Home At Last Dog Rescue is a non-profit, all-volunteer organization committed to saving abandoned, neglected, and/or abused homeless dogs. In 2016, for World Pet Memorial Day, they wanted to raise awareness for the thousands of dogs put down each year by overcrowded Canadian shelters.
To draw attention to this serious issue, we created an army of “Invisible Dogs” – rigid leashes tied to poles, hydrants, and railings all around Vancouver as a metaphor for all the dogs who are no longer with us. Each invisible dog wore a collar that read, “Last year, Canadian shelters put down 4,358 unadopted dogs” and pleaded the public to “Adopt. Don’t Shop.”
Given that our message was printed on a tiny collar, we knew we were taking a big risk with this campaign but, given the unusual nature of seeing a stiff leash with an invisible dog, it grabbed attention just as we had hoped. In fact, the campaign was so effective that, following World Pet Memorial Day, Home At Last Dog Rescue saw an influx of foster parents and soon after had more foster parents than they had dogs up for adoption.