pet connection

I spoke with Betsy Saul, president and founder of Petfinder.com, about how to help pet owners facing foreclosure.

Betsy Saul: I think at the root of the problem is that folks aren’t talking about it. It’s a humiliating place to be, and people get so far down the path of losing their home and not talking about it, that by the time they’re at the shelter, they’ve turned corners and they’ve made decisions. It’s like it’s too late, you know.

By the time people get to the emotional heart-wrenching part of the reality of “I’m going to give my pet up?”, when the shelter says, “Oh, we have a foster network,” people can’t hear it. They’ve gotten to that point where they’ve just shut down. We need to get more and more people writing about it so that we can get more and more people talking about it.

Then when people think that they have something like this coming, they realize that if they have friends and family, they may have someone who temporally will take their pet and then they can have it back. It doesn’t have to be a permanent solution.

Christie Keith: I’ve heard from a number of people in the shelter world who seem to be more judgmental, even angry, about people in this situation, but it seems to me that it more calls for compassion.

Betsy Saul: We feel compassion for them, and a little indignant at a shelter worker or rescuer who acts angry, because for 20 years we’ve been saying, ‘Don’t abandon your pet. Don’t just let it out. Take it to the shelter, be responsible.’ And so now when people take it to the shelter, we want to act holier than thou? I mean, they’ve heard our message; they’re doing what we told them. They getting into trouble, and they’re taking their pet to the shelter. That’s the best-case scenario, don’t you think?

Sure, there are those times when people adopt a pet and then it gets hair on the sofa or it doesn’t match the carpet, and they’re back in two weeks. That’s really not the norm.

Shelters don’t have a ton of resources for training and customer service and things like that. The shelter worker is talking to this person and being adamant. They’re saying, “No, that’s it, this is the end. I’m giving it up. I’m not going to try any of these solutions.” Well, sure this shelter worker proceeds to be a jerk, because they’re faced with someone who’s not willing to try anything.

But the thing is, this is a real process that began three months ago, when they realized they may be in trouble. And two months ago, her husband said if you don’t give up the pet, then I’m going to leave. And I can go further and further down that line, and by the time the people actually get to the shelter – because it’s so hard to give your pet up – they’ve already crossed all those bridges, and at that point, they’re finished.

I think the secret is getting people talking about it a lot sooner, like how do we catch pet parents in that first stage of, “Oh, what have I gotten into?” as opposed to, “This has gone too far and now I just have to shirk all of this because I can’t take anymore. “

Those are two very real places along the continuum of giving up a pet and “Ah, what have I got myself into?” is where we need to talk to them. And we’re not meeting these people until they’re like, “I can’t take anymore. “

Christie Keith: Yes, and by then, it’s over. I’ve noticed that too. That at that point they’ve already detached and moved on in their heart.

Betsy Saul: That’s just exactly the way; they shut down.

Christie Keith: So, what is Petfinder doing about this crisis?

Betsy Saul: Well, one of the things that we’ve done is we’ve gotten this great PR firm on retainer and said, there’s a national crisis, let’s get people talking about this. Actually, me talking to you is one of our top priorities in dealing with this problem because, again, I think it’s about how do we catch people sooner.

One way is to make them realize that they’re not the only ones. It’s big enough to be in the paper, big enough to be online, and it’s something that we need to talk about. Or even better yet, maybe I read this and investigate and I think oh, you know what, I think my friend Susie is going through this right now. I’m going to forward this to her. And I’m going to offer to take her pet. Okay, are you having trouble? Do you want me to petsit for a couple months while you find that apartment that takes pets, because I know it’s really hard? If we can get people doing that then it’s all about expanding the network, expanding the community, right?

On the shelter’s side we have a whole other crisis going on, and there’s this perfect storm, a triple whammy where we’ve got adoption slowing because people are watching their investments dwindle. They’re hearing all of these grim stories that there maybe a recession, gas prices are getting higher, we’re going to have to figure out how we’re going to get our kids to camp on our budget. We’re not adopting a new pet.

Now, pet spending doesn’t tend to go down in a recession. People are home. I think they reconnect to what’s really important to them. So we’re still spending on our own pet, great news.

But at the shelter, it’s a really different reality right now. We’ve got people not adopting as readily. So adoptions are actually down now. We’ve got people also bringing their pets back to the shelter because of the foreclosure incident — over 40 percent of the shelters — almost half of the shelters that we talk to in the Southeast actually were saying that they had pets returned because of foreclosures.

We’re seeing an impact. So you’ve got fewer pets leaving, more pets coming back, and on top of all of that what happens when economic times get tough? Donations just stop. So there are more pets to deal with, they’re coming back and there’s less resources to deal with it.

So it’s a real triple whammy. Shelters don’t have a lot of buffer usually. There are some great shelters who have months and months of operation in their bank accounts, but most shelters don’t. Most shelters can withstand a few months trouble, and then they start going into the red.

And that’s what I want not to happen. When 9/11 happened, and when Katrina happened, we actually lost shelters. Rescue groups had to close their doors because they ran out of money, because donations stopped. I think with the tsunami, there’re places in your local shelters that don’t get that donation that they’re used to. So what we saw happen there, we don’t want to happen now, because right now by virtue of the fact that adoptions are slowed and pets are coming back …

And still, one of the solutions from your perspective I think is, again, get people talking. And let people know through sources like yours that what we need to do is increase their virtual kennel space at the shelter, and we do that by fostering. You may be wanting to adopt and you’re a little bit hesitant to do so because it’s a long-term financial commitment, so foster.

