Dog Behavior Collection: Program Management

Dog Behavior Collection: Program Management

If you manage the behavior program at your shelter, we’re guessing that there aren’t enough hours in the day to do all that you need to do to support individual animals. Finding the time to advance your knowledge or add structure to your program so that it can thrive and grow isn’t easy.

This collection offers educational material that is at a slightly higher level than the Behavior 101 collection as well as tips and tricks for creating the best possible behavior program for your shelter.

  • Resilience Conditioning for Shelter Dogs: Building Bounce Back for Life in the Real World (OnDemand)
    Contains 8 Component(s), Includes Credits

    How to build strength in dogs that have bad living conditions in their past

    This presentation was part of Camp Maddie: Behavior Edition (Day 2, Presentation 3)

    Resilience Conditioning for Shelter Dogs: Building Bounce Back for Life in the Real World

    This presentation from Bobbie Bhambree, CDBC, CPDT-KA and Ferdie Yau, MA, CPDT-KA at Behavior Vets, discuss resilience - the ability to bounce back and recover from stress. How do we build resilience in shelter dogs who are living in a challenging and frequently stressful environment?

    Presenters: Bobbie Bhambree, CDBC, CPDT-KA, Ferdie Yau, MA, CPDT-KA

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    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. It has also been submitted for approval for 1 hour of continuing education credit in jurisdictions which recognize RACE approval. Complete the quiz to earn continuing education credit for CAWA, NACA and RACE. RACE CE is available until March 12, 2026.

    Visit Maddie's Pet Forum to continue the conversation or ask questions about Camp Maddie: Behavior Edition:

    https://maddies.fund/BXCampBuildingResilienceinShelterDogs 

    Please email maddiesuniversity@maddiesfund.org if you have any technical questions.

    keywords: Camp Maddie, behavior, Camp Maddie Behavior, Camp Maddie Behavior Edition, dog behavior

    Bobbie Bhambree, CDBC, CPDT-KA

    Director of Education

    Behavior Vets

    Bobbie Bhambree (CDBC, CPDT-KA) is a Certified Dog Behavior Consultant and Director of Education at Behavior Vets. She is also a faculty member of CATCH Canine Trainers Academy and Agility University. Bobbie started her career in 2003 as a pet behavior counselor with the ASPCA Animal Behavior Center. While there, she implemented behavior modification programs for dogs surrendered by the public or seized by Humane Law Enforcement. In 2007, Bobbie joined the Humane Society of Westchester, spending the next nine years as their shelter trainer. She created and implemented dog training and enrichment programs, counseled adopters, trained volunteers, participated in community outreach programs, and performed evaluations.

     2016 Bobbie joined the North Shore Animal League America in Port Washington, NY as the Director of Pet Behavior. During her tenure there, she managed a team of canine and feline trainers who focused on developing behavior modification and enrichment programs for the animals in the shelter. She also deployed for the ASPCA Anti-Cruelty Behavior Team to work in the field, supporting the team with dog fighting busts, puppy mill cases, and hoarding cases. In addition to this work, she founded and directed her own company, DogCentric Dog Training, helping people whose pet dogs experienced a wide spectrum of canine behavior issues. Bobbie presented at the Lemonade Conference, hosted by IAABC and Fenzi Dog Sports Academy, and at the HeartDog International Wellbeing Summit in 2022. Bobbie is a co-creator of the Resilience Rainbow, a framework for resilience-building interventions.

     Over the years, Bobbie has very successfully competed in agility in various venues with several of her dogs including, Marvel who came in third for Performance Speed Jumping and Performance Grand Prix at Mid-Atlantic Regionals in 2019. Bobbie has authored several articles for the agility-focused publication, Clean Run. She is passionate about working with dog sports teams struggling with behavior issues. Bobbie regularly teaches behavior workshops for the dog sports community, including a recent project called Brain Camp.

     Bobbie currently shares her life with three terriers, one Pitbull, a border collie/whippet mix, a border collie/Croatian Sheepdog mix (Ziggy, Marvel, Heady Topper, Eleanor Rigby, Phuncky, and Drazen), and a very supportive husband in southern New Jersey.

    Ferdie Yau, MA, CPDT-KA

    Director of Shelter & Community Outreach

    Behavior Vets

    Ferdie Yau (MA, CPDT-KA) is the Director of Shelter & Community Outreach and a Behavior Consultant for Behavior Vets. He also serves as the Staff Trainer at the Humane Society of Westchester and an instructor for CATCH Canine Trainers Academy. Ferdie is a former ecologist and holds an MA in Conservation Biology from Columbia University. He trained animals at the Central Park and Bronx Zoos before working with dogs and animal shelters. In his free time, Ferdie studies the lives of urban coyotes living in the New York City Metropolitan area. 

  • Big Dog Master Class - Day 1 - KEYNOTE (Block 1) - Irreconcilable Differences? Maybe Not! A New Look at 50 Years of Data about Behavioral Incompatibilities and Dog Relinquishment to Shelters (49 minutes)
    Contains 6 Component(s), Includes Credits

    A review of research into reasons owners surrender dogs, with the surprising finding that behavior concerns were not a primary risk factor for owner surrender.

    A review of research into reasons owners surrender dogs, with the surprising finding that behavior concerns were not a primary risk factor for owner surrender.

