Our Meet&Match® rehoming process allows adopters to find a dog that suits their lifestyle, starting the journey to a happy and fulfilling life together, all while improving the welfare of the dogs in our care. Whilst similar processes now exist in rescue centres all over the UK, this concept was originally developed by Jerry Green Dog Rescue and was the brainchild of Victoria Taylor, a longstanding trustee and supporter of the charity.
Our welfare teams had long observed the changes in our dogs’ behaviours when members of the public viewed them in the kennel environment. They showed signs of stress and didn’t display their true characters as we knew them. This made it difficult for dogs and potential adopters to get to know each other properly before going home.
We worked with University of Lincoln to understand why. They found that the dogs’ cortisol levels increased significantly when people were routinely walking through the kennels. The increased stress explained the changes in behaviour and confirmed our belief that Meet&Match® is a much better way for our dogs to meet their future families.
Meet&Match® is now engrained in the DNA of Jerry Green Dog Rescue, allowing dogs and adopters to meet in a calm, home like environment, ensuring our dogs show their best selves to potential families, and drastically increasing the rate of successful adoptions.
Since the introduction of Meet&Match®, the number of dogs returning to us post adoption has reduced dramatically, and rescue centres up and down the UK have since adopted similar processes, enhancing the welfare of rescue dogs all over the country.
If you’d like to learn more about the study Meet&Match® is based on, please get in touch, we’d love to tell you all about it!
