When I spotted this photo on Facebook recently, I almost burst a blood vessel in my head! What on earth? That is
our doggie adoption vest! The braggery went on about how one of my trusted volunteers worked his foster dog at en event and passed out 15 brochures about our group! One would think I'd be happy for the free publicity...but the event was NOT a sanctioned WGSPR event, no table, no banner, no organized pet fair event...it was a food/drink event! So while I'm sure there were plenty of folks in attendance, what must they have thought of a guy parading around a dog in our official adoption vest, passing out literature, while chugging a couple beers on the city streets? I was APPAULED to say the least. Please understand I worked long and hard to gain credibility for this dog rescue. I networked my brains out with other credible associations for relationships, publicity, donations, dog food, etc. I just cannot have a volunteer be parading around a dog with my colors, my rescues' name and liquor on their breath! And I do not condone the vest coming off our dog and ending up on some guy perhaps thinking he'd be funny! Then finding that photo on a huge social network site such as Facebook? I had a discussion with the volunteer about this. He thought I was going overboard I'm sure. But really? I DO NOT CARE. This is all about credibility. And if you want to be part of this bird dog family, you will play by my rules, and you will not mis-use any of our "ware" for fun. Because next thing you know, I will have twenty five emails from attendees of that event, or worse yet, some of our sponsors? (eeeks) wondering what sort of group we are? My volunteer and I worked out the logistics of the thing, and we moved past any misunderstandings and anger, because, afterall, it's all about the dogs, not about our "feelings". I worked way too hard on this dog rescue to have our credibility destroyed by one funny photo surfacing all over cyberspace. And that's all I'm gonna say about that.
