This course is part of Maddie's Monthly Foster Connection, monthly webcasts about foster care - supporting pets in our community and animal shelters. 

Feeling overwhelmed by an unmanageable foster roster? Struggling to keep caregivers engaged or streamline onboarding? You’re not alone—and there’s a better way forward.

In this webinar, we’ll explore how SICSA (Society for the Improvement of Conditions for Stray Animals) restructured its foster program over the past year to boost engagement, ease staff workload, and improve care for animals. Learn how they:
• Streamlined their foster roster through a full audit and re-engagement campaign
• Combined and modernized their dog and cat foster manuals
• Introduced specialized mentor roles to support caregivers across programs
• Launched a new, self-paced onboarding process with the help of Google automations and ChatGPT
• Piloted a bottle baby nursery for staff foster caregivers to grow neonatal capacity
You’ll walk away with actionable ideas you can tailor to your own organization—whether you're looking to overhaul your onboarding, clean up your database, or make fostering feel more accessible. This session is ideal for anyone ready to rethink old systems and build a stronger, scalable, sustainable foster program.

Presenter: Michelle Misra, Foster Program Manager, SICSA Pet Adoption & Wellness Center

This webinar has been pre-approved for 1.0 Certified Animal Welfare Administrator continuing education credits by The Association for Animal Welfare Advancement and by the National Animal Care & Control Association.

Visit Maddie's Pet Forum to comment, follow a discussion or ask questions: https://forum.maddiesfund.org/discussion/smarter-systems-for-stronger-support-september-2025-in-maddies-monthly-foster-connection

Keywords Maddie's Monthly Foster Connection, Michelle Misra, SICSA Pet Adoption & Wellness Center, foster rosters, foster care-givers

This course equips animal shelter professionals with the tools to implement or enhance pathway planning for cats and kittens, streamlining their journey to the best possible outcome. The course presents research-backed strategies to reduce length of stay, decrease intake and ensure positive outcomes for all cats. The superhighway model enhances community cat programs and increases lifesaving capabilities, but also includes flexible "offramps" for unique cases, ensuring that every cat—whether a friendly community cat or a litter of neonates—receives the most appropriate care. Participants will learn to confidently navigate challenging decisions with ease, using this model to efficiently manage every cat's pathway to the best available outcome.

This course is approved for 1.0 hours of credit from the Registry of Approved Continuing Education (RACE) program of the American Association of Veterinary State Boards (AAVSB) through 9/2/27.

This course is part of Maddie's Monthly Behavior Connection, monthly webcasts about pet behavior - supporting pets in our community and animal shelters.

Building on Cracking the Cat Code, this session explores how to apply the Considerate Approach when working with cats in shelter environments. Through video examples, you’ll learn how to thoughtfully and confidently approach cats in different settings — from cages to carriers. Gain practical tools to reduce stress, improve adoption readiness, and advocate effectively for the cats in your care.

Speaker: Tabitha Kucera, Elite Fear Free and Low-Stress Handling Certified Registered Veterinary Technician, Veterinary Technician Specialist (Behavior), Certified Cat Behavior Consultant, and Karen Pryor Academy Certified Training Partner. She is the founder of Chirrups and Chatter Cat and Dog Behavior Consulting and Training

This webinar has been pre-approved for 1.0 Certified Animal Welfare Administrator continuing education credits by The Association for Animal Welfare Advancement and by the National Animal Care & Control Association.

Visit Maddie's Pet Forum to comment, access the resources, follow a discussion or ask questions: https://maddies.fund/BehaviorC... 

keywords Maddie's Monthly Behavior Connection, Tabitha Kucera, cat behavior, Considerate Approach, shelter cats

Through a series of short videos, this course teaches various interventions to treat fear and anxiety. After successfully completing this course you will be able to:

• Create a sense of safety and security for fearful dogs
• Mitigate stress and anxiety through relaxation exercises and pattern games
• Reduce fear of triggers through counterconditioning and desensitization

Course author: Ferdie Yau (MA, CPDT-KA)

Webinar Overview

Facing increasing intake numbers and the constant threat of infectious disease? If it seems like dogs keep getting sick no matter what you do, join KSMP Outreach Veterinarian Dr. Chumkee Aziz and learn steps you can take today to prevent and manage Canine Infectious Respiratory Disease (CIRD) in your shelter. 

With proven isolation and quarantine protocols, your team can create crucial room to breathe, ensuring more dogs stay healthy and ready for adoption.

By the end of this webinar, you’ll be ready to:
• Pinpoint key risk factors that fuel CIRD spread and severity in shelters, and know when and how to use isolation, quarantine, and foster care strategies to effectively manage CIRD.
• Evaluate and apply the latest vaccination recommendations for CIRD prevention, while recognizing their effectiveness and limitations in shelter settings.
• Create treatment plans for CIRD cases, focusing on choosing the right antibiotics and using them responsibly, and knowing when to run tests.
• Understand how managing your shelter's capacity, using good housing, and reducing stress can help prevent CIRD.

From RVTs and DVMs and beyond, everyone in the shelter has the power to have a big impact on animal health. CIRD doesn’t have to be status quo!

Continuing Education Credits 

This webinar has been approved for 1 Certified Animal Welfare Administrator (CAWA) continuing education credit by The Association for Animal Welfare Advancement (AAWA) and by National Animal Care and Control Association (NACA). 

This course has been approved for 1 hour of RACE continuing education credit until 5/21/27  in jurisdictions that recognize RACE approval. Upon completing the course and passing the quiz, upload your certificate to https://CEBroker.com. This is the broker used by the AAVSB to track your continuing education credits.

