I received a great article from my weekly Dogtime.com Newsletter a few days ago, and thought I would share.

Emily Weiss, Senior Director of Shelter Behavior Programs for the ASPCA, has developed an amazing program called, Meet Your Match. According to the ASPCA website, this program “is the only method in existence today that evaluates an animal’s behavior and interests and matches them to an adopter’s preferences so that you take home a pet you can really click with.”

I absolutely LOVE this!

Because animal shelters are so overloaded with pets, now more than ever due to the economy, they are rushed out to potential owners without thoroughly matching owner and pet. Unfortunately, when this happens, often times, the pets are returned to the shelters because they just weren’t a good fit. It’s a sad cycle, as shelters try their best to avoid euthanizing.  

Since launching the program, just under 15,000 people have signed on to find their forever furry friend. As an example of its’ success, the return rates of dogs adopted from the Humane Society of Tacoma and Pierce County, decreased to 3.5%! So awesome!

I’m really excited about this program and I can’t wait for it to spread to more shelters.

If you’re interested in finding out more information about Meet Your Match, take a look at the ASPCA site.