Building a Positive Workplace Culture—Why It Matters and How To Do It
[embedded content] The animal welfare industry is understaffed and facing worker turnover, like employers around the country. The effects are dire: animal shelter workers are burned out, and animals’ lives are at risk. But in the face of these challenges, Pasco County Animal Services (PCAS) in Florida has zero vacant positions, and hasn’t had an opening in an entry level position in over 14 months. PCAS Assistant Director Spencer Conover attributes this success to a positive workplace culture, built through inspiration,...
Did You Know You Can Adopt Pets Straight From Members of Your Own Community?
Katie Corbett has a full house! The tan dog, Charlie, “is a guide dog dropout,” Katie says. Chance, the white dog, “is a tripod foster win from DeKalb,” in Georgia, who participated in the Arizona State study that found sleepovers reduced stress for shelter dogs. So you might think of him as not just a good dog, but a scientist. The kittens are Albus and Dooley, fosters who were since adopted into a family from New York. Photo credit: Katie Corbett We all know the traditional way to adopt: go to your local shelter, a...
Lifesaving Paw-tnerships: How to Build and Sustain Healthy Relationships Between Rescues and Shelters
This is fundamental: Shelters and rescue organizations must work cooperatively in order to save animals in need. Having worked in large open admissions shelters, and now as a rescue director, I have witnessed thriving partnerships—as well as those that have soured. With these years of experience, an initiative I now champion is relationship-building between shelters and rescues. Here are some of the ways for shelters and rescues to best grow positive, long-lasting relationships. For Shelters: Build Personal...
With pets.findhelp.com, Pet Support Is Just A Click Away!
Simply enter your zip code, then search pets.findhelp.com for whatever pet services you’re interested in, from pet food pantries and training, to veterinary care, and more. An exciting new tool launched live this month: pets.findhelp.com. Think Yelp for free and low cost pet support services. Pet support is just a click away! This platform changes the game for struggling pet owners, who may have thought their only option was to give up a loved pet to a shelter. Human Animal Support Services created this free, first-of-its-kind platform...
Help more people and pets with these webcasts available on demand!
Learning new ways to help people and pets just got even easier! You can now access all of Human Animal Support Services past webcasts in your Maddie’s® University account. There are currently 32 total. Topics span everything from overcoming adoption barriers to taking advantage of staffing shortages. Not sure where to start? HASS: Human Animal Support Services: An Interactive Introduction is a good place. You can also see below for a list of a few more examples, and start watching (and learning) at your leisure! Source: Chew On...
Steal These 11 Ideas! They’re Mostly Free. They Will Make a Difference. We Promise.
Would you like to learn how one animal shelter brought in $10k in donations from one TikTok video? How about how a lost and found texting program doubled a shelter’s return to owner rate, and a totally free fence-fixing program that’s keeping pets from getting lost in the first place? For just over a year now, we’ve been sharing organizations’ best, most innovative, and most *replicable* ideas in our Steal This Idea blog series. Well, here’s a roundup of 11 of our favorites so you can Steal These...
How This County Shelter Is Still Sending About Half Its Pets to Transfer Partners
You don’t need us to tell you how hard things are in animal welfare right now. So when we caught wind of a municipal shelter whose transfer rates to rescue partners hadn’t dropped in 2022, but had stayed robust—with nearly half its pets being transferred to rescue partners—we reached out to find out more. We’re talking just over 2,400 of about 4,800 pets in 2021, and nearly 1,000 of right around 2,000 pets so far in 2022, as of late June. The program is so successful that even now, as a government shelter in the...
5 Kits, Infographics, and Tools to Get More Lost Pets Back Home to Their Families
July 4th has come and gone—and now it’s time to get those lost pets in your kennels back home to their worried families. We’ve rounded up these five kits, infographics, and tools, to help you do just that! 1. HASS x HeARTs Speak Lost Pet Reunification Communications Kit Human Animal Support Services and HeARTs Speak have joined up to create a series of communications kits to help you talk to your community about the critical ways that you are supporting people and pets—including your pet reunification efforts. The lost...
What to Do if You Find a Lost Dog This July 4th
More dogs get lost around July 4th than any other time of year. The vast majority will be picked up less than a mile from their homes—and have a much better chance of being reunited with their families, if some actions are taken in the neighborhoods where they’re found, before they are brought to a shelter! Anyone who finds a lost pet around the holiday, or at any time, should follow these steps to help them get home, if they are able: Snap photos of the pet and post to social media like lost and found pet groups on Facebook. They...
Why Is It So Hard to Volunteer to Help Pets?
Here’s how it usually works when you go to volunteer in an animal shelter: Fill out a long application. Wait. Maybe hear back about a volunteer orientation to be held in the next two months. Maybe be told there are no upcoming orientations. Eventually attend a 3-hour seated orientation in a room with a screen and a canned presentation. Wait. Get invited to start volunteering. Show up. Feel really confused. Try to figure it out. Get told by (insert any person here) that you’re breaking one or more rules. ...
