Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Dana Klose. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Hi Dana, thanks for joining us today. What were some of the most unexpected problems you’ve faced in your career and how did you resolve those issues?
We encounter daily struggles in the world of animal welfare. From people losing their homes and having to surrender their pets, pet owners not able to pay for medical care, people not spaying and neutering their pets. The community unaware of the crisis that is happening in the world of animal welfare. More animals than homes. Overflowing county shelters and rescue groups busting at the seams. It truly is is never ending daily battle to try and help these very deserving animals.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
My name is Dana Klose and I got my start in animal welfare in 2011. I started as a volunteer wanting to make a difference after I adopted my first Pit Bull Jaxon. Before adopting Jaxon I had no idea how many struggles that the animal welfare community were facing and especially the stigma that was surrounding pit bull type dogs. I have been on a mission since the. I started volunteering for smaller rescue groups before making my way as a volunteer for Maricopa County Care and Control our local municipal shelter. Witnessing the need first hand only fueled my fire to help more dogs like my Jaxon. That is when I started volunteering for One Love and have since taken on Leadership positions to help us have a bigger impact and make a difference for the dogs and people in our community. Especially Pit Bull and Pit Bull Type dogs. We offer regular spay and neuter clinics for owned pit bulls and pit bull type dogs to help control the pet population and stop dogs from coming into our local shelters. We also operate as a support to Maricopa County Care and Control and rescue dogs from entering the shelters of those in the biggest need from the shelter.
Have you ever had to pivot?
I would say one of the biggest pivot’s we had to make is one that many businesses and non profits across the country had to do. Covid. When our local shelter was closed because of Covid we had to pivot our programs. We could no longer have access to the dogs we had been working with at the shelter level so we had to bring those dogs to us. We are partnered with Heidi’s Village and incredible boarding facility that was created to be a support to local non profits here in Arizona and was set to open April of 2020. We all remember what happened in April of 2020. They had the facility and a small staff so we were able to help some of the dogs get out of the shelter during Covid and get moved over to Heidi’s Village for medical care and away from the loud and stressful shelter. This also gave our volunteers a place to be able to work with the dogs. That was when we started rescuing again. Previously we would sponsor dogs that we would help promote for adoption but we didn’t take them into our care. Since then we have rescued 125 dogs.
We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?
Social media is both a blessing and a curse. A blessing because it helps us get out our message and gets dogs seen. It a huge resource for fundraising and allows us the opportunity to be a voice for these dogs. We try and be a driving force and document everything that we are and we do. We try and be a positive voice to help the community see shelter dogs and spay and neuter in a positive light. The curse that is social media is that it is ever changing and we constantly have to adapt to the current methodology. We get the majority of our adoptions from social media and about 50% of our fundraising over that last few years has come from social media. So it’s imperative that we stay current and relevant on all platforms.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.oneloveaz.org
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/onelovearizona/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/onelovearizona
- Twitter: @OneLoveArizona
- Youtube: @onelovepitbullfoundation2939