By the time I started watching The Pitt last year, most of the episodes had aired and I was able to binge nearly the whole season over a long weekend. I was hooked as soon as I tuned in. This year, I wasn’t strong enough to abstain until the whole season was available, so I’ve been watching weekly and I find this method quite unsatisfying! Anyone else feel me on this? That little intro to say, The Pitt is popular and we want more of it, and one clever pet shelter put that to good use recently. The expertly named Animal Rescue Fund of the Hamptons (ARF!) found themselves with a new litter of nine Pit Bull puppies rescued from Georgia, and in an effort to get them all adopted, ARF posted Instagram pictures of each Pit Bull dressed as a Pitt character. I love this! The only rub is that the doctor/nurse’s scrubs were “put” on the pups by using AI. Bravo, ARF: you found the ONE acceptable use of AI. Most importantly, it worked — all nine puppies were adopted!
Bark of creativity: “When this litter of nine puppies arrived with fairly random names, I immediately started thinking about how we could make them stand out,” Tess Pintchik, Marketing and Communications Associate for the Animal Rescue Fund of the Hamptons, tells PEOPLE. “I’m personally a huge fan of The Pitt, and when I started matching the puppies’ colors and looks to characters from the show, it all came together pretty naturally.”
No response from Dr. Robby… yet: “As a shelter that’s been around since 1974, it can be challenging to come up with fresh, engaging names, so the idea of a group of ‘puppy doctors and nurses’ was hysterical and strategic,” Pintchik shares. “We also hoped it might catch the attention of the actors from the show and help boost visibility even further. While we didn’t hear from the cast, the public response was incredible.”
From Georgia to the Hamptons to forever homes: According to ARF, the litter was born to stray dogs and found living outdoors in Georgia. The 3-month-old puppies came to ARF Hamptons through one of their rescue partners, X-Port Paws. Pintchik is happy to share that “all puppies have been adopted” since the post went up. “Four went home on Friday, one on Saturday, three on Sunday, and the final puppy, Dr. Santos, found a home this morning after tugging on everyone’s heartstrings in her solo Instagram reel last night,” she says.
Social media helps dogs get adopted: “In many cases, the right adopter isn’t nearby, but they discover an animal through a post and make the trip to adopt. A great example is a dog named Sassy, who waited at ARF for 1,042 days,” she shares. “We tried many different approaches to promote her, but it wasn’t until a short video, only a few seconds long, unexpectedly went viral that she finally reached her adopters. It was shared widely across the country and even internationally before finding the right person.”
Even a like goes a long way: “People often think they can’t help unless they’re physically volunteering, but even small actions online, liking, commenting, sharing or saving a post, can make a huge difference,” she emphasizes. “The more engagement a post gets, the more visibility it receives, and that can directly lead to an adoption. We have many long-term residents just waiting for the right person to come along to the shelter and take a chance on them!”
Full disclosure: ARF is where I found My Guy!! I personally do not have the funds to live in the Hamptons, but I ended up making the two-ish hour drive to the Animal Rescue Fund after a (rich) coworker told me about them. Her summer home is in the Hamptons (of course), and she volunteers at ARF. So a little while after I lost My Girl, this coworker started showing me pics of the floofs she met each week, and one of them stole my heart. But bitches — that dog was not My Guy! Once we got out there, the dog I thought I’d come for was in the middle of a doctor’s appointment, so they asked if I’d like to take another for a walk while waiting. In retrospect, I’m fairly convinced My Guy had set it up somehow to get that other dog out of eyeline, because My Guy and I trotted into the yard, I sat down on a bench, he jumped into my lap, and it was all over. The boy took his shot and it paid off! And later when I was signing the last forms, the aide assisting us said, “I’m just so happy you’re taking him. People have been passing over him for months.” SOB.
So yeah, I’ll loosen my anti-AI stance in the name of getting pups adopted. And I can say from direct experience that ARF is a beautiful facility, and they take loving care of their residents. Now we just need the senior residents of PTMC to give ARF a yip and it will be a perfect ending to this episode.
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