    Presenter: Janis Bradley, MA, Director of Communications & Publications, National Canine Research Council

    ·       Earn 1.0 Certified Animal Welfare Administrator continuing education credits from The Association for Animal Welfare Advancement and from the National Animal Care & Control Association.

    ·       This course has been approved for 1.0 hour of continuing education credit in jurisdictions that recognize RACE approval through 3/5/26. Pass the quiz with a score of 70% or higher to access your CE certificate and then upload it to https://CEBroker.com. This is the broker that the AAVSB uses to track your continuing education credits.

    Keywords: owner surrender dogs, dog behavior in shelters, canine behavior, behavioral incompatibilities and dog relinquishment to shelters, canine behavior evaluations for shelter dogs, Janice Bradley, National Canine Research Council, animal sheltering, big dogs, Big Dog Master Class, animal behavior, big dogs, large dogs, Maximize In-Shelter Welfare, Maximize physical and behavioral health, Animal & Population Management, Strategic & Operational Planning, Policies & Procedures, webcast

    Janis Bradley

    Director of Communications and Publications

    National Canine Research Council

    Janis holds a B.A. in Philosophy and a Masters in English. She first pursued a career as a college teacher, counselor, and administrator. Leaving academia, she then took up professionally her passion for the human-canine relationship. From 2000 through 2009, Janis trained more than 400 professional pet dog trainers.

    Janis is the co-author of the articles: “No better than flipping a coin: Reconsidering canine behavior evaluations in animal shelters” , “Who is minding the bibliography? Daisy chaining, dropped leads, and other bad behavior using examples from the dog bite literature,” and “Defaming Rover: Error-Based Latent Rhetoric in the Medical Literature on Dog Bites”. She is also the author of Dogs Bite, But Balloons and Slippers are More Dangerous (James and Kenneth), the complete guide to research on dog bites; Dog Bites: Problems and Solutions (Animals and Society Institute); and The Relevance of Breed in Selecting a Companion Dog (National Canine Research Council Vision Series). All of this comes from an abiding interest in finding the very best information about the remarkable relationship between dogs and people. She lives in California with her rescued Greyhounds.

  • Using Care Pathways to Manage Your Shelter Behavior Program - webcast
    Contains 3 Component(s), Includes Credits

    During this webcast, we’ll talk about care pathways regarding behavior and how we can utilize them to improve our shelter behavior programs.

    Presenter: Dr. Sheila Segurson, Director of Outreach and Research for Maddie's Fund®

    Care Pathways are standardized plans for animals that have the same type of condition. They allow for individualized support while ensuring efficient, effective care for animals with that condition. They’re commonly used for improving animals’ paths through the shelter system, as well as managing medical conditions. During this presentation, we’ll talk about care pathways regarding behavior and how we can utilize them to improve our shelter behavior programs.

    Watch this webcast in conjunction with the self-paced course on Maddie's University: https://university.maddiesfund.org/products/care-pathways-guiding-animals-through-the-shelter 

    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/WebcastCa...

    keywords care pathways, shelter dog behavior, behavior modification, dog handling, cat handling, shelter behavior program, animal shelter, animals shelters


    Sheila Segurson, DACVB (Moderator)

    Director of Outreach and Research

    Maddie's Fund

    As Director of Outreach and Research for Maddie's Fund®, Dr. Sheila Segurson's goal is to develop and support research that increases pet adoptions from rescue groups and shelters and improves pet well-being. She relies upon her background working in and with animal shelters, pet foster care programs, and veterinary medicine to lead Maddie's Fund research efforts.

    After graduating from UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine, Dr. Segurson worked as a general practice/emergency/shelter veterinarian at pet hospitals in California. Then, in 2005, Sheila graduated from Maddie's Shelter Medicine Program at UC Davis, becoming the first in the nation to complete a three-year, post-graduate behavior specialty training program with an emphasis on shelter animals and shelter behavior programs. She worked for several pet welfare organizations, including UC Davis Koret Shelter Medicine Program, The Sacramento SPCA, and the Animal Rescue League of Boston, where she developed and implemented enrichment/behavior modification programs.

  • Canine Enrichment in the Shelter: Implementing Evidence-Based Best Practice
    Contains 3 Component(s), Includes Credits

    Explore the evidence for various types of enrichment that can broadly be categorized as social interaction: with a human or canine; object enrichment; and sensory stimulation, and how these can be assessed.

    In recent years, animal sheltering organizations have increased their focus on improving the welfare of the animals in their care. One component of this approach includes the use of enrichment interventions. In this presentation, we will explore the evidence for various types of enrichment that can broadly be categorized as social interaction: either with a human or canine; object enrichment; and sensory stimulation. We will also describe how these interventions can be assessed and how staff and volunteer efforts can be utilized to achieve programmatic success.

    Presenters: Lisa Gunter, PhD, CBCC-KA, Arizona State University and Erica Feuerbacher, MS, PhD, CAAB, BCBA-D, CPDT-KAMS, PhD, CAAB, BCBA-D, CPDT-KA

    This presentation was recorded at the 2022 ASPCA Maddie's Cornell Shelter Medicine Conference.

    This lecture has also 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.

    keywords: canine welfare, animal sheltering, canine behavior enrichment in animal shelters, canine object enrichment, canine sensory stimulation, effects of social interaction on canines in a shelter, canine behavior assessment in a shelter,  2022 ASPCA Maddie's Cornell Shelter Medicine Conference