Meet the Fosters- Tina and Chico!

When Tina signed up to foster dogs in May, we told her what we usually tell new fosters: fostering can last anywhere from a couple of weeks to a few months. We also told her that our Maddie's Pet Adoptathon event was right around the corner and that most of our dogs were likely to get adopted at this event.

We sent Tina home with Chico that month and now, over three months later, Chico is still with Tina. We can't quite figure out what the deal is: Chico is kind of a LBD (Little Brown Dog), but he's big enough that he is a "real dog" size. He's dog-selective: he doesn't love every dog he meets, and his terrier personality comes out around cats, but he is exceedingly smart and trainable, athletic enough to hike and adult and mellow around the house. At the Maddie's event, Tina taught him tricks that he learned on the spot- not an easy feat for a dog in such a highly stimulating environment!

It wasn't the easiest transition- transitions can often be difficult for both the human foster and the foster animal- Chico wasn't super into Tina's dog, Bella, but Tina was patient and Bella was persistent, and you can

see the results for yourself. Tina reports that Chico's leash walking and manners have improved, this LBD is a gem in the crate and has won over his temporary foster home who takes him for overnights. Every experience is different, and Chico reminds us that big challenges and big wins can come in little packages. Tina reports that she has learned a lot from fostering and is now a little worried about her next transition- when Chico finds his forever home!

Weekly Wednesday Email

Hi Everyone,

I hope you’re all doing splendidly as summer winds down, kids start school and the baseball season ends (hopefully) with a  bang!

We had a fabulous time at the Kitten Extravaganza at Berkeley Animal Care Services a couple of Saturdays ago. Thank you to our awesome cat crew who staffed the booth and the fosters who got the kittens ready for their big day. ALL TEN of the kittens that went to the mobile got adopted! If you’re interested in learning how to help out a these cat events, there is a cat mobile adoption training this Saturday, August 31^st at the office at 10am.

Tomorrow night, Thursday August 29^th is the First Ever Volunteer and Foster Social! If you’d like to RSVP, please feel free to do so here. If not, you can still show up! The event is at Hive Café on 2139 MacArthur Blvd in the Dimond District in Oakland from 6-7:30 PM. There will be sandwiches and a variety of beverages available for purchase, so come hungry and thirsty! Kids welcome- Hive is kid friendly and kids are totally part of the Hopalong family! Although cats and dogs are also part of the family, this event is human only. Next time!

See you tomorrow,

Lauren

Social: It's Here!

It's social time!

Please take a second to RSVP here, though not RSVPing doesn't mean you can't come! Family, including kids, welcome.

Details:

Thursday, August 29th, 6pm-7:30pm

Hive Cafe, 2139 Macarthur Blvd, Oakland

Create your free online surveys with SurveyMonkey , the world's leading questionnaire tool.

Wednesday Email: Short and Sweet!

Hi all,

Hope you're swell today!

Just a couple quick things for you. First, tomorrow is our second California Pizza Kitchen day. Bring your friends, your appetite and the flier to California Pizza Kitchen in Emeryville and Hopalong receives a portion of the proceeds!

Next, Saturday, August 31st at 10:00 I will be holding a training for cat mobile adoption events at the office. If you're interested, please email me or sign up in the volunteer database.

Lastly, and most excitingly, it's time for the social! Please RSVP here if you can, and pick a sandwich if you think you might want to eat. If you can't commit, that's okay, too. The social will be held on Thursday, August 29th at 6pm at Hive Cafe, 2139 Macarthur Blvd, Oakland 94602. There will be sandwiches, goodies, coffee, tea and adult beverages available. I've gotten a lot of feedback that fosters and volunteers want chances to hang out and socialize out of volunteering hours and this is our pilot hang-out session! Bring your families- this is a kid friendly event!

Thanks all, looking forward to seeing you next week!

Lauren

Pet Food Recalls

Thank you to the volunteers who pointed out that another pet food recall has been issued. Please take a moment to see if any food you have in your house has been affected.

