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Eight million companion animals enter the shelter system each year. Some are reclaimed by their owners and some are euthanized. For those waiting for that special someone to stop by their cage and say, yes!, you’re the pet for me, every little leg up helps. Sometimes, it could be as simple as doing a dirty dog makeover, so each animal’s inner beauty can shine through. That’s why I love the Dirty Dogs Program and Before & After Gallery that grooming industry leader, Wahl, in conjunction with GreaterGood.org have launched, and I encourage you to check it out.
Spoiler alert: There’s a giveaway coming! 🙂
Wahl and GreaterGood.org are inviting us, the public, to help transform the image of shelter and rescue pets from the sad, dirty animals we see in pictures or on TV to the beautiful creatures they really are. Wahl has enlisted the support of shelters nationwide for this initiative, donating more than 1,000 bottles of pet shampoo and grooming products, and the results are powerful. See for yourself at their online before and after photo gallery. The Dirty Dogs Before & After Gallery is an extension of the One Picture Saves a Life campaign, a collaboration among pet industry leaders to change public perceptions about rescued animals and provide grooming and photography resources to shelters. It consists of a five-city tour with celebrity dog grooming expert, Jorge Bendersky, and award-winning, renowned pet photographer, Seth Casteel. At each stop, Bendersky will help teach shelter volunteers, who often groom the animals, how to properly do it, and Casteel will document the process.
Boo
This first-of-its-kind gallery gives us a heartwarming look into the transformation of hundreds of shelter animals, and gives us the opportunity to adopt them at the same time. I love that! To promote the gallery and makeovers, Wahl is launching a great Dirty Dogs Contest. Bendersky and Casteel will select the 25 best makeovers and invite the public to vote for the top three. The animal shelters or rescue groups affiliated with the winning makeovers will receive cash grants and grooming prize packs.
The contest runs from July 16 – 30, so it’s on right now! To support a shelter and vote for a shelter dog makeover, visit dirtydogscontest.com. First place shelter takes home $5,000, second place receives $2,000 and third place earns $1,000. Winners will be announced on August 2. I just voted; please vote, too!!
And Bark and Swagger fans, the good folks at Wahl are sponsoring a giveaway! Two lucky readers will have the opportunity to win a special Wahl Grooming Prize Pack. Each prize pack contains:
- a cute pet tote
- a large pin/bristle brush
- doggy deodorant
- a bottle of all natural Wahl Oatmeal shampoo. This beautiful shampoo contains: oatmeal, coconut, lime, aloe and lemon verbena to sooth dry, itching, irritated skin. It creates a rich lather, and will provide up to 70% more baths, according to the folks at Wahl.
The retail value is $50.00.
Details to enter the giveaway will be at the end of this post.
I love how the Dirty Dogs initiative and contest focus on the positive side of shelter animals, when we so often are exposed to the horrible atrocities, instead. And, I love the joy in the faces of these animals once they’ve had their makeover. Look at how cute and happy little Fluffington looks, or Boo. See how regal Kenzi looks! They know they’ve been cared for and the appreciation and happiness is beaming from their eyes. Like me, you’ll notice that some of the before pictures are hard to look at, because the animal is in such bad shape. In those cases, the conditions were attended to by shelter staff and vets to help these dogs and cats get healthy. And, I learned that many shelters have relationships with professional groomers, so in some cases, they stepped in to do a good deed. Wahl and GreaterGood.org’s effort is especially needed, because in research conducted by Wahl last year, it was revealed that half of all shelter dogs are not receiving the grooming care they need. No big surprise, there.
Fluffington’s Story
Fluffington
Here’s one of many success stories, showing how grooming a shelter dog can make all the difference, and it’s a dramatic one. As told by a shelter staff member: “Poor little Fluffington came to Brookes Legacy Animal Rescue from the euthanasia floor at one of the Florida kill shelters. All the pets we rescued were going to be euthanized. He was missing hair from flea infestation and needed some TLC. We used the Wahl shampoo product and gave him a grooming and he looks like another dog! Great little guy. He was adopted quickly because of the help from the Wahl Shampoo to help his skin feel better and get him looking like the adorable sweet guy his is!”
According to Shay Moeller, pet product manager for Wahl, the goal of the gallery is to increase pet adoption by demonstrating that the same animals often perceived to be ‘damaged goods’ are actually healthy, fun loving pets looking for a home. “The transformations are truly amazing, some even downright unbelievable,” said Moeller. “The gallery is a great visual to show the importance of providing resources to shelters and the difference they can make.”
“We now know that three out of four pet adoptions begin online,” added Noah Norton, director of operations at GreaterGood.org. “This would suggest an animal’s online photo is often the best chance it has for finding a forever home. Unfortunately, due to limited resources, only half of all pets entering shelters today are receiving the proper grooming they need. That’s what makes this gallery and partners like Wahl so important to this cause.”
Kenzi
If you’re looking to adopt a pet, you can sort photos by adoptable only or look for the heart icon on the top right corner of each animal’s picture. Once clicked, the image expands to show the before and after transformation of that dog or cat, along with the pet’s name, story and shelter information. They even make it easy to share and discuss makeovers with our Facebook friends.
How fantastic is this?! In addition to providing the resources to make this gallery a reality, Wahl’s donation of shampoo also helped animal rescue groups and shelters wash and ready more than 10,000 dogs for adoption this year.
You can follow Wahl Home on Facebook and Twitter.
The Wahl/Bark and Swagger giveaway begins now and runs through July 30th. Please remember to vote for your favorite makeover dog or cat (it’s going to be tough, because they are all so adorable and beautiful), and to share the makeovers on your social media so we can help get these babies adopted.
Rules for the giveaway:
* you must be 18 years or older
* you must be living in the U.S.
* no Bark and Swagger relatives are eligible
* vote in the Dirty Dogs Contest
* join the Bark and Swagger community by signing up for our email list
Do you know how to properly groom your pet? Jorge Bendersky has a great book out which I reviewed, called DIY Dog Grooming. I’ve read it and refer to it all the time for how to’s, when I’m planning a Sophie grooming session.
What’s your biggest grooming challenge with your pet? Tell me about it in the Comments below.
(Disclosure: affiliate links)