Keywords

MMPC, Shelter, Learniverse, CIRD prevention, isolation protocols, vaccination, treatment plans, shelter management

Contact

Email us at help@shelterlearniverse.com if you have any questions or concerns about this webinar.

Maddie’s® Pet Forum Discussion Thread

You can also join the discussion about these concepts over on Maddie's Pet Forum in the discussion thread. CLICK HERE

Maddie’s® Million Pet Challenge

With the Maddie’s® Million Pet Challenge, the Five Key Initiatives of the Million Cat Challenge have expanded to include other species at risk in shelters and evolved into the Four Rights.  

Within the Four Rights, every element works in concert to support one another: animals and people are treated as individuals, empowering shelter staff to make the best decisions for everyone; community safety net services are in place and flourishing; and humane care within the shelter is provided, with appropriate outcomes for the animals that do come in, allowing shelters to deliver the Right Care, in the Right Place, at the Right Time, and to the Right Outcome

Learn more about  Maddie's® Million Pet Challenge Learniverse.  #ThankstoMaddie

This course is part of Maddie's Monthly Behavior Connection, monthly webcasts about pet behavior - supporting pets in our community and animal shelters.

In this talk, Dr. Carley Faughn will focus on behavioral outcomes for cats and dogs, with an emphasis on large dogs but relevant to all animals. How do you communicate behavior challenges to potential fosters and/or adopters? How does your team discuss these challenges among themselves? How does your team work to de-escalate conversations with potential fosters/adopters as well as the community? What happens once an animal leaves your shelter that has behavior challenges? Dr. Faughn will share tips for all of these questions, with real life examples from 20+ years of experience in animal welfare. Meaningful goals are to keep pets and families safe, together, and happy. In this talk, you will learn ways to accomplish increased lifesaving within your shelter and next foregoing into community homes. Attendees will learn about:

·      Tips for safely getting dogs with behavior challenges into foster and ready for adoption with efficient timelines.

·      What you can do in and out of the shelter to capture and highlight animals’ fundamental qualities

·      Proven strategies for supporting animals with behavior concerns after adoption with a focus on follow-ups, who should be involved in the follow-ups, and ways to keep track of significant behavior information after dogs leave the shelter.

·      De-escalation techniques when communicating with distraught fosters, adopters, and the community, as well as working with their own team members. 

·      How to create a “Tip Sheet Template” to be individually designed for animals moving into foster care and/or adoptive homes

Speaker: Carley Faughn, PhD, CAAB, Outcomes & Behavior Manager at the Humane Society of Vero Beach & Indian River County

This webinar has been pre-approved for 1.0 Certified Animal Welfare Administrator continuing education credits by The Association for Animal Welfare Advancement and by the National Animal Care & Control Association.

Visit Maddie's Pet Forum to comment, access the resources, follow a discussion or ask questions: https://maddies.fund/BehaviorC...

keywords Maddie's Monthly Behavior Connection, animal euthanasia decisions, Dr. Carley Faughn, Humane Society of Vero Beach & Indian River County

You can have the best shelter behavior program imaginable, but if that program isn’t supported by other programs to get dogs into homes, you’re probably not going to be successful. Matching people with a new dog friend that is a good fit for them is an important part of sheltering.  

This collection includes content about finding homes and adoption counseling for dogs with behavior concerns.

This course explores the effects of stress on shelter dogs and various interventions to alleviate it. Interventions include enrichment, activities, and pattern games that promote decompression.

After successfully completing this course you will be able to:

• Identify signs of fear, anxiety and stress (FAS) in dogs
• Explain how stress affects behavior and health
• Develop enrichment to help dogs decompress
• Use simple training games and activities to help dogs relax

Course author: Ferdie Yau (MA, CPDT-KA)

This course is part of Maddie's Monthly Foster Connection, monthly webcasts about foster care - supporting pets in our community and animal shelters. 

When fosters speak up, we sometimes default to extremes: either it's just "one unhappy person," or it's a sign the whole program is broken beyond repair. But the truth about how fosters experience your program lives in the gaps between assumptions and reality. In this talk, we'll explore how LifeLine Animal Project developed, launched, and analyzed a foster experience survey to uncover hidden trends, validate unspoken concerns, and turn raw feedback into rapid, strategic improvements. Whether you lead a large shelter or a volunteer-based rescue program, the lessons behind the data can help you strengthen your foundation, one honest answer at a time.

Presenter:: Daisy Navin, Foster Programs Manager, LifeLine Animal Project

This webinar has been pre-approved for 1.0 Certified Animal Welfare Administrator continuing education credits by The Association for Animal Welfare Advancement and by the National Animal Care & Control Association.

Visit Maddie's Pet Forum to comment, follow a discussion or ask questions: https://maddies.fund/FosterCon...

Keywords Maddie's Monthly Foster Connection, Daisy Navin, pet foster care, LifeLine Animal Project, pet foster care data, foster feedback, feedback survey, foster retention, foster satisfaction

This course is part of Maddie's Monthly Behavior Connection, monthly webcasts about pet behavior - supporting pets in our community and animal shelters.

Learn how Cincinatti Animal Care (CAC) has worked to develop a strong culture to support lifesaving, even when decisions are difficult. You'll learn about CAC's process for behavioral euthanasia decisions. 

Speaker: Meaghan Colville, Director of Shelter Operations, Cincinnati Animal Care

This webinar has been pre-approved for 1.0 Certified Animal Welfare Administrator continuing education credits by The Association for Animal Welfare Advancement and by the National Animal Care & Control Association.

Visit Maddie's Pet Forum to comment, access the resources, follow a discussion or ask questions: https://maddies.fund/BehaviorConnectionJune2025   

keywords Maddie's Monthly Behavior Connection, animal euthanasia decisions, Cincinatti Animal Care, Meaghan Colville