Locally owned & operated stores offering the best supplies at the best prices for every dog and cat!
We are proud to partner with many local rescues in Raleigh, Durham, Wilmington and the surrounding areas. There are several ways we work with these groups to help them save as many homeless pets as possible, learn more below.
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Are you a rescue group interested in partnering with Unleashed? Check out the information below and for more details and to partner with us, email outreach@unleashedmutt.com.
Meet & Greet/Adoption Events
Meet and Greets and Adoption Events happen at most of our 11 store locations. Stonehenge (North Raleigh), Parkway Plaza (Durham), Landfall (Wilmington), and Front Street (Wilmington) all have rooms inside that can be used for events but the other stores have extremely limited indoor space so most events happen in the space in front of the store. We may have a table and a couple chairs available for use, depending on the location.
You don't have to bring a lot of animals! We would be just as excited to have one person with a poster of available animals and info about your group talking to people about your organization, you could bring a jar and collect donations, and we can provide treats for you to hand out to dogs as they go by.
The Cat Shack
The Cat Shack is only located at our Stonehenge store. Cats can stay for a pre-determined amount of time (dependent on the amount of rescue groups in the rotation), and right now the Unleashed staff care for them (feed and clean condos) in the morning and at night. We are constantly adjusting this model though and may be needing groups to help with volunteers at some point in the future.
The rescue group bringing cats must bring them by 4:30pm on their scheduled arrival day (a Sunday) and set up the condos the way they want. Unleashed provides clay litter. Blankets, beds, towels, bowls, and toys are also provided. The rescue/foster parent must provide food, keeping in mind that changing food on top of a change in location can cause stress responses to be more severe than they usually would be if only one of those was changing. Cats must be picked up on the scheduled Saturday and the condos must be deep cleaned and disinfected at that point by the individuals picking up the cats.
This program is run in partnership with Velvet Acres Animal Rescue and rescues must sign their partnership contract as well as the space usage agreement with Unleashed.
Seasonal Photos
The only stores that can easily accommodate larger set-ups/backdrops are the ones with separate rooms, Stonehenge (North Raleigh), Parkway Plaza (Durham), Landfall (Wilmington), and Front Street (Wilmington) though all the stores have hosted Santa Photos in the past. Photos with Santa and the Easter bunny are the most popular but anything is possible. We've had a group do Valentine's photos with great success as well.
You provide any props and backdrop/s you want to use. You can decide if you want to have a photographer come and take the pictures for you or if you want people to take their own photos with their phones or own cameras (you can take the photo for them so they can be in it if they want). You also decide how long you’ll be set up (3-4 hours is popular), and what you charge, all collected by you as a donation to your group.
Charity Dog Washes
Each of our full store locations (NOT the Crabtree Valley Mall and Streets at Southpoint Mall stores) have a dog wash. We provide towels, shampoo, brushes, blow dryer, etc. We can also help with advertising, putting up flyers and posting on social media. The rescue provides the volunteers to wash the dogs, decides how you want to do scheduling (take appointments or only walk-ins), and what you want to charge. All the money you collect is yours for your group!
Donations from Unleashed
All Unleashed locations accept donations from the general public during their normal business hours. We don't have many restrictions on what we accept as donations and so we get a variety of things including food, treats, toys, crates, bedding/towels, and many other supplies. Many of the bags of food have been opened and are taped shut but the contents are checked briefly prior to sealing to make sure there are no bugs or anything odd in them. In addition to items donated by the public, Unleashed donates damaged and returned bags of food. These could have had broken seams or holes in the bag on delivery, or could be a customer return (food is not donated if the reason for return was a suspected problem with the food, itself).
Adoption Brochure
Unleashed has a brochure that contains coupons for adopters of our partner organizations. There are coupons for food, toys, and other supplies, for dogs and cats to help adopters get set up with their new family member. We can provide more brochures at any point in time.
Seasonal Parties & Other Events
This category is a catch-all and includes all the other events you could think of. We have done can drives, had rescues attend Unleashed parties (the stores have holiday parties for customers (Halloween, Valentines, misc. other parties) with things like a free treat buffet, games, and different activities), and lots of other fun things. The store parties usually have aspects that run all day and others that are during specific hours (like the games) so the rescue that attends is scheduled for the busiest few hours of the day, not the entire time the store is open.
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We've even had a foster mom host a 1st birthday party with us for a litter that she fostered as babies! Almost all the pups came, except the one or two whose families had moved out of state and it was so much fun!!
Angel Trees (around the holidays)
Every year, each Unleashed location likes to have at least one Angel Tree (or wreath) from a local rescue during the holiday season (going up right around Thanksgiving). Some of the larger stores may do multiple trees or tree/wreath combinations, depending on interest from our partner rescues for that location. The rescue provides the tree and decorations, in addition to the ornaments with adoptable pets on one side and their wish list item/s on the reverse side. Our customers purchase the items and leave them under the tree, to be picked up when the store manager reaches out (pick up depends on how much is dropped off and how much space the store has available for those items).
Outside Partnership Opportunities
Generally, these types of events can only happen at the stores with a community room because of the space requirements. The two types of events we’ve had in this category are “Paint Your Pet” nights/afternoons where people are guided through making a painting of their pet, and Yoga with puppies/cats/kittens. The rescue coordinates with the yogi, painter, or whatever other type of expert you’d be working with, decides on all the details, and we provide the space.