Volunteer Opportunities: 20th Anniversary Updated

We're getting into full swing planning the 20th Anniversary! As always, if interested, contact Lauren. Couple positions still needing filled:

• Sponsor Seekers- The Sponsor Seekers will reach out to a prepared list of businesses in order to recruit financial sponsorship for the 20th Anniversary Event. After the call, there are pre-made email and mail out packets of information to send out to these businesses. This job can be done by phone at home (the office is fine, too!). Requires phone skills!

• Invitation and RSVP management- We've got software that allows for people to purchase tickets online and we will also be mailing invitations. Our Invitation/RSVP manager will be responsible for entering the snail mail tickets and making sure everything lines up. This position will require coming to the office at least once a week to pick up the invitations; the work can be done from home or at the office. Requires ability to learn the software.

• Donor Entry Associate The Donor Logger will enter donations received by people who can't attend the event but still want to contribute. Requires coming into the office at least once a week to pick up the information; working at the office preferable. Requires ability to learn the software.

Meet the Fosters- Deb, Jean and Mochi!

Today we're introducing a new feature: Meet the Fosters!

Deb and Jean are some of our devoted cat fosters. They foster cats, kittens and we can always count on them to foster some of our more challenging critters. Sometimes they even foster both.

Their current foster cat, Mochi, is deaf. No challenge is too big for Deb and Jean: Mochi was a little shy and, let's face it, strange at the beginning, so they did a bunch of research on working with deaf kittens and really helped her personality blossom.

One thing we can learn from Deb and Jean is some awesome bio writing skills. Here is the most recent update they send along about Mochi (feel free to pass on, as Mochi is eager to go to her new home!)

Mochi is sweet little cat who is deaf and needs a special forever home. Due to her disability, she has a heightened sense of the world around her, but it doesn't slow her down. She wants nothing more than to learn your routine, be a part of it and please you. Mochi lives for kisses on the top of her head, ear scratching and kitty treats. She'll be playing with her toys or watching the world go by and then be perched in her cat tree before you know it. Mochi gets along well with older, easy-going cats, not so much with kittens. If she had her way, Mochi would be an only child. She startles easily, so probably won't do well with dogs. Mochi says children are OK if they won't chase her. Once she learns to trust her forever family, she’ll become your darling little sidekick.

Too Much Good Stuff Wednesday

Hi All,

It’s Wednesday! I have lots of news and food for thought.

First, thank you for filling out the survey: mark your calendar- the First Volunteer and Foster Social will be on Thursday, August 29^th at 6pm at Hive Café in Oakland. The café is located at 2139 MacArthur Blvd. There will be sandwiches, coffee and tea and we will have adult beverages available for a donation. This event is totally family friendly: we know that kids are vital Hopalong fosters! I will probably set up one last poll as we get closer to the date so that we can give Hive a rough head count.

CATelyn and New Brother

Next, as Furball gets closer, we’ve identified two Very Important Tasks that need filling. If these sound like your skills, please holler!

·         Software Point Person for Good: If you’re fairly tech savvy and want to use your skills for a cause, we’ve got some software that needs setting up. This software handles our auction, ticket sales and a variety of other event-related tasks. The bulk of the work will happen in the next two weeks, but we’re also looking for you to be our go-to when questions come up until the event in October. Availability by email is important, daytime phone access even better! Working from home (or work) is totally cool for this.

•            Solicitation Follow-Upper: We sent out a bunch of silent auction solicitation letters and now we need to follow up. If you are good at schmoozing, buttering people up, making cold calls and generally getting people to say “YES!” then this is a great job for you. This opportunity can also be done from home (or work), but you’re more than welcome to come into the office.

Sam sends along the news that Catelyn, who we pulled from the shelter with her litter of babies has found a purr-fect forever home with an awesome feline brother she can snuggle up with. It's success stories like this that remind us of how rewarding our work can be.

