Lester Hiew’s adoptions (how he does it)

From: Lester Hiew
Date: Fri, Aug 30, 2013 at 8:39 PM
Subject: RE: FB & PetFinder Links
To: Chan Kah Yein <chankahyein@gmail.com>

heyy miss.

you’re welcome miss. thank you. (: sure thing miss. i will try by best explaining.

as you know, mum and i do not have a shelter or anything close to that so we have to really rely on our vets who are kind enough to charge us at a rescuer’s rate and friends, neighbours, and sometimes even relatives who can help us foster for a while.

whenever it is possible, we will definitely take some of the puppies/dogs back to our home to foster and nurse. usually this will be a puppy who needs to be hand-fed or in need of medical attention, which is not contagious, as we have 7 dogs at home.

besides these methods, we will put them (usually puppies again) back at their original places with their mother or siblings because sometimes, this method can be the safest and ‘warmest’.

mum and i started our adoption by asking permission to go to NGOs’ adoption drives and hopefully, someone will adopt our dogs there. this can be quite limited as adoption drives are not as frequent and not forgetting, NGOs themselves have a number of their own dogs to be adopted as well. thus, would like to take this opportunity to thank the NGOs who have let us place our dogs in their adoption drives. thank you.

besides this physical and hands-on adoption, we also spread the word around our friends and neighbours regarding our adoptions. sometimes, people do recommend potential adopters to us. before we got really serious in rehoming dogs, i used to simply pass around sheets of papers to my friends which has my Facebook links. i found this method quite effective when people start to pass these sheets of papers around. since last year, i have decided to make my own simple name card with links on it and now, mum and i pass these cards around instead.

now, e-adoption. i started PetFinder much later (5th March 2013). i was relying mainly on Facebook for e-adoption.

so, with PetFinder and Facebook all prepared, i know i have to be active in posting up photos of dogs and puppies who are up for adoption.

i create Pet Profile for these dogs either by its own or in a group of 2 or more puppies in a single profile. i will post photos together with a short write-up regarding that particular dog.

i have to make sure that i only create 1 location for each profile and there is a reason for this- to create more traffic.

for example, Little Panda. i create Little Panda’s pet profile and then share the link in my Facebook page. i then share it other NGOs Facebook pages and my own profile as well. i thank these NGOs again for letting me share the links on their page and sometimes even share the links! thank you.

interested adopters will definitely call sooner or later, matter of time. mum and i will be sure to entertain them the best we could so we can maintain a good relationship with the adopters. sometimes, we admit that we cannot please everyone and we are sorry for that. every time an interested adopter called, we will save their numbers and the dog they are interested in. for example, DOGS Lester Little Panda. this is because from here, there will be 2 scenarios.

scenario 1

after talking to the interested adopter on the phone, we will set an appointment on where, when, what time to meet up. we will usually meet them as close to us as possible, Klang. being on time with appointments is very important as well. sometimes, we will inform the adopters as early as we could if we cannot make it. sometimes, adopters might not be able to make it as well. this can be discouraging at times but we simply have to hang on for the sake of 1 less stray in the streets. a successful adoption. i want to take this chance to thank all our adopters and most of them, for providing us picture updates of the dogs/puppies who they have adopted. this is important because we really, really want to know that the dogs/puppies are in good hands.

so, asking for picture updates is really important! mum and i thank you all again.

scenario 2

scenario 2a: someone called for a dog/puppy who has been adopted already.

we have to tell them the truth that the dog/puppy who they want has been adopted already. we will then try our best to persuade them to come over and have a look at the rest of the many puppies we have up for adoption. usually, most of them will agree to this and likely, they will adopt a dog/puppy to their liking.

most of the time, it takes more than a photo from PetFinder or Facebook or Whatsapp for a person to fall in love with a dog/puppy.

most of the time, people have to look at the dogs/puppies face-to-face, carry them, feel their warmth, hands-to-paws to be interested in them.

we thank you (adopters) for giving them (dogs/puppies) a chance to show you their sincerity.

scenario 2b: requirements not met.. yet.

there will be many times when potential adopters who knows what they are looking when adopting a dog/puppy.. lets say, male, brown puppy, no socks, approx. 2 months old.

we will save their numbers and these remarks.

when a dog/puppy who fits that description and available for adoption, we will contact that person again to see if that person is still interested in adopting a puppy.

it sometimes can be hard to re-trace back but it is definitely worth the try.

i have also attached from what used to be sheets of papers with links to our dog-rescue name card. would like to thank my friends (KC, Pei Yen & Prateeba) who have designed this for me.

it can be really, really tiring, meeting up with appointments and such (especially 3 or more appointments in 1 day) but it is definitely worth it.

once again, my mum and i would like to humbly thank everyone for their direct and indirect support for us.

we thank all our adopters and future adopters too.

if you have not yet, please, adopt a stray!

Kudos to Lester & Jenny! It takes a lot of effort and hard work to do this and we salute them for their perseverance and tenacity for going all out to help the community dogs in Klang. Note that all of their adoptees are street puppies.