Animal welfare is an ever-evolving field, and as our understanding grows, it stands to reason that the way we talk about our work should also change.

When you realize the impact words can have, this carries more importance. For example, if we describe adoption returns as failures and publicly call adopters out for doing so, how likely is it that other adopters will return to us if they have issues?

This week we sat down with two Best Friends staff members to get their take on words and terms we use in our work; the senior director of lifesaving programs for the east coast region, Makena Yarbrough, and the manager for the east coast region, John Graves.

For resources related to this episode, check out our website: https://network.bestfriends.org/proven-strategies/best-friends-podcast/best-friends-podcast-ep-146