We’ve been pulling together some training opportunities and I want to make sure you’re aware of them. Here are the first ones- let me know and stay tuned for more.

Last thing: we’ve got lots and lots of puppy adoptions coming up and are looking for some volunteers to do home visits this weekend. If you’ve done these or would like to learn how, please contact me or Trish.

Thank you!!!

Training Opportunities

We have been working hard on developing ways for Hopalong volunteers and fosters to grow as animal people- a small way that we can give back to you for all of the hard work that you do for us. One of the ways we do this is by offering training courses to our volunteers. The training courses are a great way to help our volunteers gain a better understanding about the animals they're fostering and their own pets. If any of these interest you, please feel free to contact me about them- we hold classes and I can also fill you in individually.

These are the training opportunities we either currently have or are in the works:

Dog handling at mobile adoptions: Handling dogs at mobile adoptions is one of the most "hands on" opportunities Hopalong offers. It's a chance to show off the dogs to the public and help get them adopted as well as see how the public interacts with unknown dogs. Want to learn more about dog body behavior? Learn more about the adoption process? Get into the minds of potential adopters? This is it.

Assisting and coordinating mobile adoptions (dogs): Mobile coordinators and assistants handle everything about mobile adoptions. These guys wrangle dog handlers, potential adopters and a whole lot of paperwork. If you've got an eye for detail and are interested in educating and don't mind talking to the public (and sometimes saying "no"), this is a good chance to take on some responsibility.

Assisting and coordinating mobile adoptions (cats)- coming soon- please let me know if you are interested! (See above- this is very similar to coordinating dog mobiles, only with cats.)

Screening dog adoption applications: When people apply to adopt a dog, Hopalong promises to get back to them within 24-48 business hours. Volunteers are the first people who talk to them: they get a sense of what's going on beyond the page with a short (10-15 minute) phone call. Learn about how to read between the lines and educate prospective adopters on things like crate training, picking the right dog and the adoption process.

Screening cat adoption applications- coming soon- please let me know if you are interested. (see above- very similar to screening dog adoptions, only with cats!)

In addition, on the right of this page there are some resources- this is very much a work in progress and you will see that right now they're mostly dog-centric. That will change, I promise! These resources are designed to be helpful for foster families as well as for anyone with a pet or with friends with pets. If you have questions on anything foster related, feel free to email me and I will create something for you.

Wednesday Update

Hi Everyone,

First, a thank you for being so fabulous. This week you’ve eaten pizza, moved furniture and supplies, made copies, handled dogs, screened adoptions, fostered dogs, puppies, cats and kittens, driven animals hither and thither, cleaned up massive amounts of poop, entered data, ran mobile adoption events, made movies and did a whole lot of other things. I’m tired just thinking about it!

We’ve got another fun thing coming up in addition to pizza: We’re participating in the New Parkway’s Karma Cinema month. Go to the New Parkway in Oakland, watch a movie and help out Hopalong! Details here. This is also your last chance to vote for your preferred time for the upcoming Foster and Volunteer social here. We will be picking a date this week, so vote now!

 

Cat news: the long term cat, CATelyn (yes, with the capital letters) was adopted this week! The cat crew will also be hosting two cat mobiles coming up: this Saturday at Your Basic Bird in Berkeley from 12-3 and next Saturday at Berkeley Animal care Services, time to be decided (we’ll keep you posted). Tell your friends!

Dog news: Erica has asked me to ask you to return any unused dog supplies, if you’ve got them. The cute puppies at left are also begging for a foster home. They love their foster mom but their foster mom says that 6 weeks is a long time to have two puppies. If you can take them, even for a weekend, or one or both for longer, everyone will appreciate it. They’re crate trained!

Coming soon: 20^th Anniversary planning. Some of you have told me you’re interested, and I’ve made a note, but if you haven’t, and you are, now’s the time!

Okay, all, you’re wonderful.  Have a good afternoon,