10 Easy Ideas to Create a Community-Minded Animal Shelter
The last several years have been challenging for all of us in animal welfare, but disruption can be a catalyst for change. We have seen animal welfare professionals and volunteers rally to support their animals, their communities, and the families in greatest need. One of the most exciting things we witnessed was the creativity of animal welfare organizations to change and adapt their physical shelters into the community-focused shelters of the future, rethinking and reworking the role of the facility. These scrappy,...
Creating a Culture of Change in Your Organization
[embedded content] Animal welfare is changing, whether we’re ready or not. By creating a culture of change in your organization, you can reduce timely internal resistance, get your staff and volunteers on board, and involve everyone in being part of improvement and innovation. In this webinar, we talk about the primary reasons for resistance to change, how to easily build a culture of change, tackle tough critics, and how to implement a simple protocol for creating organizational change. We break down everything about how you talk about...
New Study: We’re Making Bad Assumptions About Shelter Dogs’ Behavior and It’s Hurting Them
Listen to our interview with Janis Bradley about her new research challenging the assumption that dogs are given up for bad behavior, and what that means for shelters, adoptions, dogs, and families. Arin Greenwood: Hi, this is Arin Greenwood. I’m a writer with HASS. Here I had the pleasure of speaking with Janis Bradley of the National Canine Research Council about her important new paper taking a critical look at our assumptions about shelter dogs’ behavior, and how those assumptions harm dogs and families. The paper is...
Adoption Requirements vs. Open Adoptions: a Conversation
[embedded content] Fenced yards, vet checks, home visits…are these restrictive adoption requirements standing in the way of pets getting adopted into loving homes? The evidence shows open, barrier-free adoptions lead to the same positive outcomes—while saving more animals. If you’re considering a change to your adoption process but don’t know where to start, listen to this face-to-face conversation led by Abbie Moore, CEO of Adopt-a-Pet.com to learn how to increase adoptions, connect more pets with people, and solve...
14 Things Your Organization Can Do Right Now to Support People and Pets in Your Community
We know from anecdotal evidence and research that pets are considered family members in the majority of pet-owning households in the United States. We also know that life comes with challenges: health crises, societal barriers, eviction, generational poverty, and major life changes. You want to keep people and pets together through these crises, preserving families and keeping pets unnecessarily out of shelters. Here are 14 practices you can put into place at your organization right now, to support families in your community....
How Understanding Lost Cat Behavior Can Keep Them Out of the Shelter and Get Them Back Home Faster
[embedded content] At a significant 75%, the majority of cats brought into the shelter are classified as “stray.” Too many of these cats are lost but never reunited with their families because lost cat psychology is poorly misunderstood. Lost cats behave differently than lost dogs and by understanding how they think, we can reduce unnecessary intake and get cats back home where they belong. Hear from Monica Frenden-Tarant, former Maddie’s® Director of Feline Lifesaving, and cat finder extraordinaire, Kimberley Freeman,...
America’s Animal Shelters are in Crisis. 6 Things You Need to Know
Just before Christmas, the Williamson County Regional Animal Shelter in Texas announced they would be forced to reduce services and stop the non-emergency intake of pets through December 31. The reason? A new wave of COVID infections led to severe understaffing. There are simply not enough people to take in and care for the pets in the shelter. On top of this crisis, the shelter has been at or above capacity for months, due to sluggish adoption numbers and more pets coming into the shelter—both impacts of the pandemic. A...
