts Speak photographers! If you are in one of the few communities without a Hearts Speak member, approach one of your area professional photographers to see if they might be interested in working with your organization! For me, all it takes is a rescue that is willing to bring their pets to my studio and I am happy to donate a little time.

As for advice on approaching a photographer to work with your rescue; remember that they are donating their time (and money essentially) to you. Show the photographers your appreciation by offering them advertising on your website and/or social media. I ask that rescues tag my facebook page in each photo they share, this gives me a little exposure while helping the pets. NEVER edit a photographers work without their permission. I provide square profile photos as well as cover photos sized appropriately on request. Many other photographers would do the same!

Relationships are so important and some of my most cherished business relationships are those of my rescue and shelter friends. They have helped to grow my business and in return, I know that I have been part of saving the lives of hundreds of homeless pets. A great photo is priceless for a shelter dog, make sure you are offering your shelter pets the chance to be seen!

Stephanie Conrad

Pet Studio Art | Owner | Artist
www.petstudioart.com

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Just One Day...

As I wake up this morning, I am feeling incredibly rested. The kind of rest where there is no worry or stress and you wake up knowing that something wonderful has happened. I contribute my great rest last night to the millions of people around the country that participated in yesterday's Just One Day Pledge.

Percy, Adopted June 11, 2012

Yesterday, a dream that I share with many other rescuers actually came true. Yesterday, shelters from California to Texas to Maine stepped up to stop killing adoptable pets! In Texas alone, over 60 organizations took the Pledge. 

One of those organizations, The Williamson County Regional Animal Shelter, where I myself volunteer, stepped up for the Pledge and stayed open all day (usually WCRAS is closed on Monday's for surgery) to adopt out pets to their new forever homes! 

As the doors opened for the day, visitors, volunteers and potential adopters started piling in... and they didn't stop! During the first four hours of the adoption event, 25 pets were adopted out, including several of our long-term cats, one of whom is an FIV positive kitty (Percy - pictured here!). Both Staff and Volunteers had tears in their eyes as Percy moved out of the shelter on his way to start his new life.

As the day moved on, I was fortunate to spent my time educating new pet parents and assisting in visitations for  potential adopters. I met so many amazing families yesterday. Some with children, some without, some seniors, some newlyweds but the one thing they all have in common... they are our community members. These are the individuals that we are working with, the ones that want our shelter to save lives and the ones that are going to promote adoptions in the future simply because they were greeted with a smile and made to feel like we want them to be part of our success! 

Fern with her new mom!

By 4pm, 30  pets were on their way to their new home, to play, to cuddle and to know that they will be loved with a warm place to sleep!

And.. the shelter, well, the morale was through the roof! The Staff was all smiles and jokes, laughter could be heard in almost every area of the building and the best part... several cages were empty with an implied "I'm Adopted" sign hanging over them! 

At 6pm (closing time) adoption numbers reached well over three times the norm. With 34 wiggling tails and happy meows now out in their new homes, the Williamson County Regional Animal Shelter is able to open their doors to more life-saving challenges and continue the trend as we move forward to a No Kill Williamson County!

While it was labeled 'Just One Day,' yesterday was not just another day. Yesterday was a day that ended needless killing. Yesterday was a day that changed minds and showed shelters that they can do it and that their communities are behind them! Yesterday was a day that proved change is good and that amazing things can happen when a shelter embraces and partners with their communities! 

Stephanie Conrad
The Pet Studio | Owner | Artist
www.petstudioart.com

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Volunteers, Adopters and Visitors all made this 'Just One Day' possible!

My Foster Kittens

The Foster Room

Last week, I spent some time clearing out my large closet in my art studio. This closet is special because it has plenty of space and two giant sliding doors, making it an ideal space for foster pets to live. The only issue I was having is keeping my own pets out of the foster's space while allowing them to continue with their normal daily routine, which includes spending plenty of time with me while I work. 

So, after some debating, I decided to replace one of the sliding doors with a screen door, so the fosters have plenty of ventilation, but are kept at a safe distance from my own pets. This solution has worked like a charm! Our first residents to the kitten room, Mason and Muru are really enjoying their play space and my pets are having a great time watching them from a safe distance! 

Mason and Muru, the first residents of my new foster room!

Mason and Muru are litter-mates that were brought into the Williamson County Regional Animal Shelter on 5.12.2012 and are about 5 weeks old right now. They are quite attached to each other and LOVE to wrestle and play! I am being thoroughly entertained by these two little ones!

Mason and Muru are not the first, nor the last kittens that have been invited into my home. 

Muru talking up a storm!

