Save rate soars at Michigan animal shelter

Anyone walking past Deacon's kennel might have gotten the wrong impression. Inside the bustling shelter environment at Saginaw Animal Care & Control, a Best Friends Network Partner in Michigan, the young brindle dog barked, paced, and just couldn’t settle down. The constant activity in the shelter overwhelmed him. But when they took him outside for walks, shelter staff saw another side of Deacon — a sweet, affectionate dog who stayed close to people and soaked up attention.

On the shelter’s Facebook page, they wrote: “Deacon doesn’t need anything fancy. He just needs someone willing to give him a chance and a place to breathe outside of the shelter.”

Deacon was one of many dogs who came to the shelter needing a little extra help. Staff wanted to create more ways for pets like him to move into homes faster, which is one of the reasons Saginaw Animal Care & Control joined the Best Friends national shelter embed program.

The program places Best Friends staff inside shelters across the country to work side by side with shelter teams, refine systems, and build proven programs that help them place more pets in good homes faster. Hands-on support like this is one of the ways Best Friends is helping shelters nationwide reach no-kill.

During regular planning meetings, shelter staff and the Best Friends embed team review pets in their care and discuss the best path forward for each one.

“We discuss which pets we need to be promoting,” says Kelsey Maccombs, Best Friends embed project manager who has been working alongside the Saginaw shelter staff. “We're asking: Do they have good photos? Do they have a volunteer buddy? Do they have a social media post? Where's the work that needs to be done so that we're setting every single one of these animals up to succeed?”

Rachel Horton, the shelter’s director, says that proactive mindset has spread throughout the shelter, with staff coming up with their own ideas to help more pets get noticed.

Want to help save pets? Try thinking outside the kennel

"They're thinking outside the box," she says. "Recently, my front desk staff asked if they could use an empty wall in a high-traffic area near the kennels to highlight our longest-stay dogs, so visitors wouldn't miss them."

Kelsey adds, “I think what's been great about this project is that we've already seen real direct lifesaving results because of this proactive approach.”

And those results are significant. The shelter's save rate (the percentage of animals who leave a shelter alive or are still there waiting for an outcome) climbed from 75% to 85% just five months after the embed project began.

Some of the shelter's biggest successes have come from inviting the community to be part of the solution. That approach is helping pets throughout the shelter. Cat adoptions have been so successful that Saginaw Animal Care & Control has occasionally been able to welcome adoptable cats from neighboring shelters to help them find homes, too.

While cats are quickly moving into homes, dogs like Deacon often benefit from a little extra support. When life in the shelter is overwhelming, staff are up-front about what those pets need and how people can help. Through social media posts, foster opportunities, and volunteer programs, they invite the community to step in however they can.

“Our community showed up for us in a big way,” says Rachel. “If you ask they will come, but you have to ask.”

A shared quest to save cats and dogs

That philosophy led to the launch of the shelter's doggy day out program. The program allows volunteers to take dogs on day trips away from the shelter, giving the pups a break from shelter life while helping staff learn more about their personalities.

The response was immediate. More than 30 day trips took place in the program's first two weeks.

“It's nice to feel supported by the community, knowing they're stepping up and trying to help,” says Rachel.

She adds that the excursions also provide valuable information for potential adopters, reduce stress for dogs, and strengthen connections between the shelter and the community.

Few dogs illustrate the impact of the program better than Deacon. A volunteer saw the shelter’s social media post about Deacon and took him out for a walk through the park. Then, they had some cozy time at the volunteer’s home sprawled across the couch. The adventure went so well that it soon turned into a sleepover, which turned into an adoption.

“When they came back to the shelter with Deacon, we thought they were bringing him back (from the day trip),” Rachel says. “And that would have been OK because we'd still learn more about him and be able to advocate for him. But when we found out they were adopting him, we were all so, so happy.”

Now Deacon’s living the life every dog deserves: snuggling on the couch, an occasional zoomie or two (or three), and all the love from his new family. Deacon never needed anything fancy. He just needed a chance to show people the sweet, lovable pup he was always meant to be.

As the shelter continues creating more opportunities for pets and inviting the community to help, more dogs like Deacon are getting the chance to leave first impressions behind and show adopters who they really are.

Our goal at Best Friends is to support all animal shelters in the U.S. in reaching no-kill. No-kill means saving every dog and cat in a shelter who can be saved, accounting for community safety and good quality of life for pets. 

Shelter staff can’t do it alone. Saving animals in shelters is everyone’s responsibility, and it takes support and participation from the community. No-kill is possible when we work together thoughtfully, honestly, and collaboratively.