‘What We HeART’ is a monthly curated collection of awesome and inspiring things, ideas, and happenings from the world of animal welfare.
The dog days of summer are in full swing — which is just fine by us dog lovers! Sunny days have inspired some exciting developments in support of pet adoption, and we hope you’ll find this inaugural compilation of What We HeART useful, actionable, and inspiring! Here’s what we’re jazzed about this month:
SELF-CARE
We’re big fans of Jessica Dolce, a dog walker, writer, and teacher living in Maine. She’s the creator of Dogs in Need of Space and author of the popular blog Notes from a Dog Walker. Jessica is an authority on the concept of self-care and through classes and online resources, is empowering the animal welfare community to be well while doing good. Jessica’s teachings tackle the challenges of compassion fatigue, giving caregiver types tools to stay resilient in an emotionally-charged field. She was kind enough to offer some amazing tips for self-care to our followers last month, which has us all excited to read, recharge, and continue to do our good work even better (with boundaries!).
Explore Jessica Dolce’s collection of books to read to reenergize, and these super simple self-care ideas.
ADOPTION VIDEOS FROM DEKALB COUNTY ANIMAL SERVICES
Adoption promotion at it’s finest — every dog’s personality and individuality on display! You may have noticed that video is taking over Facebook, and some short but sweet clips of available shelter pets have caught our eye as a result. Lifeline Animal Project at Dekalb County Animal Services and Fulton County Animal Services, in Atlanta, GA has been rocking our socks off with their fabulous, storytelling adoption videos — we’ve been tempted quite a few times to jump in the car and pick up one of these sweet furbaes!
We love their super clean and polished photos, too:
CATS IN BOW TIES
HeARTs Speak’s own artist member, Lindsi Jones, has combined the magic of hand-made bowties with the natural beauty of shelter cats to create a genius art and advocacy campaign. Cats in Bow Ties is a beautiful and lighthearted photo project focused on drawing attention to cats in need of homes. To kick off Adopt-A-Cat month in June, Lindsi took over a space in Thomasville, GA to feature the 101 images, each highlighting a different cat and it’s own unique personality (and bow tie, of course!).
SAVAGE SEAMLESS BACKDROPS
Savage seamless backdrops come in every color under the sun and are especially useful in capturing the diversity of shelter pets! We’re currently swooning over summer colors like Plum and Flamingo. Savage Universal also has an amazing program that supports photographers working with animal shelters and rescues, which makes us love them all the more!
HeARTs Speak artist member, Valerie Bruder Photography, uses the backdrops beautifully for her adoption portraits for rescues in NJ:
THE INSTITUTE FOR HUMANE EDUCATION
Humane education is about more than being kind to animals, it’s about creating a better world for all of the beings with whom we share the planet (including other people). We’re in awe of the work of The Institute for Humane Education and thank them for their efforts to create a more just and sustainable world for people, animals and the environment.
YOGA WITH CATS
What’s better than a relaxing yoga class or a good cuddle with kittens? Both at the same time! We’ve seen some awesome stories this past year about yoga with shelter cats, and love that it provides exposure for cats in need of adoption while also serving as the perfect outlet for self-care. We’re crossing our fingers one of these classes pops up near us very soon!
