No one wants to face surrendering their pet. That’s where DPA’s Positive Alternatives to Shelter Surrender (PASS) program comes in. Dallas Pets Alive has announced a partnership with BestyBnb, a Kansas City based company that created a first-of-its-kind technology platform to help unhoused and domestic violence survivors find temporary foster homes for their pets.
Dallas Pets Alive’s Positive Alternatives to Shelter Surrender program is designed to keep pets in their homes and out of the shelter. PASS impacts many social issues because we’re helping a variety of different people in crisis, and pets often get lost during the crisis or they’re secondary. For the person going through that situation, their pets are their everything.
Dallas Pets Alive is partnering with a technology platform, BestyBnB, that secures safe, temporary foster homes for their clients’ pets during times of crisis so they can seek help. DPA relies on collaborative and innovative partnerships to help us save lives.
The program allows all pet caregivers to go through an extensive application process and background check, and all client and caregiver information is kept strictly confidential.
Pet caregivers are able to set their own rates and may donate or discount their services to an agency. The rates for these vetted pet caregiver services are typically much lower than the cost of a traditional pet boarding facility, the release states. Keeping a pet in a home, even a foster home, means the pet will experience less stress. The pet will likely be more comfortable in a home, than in a boarding facility where it can be loud and chaotic.
Take Daisy’s story: Her family encountered significant hardships, particularly in securing housing. As a family of three, including a young child and another on the way, they didn’t meet the criteria to access the Bridge, Dallas’s sole homeless shelter equipped with a kennel for dogs. Despite their best efforts to ensure Daisy’s safety and find temporary accommodations, circumstances led them to surrender Daisy to Dallas Animal Services.
Swiftly, DAS reached out to our PASS team, who arranged Daisy’s temporary placement with a trusted boarding partner and collaborated with Mazie’s Mission for her medical needs. After discovering her skin condition was a yeast infection, Daisy improved significantly with medicated shampoo baths.
The joyful moment arrived when Daisy was reunited with her family! The PASS program continues to support Daisy and her family as they work to regain stability. Daisy’s story took a positive turn thanks to DPA’s intervention and community support, ensuring she found her way home.
This new partnership with PASS and BestyBnB will be an amazing collaboration to keep more pets out of the shelters and with their families. Providing a safe haven for a family’s pet will allow the family to take the time needed to focus on themselves, whether it is getting through rehab or a medical treatment, getting back on their feet, or getting to safety. This partnership will give PASS the opportunity to fund more safe nights for these pets, and be able to reunite them with their families when the time comes, says Sarah McGoldrick, DPA VP Animal Ops.
The identity and location of the Pet Caregiver (Foster Home) as well as the Pet Owner (Client) will remain completely confidential. Caregivers can donate their services or charge a fee (and keep 100% of the rate they set)!
50% of Abuse Survivors who call an emergency hotline for HELP, end up NOT GOING because they cannot bring their Pets. Help us remove this major barrier!
- Less than 5% of Domestic Violence Shelters can accept pets.
- 70% of Pets left behind are abused or killed in retaliation.
- Pets are FAMILY! 72 out of 100 households own a pet.
We are excited to work together with BestieBNB to keep pets with their people, says Leslie Sans, DPA Executive Director. Open your home and help save our community’s homeless animals by signing up to foster: https://dallaspetsalive.org/foster/
About PASS Program (Positive Alternatives to Shelter Surrender)
Since 2016, PASS has assisted 16,509 pet owners and has prevented 2,679 animals from being surrendered to local shelters. The Positive Alternatives to Shelter Surrender (PASS) Program is the only program of its kind in North Texas. The PASS Program partners with local shelters to provide resources to pet owners before they reach the doors of the shelter. Volunteers connect pet owners to life saving resources to help pets stay in their homes, and out of the shelters.
About Dallas Pets Alive!
Dallas Pets Alive! is a volunteer-run, foster-based rescue that promotes and provides the resources, education and programs needed to eliminate the killing of companion animals in North Texas. We focus on rescuing healthy and treatable pets at the greatest risk of being euthanized, reducing owner surrender through our Positive Alternatives to Shelter Surrender (PASS) program and opening shelter kennel space by transporting our animals to partners in cities in need of adoptable animals. Learn more at dallaspetsalive.org.
About BestyBnb
BestyBnB is an impact driven, tech platform that supports Pet Advocacy Programming for both Social Services and Animal Welfare Agencies and enables them to find safe and confidential temporary housing for client’s pets until they can be reunited. To date, BestyBnB has worked extensively with over 27 Domestic Violence, Mental Health, Houseless/Housing Services, and Animal Wellness Agencies in eight states to remove barriers and get survivors, children, patients, veterans, and pets out of crisis and into safety. BestyBnB’s mission is to keep Pets and People safe, together and connected for life by removing the barriers Pets may create to accessing Social Services and preventing Owner Surrenders. For more information visit www.bestybnb.com.
