Martin’s dad brought the elderly dog to the animal shelter in the hope that they could help Martin find a home in which he could comfortably spend his last years. He has adapted well, Ranlet said. “I don’t know if he understood what was going on, but from day one he was a happy, calm, very sweet senior with a teddy bear face,” said one observer. However, finding a suitable adopter proved more difficult than expected because of Martin’s age.
Ranlet complained that he was “constantly overwhelmed”. There were seven unsuccessful adoptions in the space of two months for various reasons. However, Martin’s adoption was also influenced by a number of other factors. He also tested positive for heartworms, making potential adopters nervous. The SPCA staff decided to try something new to introduce Martin after the seventh adoption failed. We came to the conclusion that we needed to use the Internet to ask our community to help us spread the word and place him in a home,” says Ranlet.
In fact, Martin received the visibility he needed with a single Facebook post describing his story and two pictures of his adorable teddy bear face. Ranlet says that “the Facebook post made all the difference”. “Thousands of people shared his post and all of a sudden people were calling us, emailing us, etc.