Specifically tell the shelter that you’re willing to take on a once-owned pet for a matter of months, so that maybe they can have it back when they get back on their feet. We get that maybe you don’t feel comfortable donating to the shelter right now, when you’re not sure what’s happened to your retirement account. I get that, but you know you’re still using the same amount on your own pet, which means that things on a day-to-day basis are okay at your house. Consider bringing another pet into your home. I think that those solutions fit really well within sort of economic part in psychological news that we have right now.

I think that there’s so many people like you, and you’re doing your part, you ‘re writing a story about it. One of the things that I think we can do is we know adoptions are slowing. So that means we know that people are out there who otherwise would be adopting right now, because we also know that they’re not spending less on their own family pet.

So that means that they probably could bring somebody into their home. Now, not willing to make a long-term commitment. All we need, if we can just get those people to step up and foster, then I think that we probably we could probably end euthanasia, just those people.

You’re involved in this network. You know about these issues. I’m involved up to my ears in this network, but we talk to people all the time that are like, “What do you mean by fostering?” And I’m like, “You know, when you foster an animal temporarily.” And like, “You do that, people do that?” And so I’m actually convinced that people want to do this, they just don’t know it exists, they don’t know the need is there, and so many people ought to be. So many people.

Christie Keith: Is there any kind of formal place that they can volunteer like through Petfinder? Are you facilitating any sort of listing or matching or …

Betsy Saul: You know, we’re not right now; the situation is diffuse. We have in the past year opened a call center to rehome pets and match pets in disasters. When there’s an immediate crisis, we opened up a database that let foster parents sign up and say I’m willing to foster. This is such a diffuse situation, and there’s so much uncertainty when you’re looking to strangers first.

I think it’s great for strangers to foster for one another. I think it’s a great solution. It’s not the first place to go to, though, right? I mean the first place to do it should be your friends and family. Do I have any friends that need this? Do I have any friends that would take my pet, conversely. And so we haven’t activated the foster network yet.

What we’re trying to do right now is encourage people to work through their local shelters rather than meet up one on one, rather than having strangers meet up one-on-one. And it’s definitely the option, and it’s definitely what we’ll do when there’s less of a diffuse sort of an urgent crisis. But there are legal issues. You recall what happened with with Katrina –

Christie Keith: Oh, absolutely.

Betsy Saul: It’s like, “Well it’s been a year, and you haven’t contacted me.” And, “Now this pet is mine.” And,” No, it’s not yours; I want it back.” And so it’s really a great thing for the foster family and the real parent to have the shelter that’s in your immediate area in the process, because the shelter has the benefit of having legal documents that foster agreements need. That’s why we like to steer people to working with their local shelter, because that’s where the sort of treasure of resources for them lie.

For us it’s an interesting sort of ethical dilemma, like when do we turn those databases on and really encourage instead of working with shelters, encourage working …

Christie Keith: Well, I don’t know that this is really anything I’ll touch on in the article, which I want to be very positive. But it crosses my mind that there’s so much shame in people when they are losing their home, and so often they’re met with a lot of judgments about how horrible they are for giving up their animals, it’s a horrible betrayal, and so on. And I can’t understand it. People end up on the streets, have to put their children in foster care, lose everything they have. Do they have no compassion whatsoever? How is that a helpful attitude?

Betsy Saul: Someone like that has clearly not had a sick child or has not been in real trouble; it must be a wonderful, wonderful place. But we’ll all be there at some point in our lives. We shouldn’t be that naive. And God willing, we could all be there, in that space, right? But usually life touches us, and we’re humbled, and we realize that there but for the grace of God go I, right?

I’m the president of Petfinder.com. And I have been so fortunate to never have been in a situation where I had to make that decision. And yet, I’ve had enough craziness in my life, and I’ve been touched by things that are not in your control, that I know that moment where you sit up in bed and you think, I can’t handle any more responsibility. I have to get rid of the responsibility. And I’m always surprised to meet adults who haven’t done that.

I mean, I think it’s great and amazing, to never ever feel that way. But haven’t you had those periods in your life? A lack of humility in someone I think, who doesn’t get that sometimes life gets out of control. And that being said, I’ll also say that I’ve known homeless people who I think were better pet parents than some of the richest people I know.

And one final point is that I always like to point out to people on that front is that you look at my dog, one of the best dogs in the universe, you look at your dog, all these rescued dogs out there that have great lives, and how can you think anything other than thank God someone gave you up, so I could have you?

And if you think of it, if you think about the situations in animal shelters now, it used to be that people would give up their pet and I felt bad for that pet. But more and more people give up their pet and it’s like it gets better every time. Shelters have more and more options to rehome with the right families, and people are getting smarter and smarter about what pet is appropriate.

I see shelters as halfway houses, they’re moving from one place to another. Not as warehouses. I see them as places to go and get back on your feet, save a pet, save the family pet, and go find a better home.

Christie Keith: Well, that’s great.

Betsy Saul: Sometimes it doesn’t work that way. I’m sure in reality a lot of shelters are still having to use tough love many times. But ultimately the shelter — I think the role for shelters in society should be matching people up. So matching people who need to find a home for their pet, with people who would potentially foster, who are aligned with the shelter. This is where we’ll find our true power. And it all begins with being able to talk about it.