I first began volunteering with local rescue organizations when I was 16 and since have fostered countless litters of kittens (my favorite animal to foster) as well as puppies, adult dogs and cats and even a few turtles and lizards! Fostering is an easy way to help out the shelter system. Not only does it free up space at the shelter to allow more pets to be saved, it gets these little ones out of the shelter environment where they might be exposed to illnesses that their little bodies can't fight off. 

As a foster parent, I am able to see these little ones turn into little cats as they learn their own skills, such as jumping, chasing each other and learning boundaries. These two are already showing off their social side and are really enjoying cuddles and love from anyone that stops by for a visit! As soon as I show up, both are at their kennel door and are purring so loudly I can hear them across the room! 

Mason and Muru showing off their stylish sweaters!

Unfortunately, one small issue with kittens is that they really are just babies and don't realize that there are things they do that can hurt them. These two in particular are dry-nursing on each other. Dry-nursing typically starts to happen when kittens have been separated from their mother too early (in this case, we don't know where mom was as the kittens were a public drop off after being found as strays). The kittens will start to nurse on anything they can, including each other. Muru has particularly been sucking on Mason's back, where he is beginning to lose some of his fur. I have applied a variety of kitten-safe bittering sprays with no help, so I had to get creative to keep them from nursing on each other... so, now I created some cute new kitten sweaters! These little sweaters are made from small ankle socks with 3 holes cut into them for the kitten's head and front legs to go through. The kittens weren't terribly excited with their new styles, but they aren't suckling each other any longer! 

Mason and Muru are a great little pair of fosters and I am happy to open up my home to them for the next two weeks, until they are old enough to be neutered and have their next round of kitten boosters! My fingers are crossed that they are snatched up and adopted the moment that they are available, until then, I will enjoy my time as their temporary mom and continue to get lots of kitten love! :-)

Sweet little Mason cuddled up on his bed!

Stephanie Conrad

The Pet Studio | Owner | Artist
www.petstudioart.com

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No Kill Wilco

About a year ago, I attended a meeting at my local shelter for an organization called P.A.C.T. (aka Pet Alliance of Central Texas). I didn't go to the meeting expecting the outcome, but I ended up being elected and accepting the position of their new Chairperson. As honored as I was, a few months went by and our little group really wasn't evolving or offering as much to our community as I would personally like. As a group, we unanimously decided to disband and form a new organization, with a new, fresh start. That new organization was named No Kill Wilco (aka, No Kill Williamson County). 

No Kill Wilco decided that our number one mission was to start working with the rescue organizations in our community. Consisting of only a few members, we decided that focusing on one major accomplishment vs trying to over-extend ourselves by getting involved in too many projects/ideas was the best option. In addition to referring shelter pets that might fit into a rescue organization's program, No Kill Wilco hosts a monthly community adoption drive, bringing our rescues and shelters closer together. With a large number of Rescues joining each month, our community network has been strengthened and more lives are being saved by our rescues joining forces to promote our community pets!

Stephanie loving on the Greyhounds of
Greyhound Pets of America (Central TX Chapter)

I am thrilled to host this community adoption drive at Central Texas Harley Davidson(CTHD) (if you don't already, stop by and 'like' them on Facebook and let them know how much you appreciate their support of animal rescue!). We started this event 8 months ago, at another location. This first location (which hosted our first 2 months) charged a fee and had huge stipulations on our rescue organizations, so much so that most of our rescues were unable to attend due to lack of funds. It was then that I decided that a major change needed to happen thus began my search. I didn't search long before I met Ric, event coordinator at CTHD. It was the perfect match! 

Two pups looking for homes during one of our monthly adoption events!

We quickly set a date and started rallying the rescues, inviting rescues to attend at no cost, just requiring a simple RSVP and registration form. Our event started with only 2 organizations and has grown to 10 (sometimes more) organizations each month! Since moving locations to Central Texas Harley, we have placed over 25 pups into their forever homes! (That averages out to just under an adoption per hour during our events -- most adoptions are done off-site after a home visit and application process with the individual rescue groups.)

This weekend in particular was a great weekend, with 5 adoptions/applications and many visitors that came to just say hi and visit with our pups! We had rescue pets from Greyhound Pets of America (Central Texas Chapter), Great Pyrenees Rescue, The Williamson County Regional Animal Shelter, Lend a Heart Rescue, Reunion Rescue, Austin German Shepherd Rescue, Lifelong Friends Pet Adoptions and of course No Kill Wilco. 

A super happy German Shepherd smiling as he waits for his new family to come find him!
Available for adoption through Austin German Shepherd Rescue!

As the President and Founder of No Kill Wilco, I am thrilled to be part of such a special event and such an amazing community of animal lovers.

Stephanie Conrad

The Pet Studio | Owner | Artist
www.petstudioart.com

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Just for smiles, here are a few more pictures from this weekend: