Street Dog Hero: Kia Pet Adoption Grant Report

How did this grant help your organization and the pets in your care?

Because of this grant, we were able to waive the adoption fees for two of our long-stay, difficult-to-place dogs, which opened up a larger pool of adopters.

As we're a private rescue and raise all of our own funds, we have a higher adoption fee than an average shelter. Because of this, it is a big financial hit to waive an adoption fee entirely. Without the Kia Pet Adoption grant from the Petfinder Foundation, we would not have been able to waive both adoption fees fully.

We were able to use the waived adoption fees to promote both dogs on social media and this did end with Wilma finding a very loving adoptive home. Dylan, the other dog whose fee was waived with these funds, is still looking for her perfect adoptive family. She's quite scared of men and is shy around new people, but without the barrier of an adoption fee, we know we're just waiting for the right person to take her home. Waiving the adoption fee undoubtedly has changed the outcome for Wilma and will change Dylan's life as well.

How many pets did this grant help?

2

Please provide a story of one or more specific pets this grant helped.

In the summer of 2024, the news broke that a rural shelter in Central Oregon would be closing their doors due to loss of funding. Many local rescues and shelters jumped in to help pull dogs, cats, and puppies. With days before they were to close their doors, it was announced there were 50 dogs still needing placement who were at risk of euthanasia if they weren’t adopted or pulled by rescues.

Though Street Dog Hero was at capacity, we decided we would figure out how to pull every remaining dog so none were euthanized simply due to not having a placement. We partnered with another rescue and local business and welcomed the remaining dogs into our program.

This included Wilma and her siblings. They were about four months old when they came to Street Dog Hero and had spent their entire lives in that shelter. They were undersocialized, and Wilma started to show behavioral issues such as being nervous of new people and dogs. We were able to support her with training, but it was clear that she would need a patient family that was willing to help her build her confidence.

After Wilma had spent five months in our program, we received the Kia Pet Adoption grant and were able to fully waive her adoption fee. We were able to promote this on our social media and lower the barrier to adoption to open up a larger pool of adopters.

In December, her sixth month at SDH, Wilma found her perfect family and got to go home. We don’t believe this would have been the case without the Kia Pet Adoption grant, and we’re so incredibly grateful for the happy ending to Wilma’s story!