Rob and friends.

The Man Who Became a Dog

For 48 hours, Rob Morlino lived in a kennel, ate out of a dog bowl and walked on a leash — all to raise awareness for shelter animals

The development team at the Santa Fe Humane Society, where Rob Morlino works, was brainstorming ideas for an upcoming online fundraising challenge on CrowdRise. Out of their numerous ideas, they came up with a particularly far-fetched one in which Rob would live in a kennel for a weekend — and stream it all on Facebook Live.

“It was one of those long shot ideas. It was an unusual one, and we bounced it around for a while. Finally, someone proposed that I do it and I said, ‘Yeah, sure I’ll do it.’ I never thought it would actually come to fruition.” — Rob Morlino

But a few weeks later, the chickens came home to roost, as people remembered about the far-fetched idea and asked him if he’d really do it. An animal lover tasked with raising funds to continue helping animals at their most vulnerable, Rob couldn’t say no. He knew that to make a splash they had to take some big chances.

“Animal welfare is a pretty big sector in the United States generally, and in order to get people’s attention, you have to rise above the noise. This called for some pretty provocative marketing and fundraising tactics.”

And that’s how #AdoptRob was started, and also how Rob Morlino found himself living in a dog kennel for a weekend — with the world watching — to raise money for rescued animals.