Reading dog body language and communicating effectively with our own behavior are practiced skills that we need to mindfully develop over time. In this course you'll analyze videos of dogs and handlers having conversations. The handler needs to understand what the dog is telling them and also communicate their intentions to the dog. The goal is always for the human and the dog to be in agreement that "I'm into you!" Through this course, you'll recognize behaviors that suggest the dog is unsure, and consider how to de-escalate the conversation to "I'm into you!"

Course author: Devan Amundsen, CPDT-KA, is a certified dog trainer with over 15 years of experience working with not just dog owners, but dogs in shelters, assistance dogs and other working dogs

Nota: Este curso también está disponible en español.

The adoption process is the final step in finding new homes for shelter pets. It begins with getting to know the pet, writing a narrative and posting photos/video, continues to making a match with a potential adopter, and ends with sending the pet home with an adopter and providing support.

This course provides guidance for navigating the adoption process, with an emphasis on adoption counseling. The course demonstrates the general adoption counseling process and then dives into adoption counseling for pets with behavior or medical conditions. Text content is supported by videos, infographics and exercises. All videos are shareable and all infographics are available for download so you can use them in training. 

This course is eligible for 2.0 hours of credit from the Association for Animal Welfare Advancement (AAWA) and the National Animal Care & Control Association (NACA). 

This course will teach you everything you need to know in order to place 50% or more of shelter pets into foster homes. You will learn to utilize the seven guiding principles of foster programs to set your organization up for foster success; create a year-round, comprehensive foster recruitment plan that extends the invitation to foster to all members of your community; create a community culture of fostering to make foster the standard of care; create a process for marketing and adopting pets from foster care; and utilize staff and volunteers to assist with management of foster care. 

Note: This course was previously titled A New Model for Shelter Care: Replacing Kennels with Foster Homes.

Human Animal Support Services, HASS

With a viable foster program it's possible to begin saving lives and transforming your community to no-kill, even if you don't have a shelter. Learn how to build a successful foster program that can grow with your organization by developing teams of volunteers. You will be able to expand your capacity to save more animals.

Presenter: Lindholm, Duer

Maximize In-Shelter Welfare, Animal & Population Management,live outcomes,foster programs, foster care,pet fostering, community outreach, dog foster, dog foster care

Gone are the days of handwritten applications and in-person volunteer orientations. Foster programs are evolving at lightning speed, leveraging new technologies to give their program a digital makeover.

Presenters: Dr. Sara Pizano, founder Team Shelter USA; Sarah Aguilar, Foster Programs Manager at GreaterGood.org; Chris Roy, founder of Doobert; Rene Vasquez, Director at Fort Bend County Animal Services; Laura Chavarria, Executive Director of the Nashville Humane Association; and Sarah Cano, Community Engagement Coordinator at the Humane Society of Harlingen, TX.

keywords:

community cats, humane field services, Million Cat Challenge, admissions, shelter medicine, in-care welfare, animal & population management, kittens, kitten care, kitten foster, keep companion animals in their homes and neighborhoods, capacity & flow, community outreach, re-home pets without the shelter system, foster care programs for animal shelters, kitten foster care programs, volunteers, recruiting volunteers, foster coordinator, webcast

The changes you can make to maximize the potential for making emotional connections between pets and potential adopters and fosters are simple but powerful. This webcast will make the case for the separation of marketing and adoption counseling through reviewing the science behind how we form relationships and why warning labels work to keep consumers from taking products home.

You’ll learn the difference between marketing and adoption counseling, what a “stop sign” is and how you can avoid them, and how to ensure that adopters and fosters are given full transparency about a pet’s history before they take them home.

Afterwards, continue the discussion on Maddie's Pet Forum on Maddie's Pet Forum here: https://maddies.fund/WebcastEnsuringTransparency

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.

Presenters 
Kelly Duer, Foster Care Specialist, Maddie's Fund
Kristen Hassen, Director, American Pets Alive! and Human Animal Support services

keywords adoptions. marketing, adoption counseling, foster, foster caregivers, transparency

If you save them, they have all got to go to homes. Learn how to move pets on a large scale, apply best practices, and save a ton of lives. This presentation was recorded by Maddie’s Fund® at the 2019 American Pets Alive! Conference.

Presenters: Frenden, Figueroa

Increase Live Outcomes, Animal & Population Management, Community Outreach, Live Outcomes, open adoptions, remove barriers to adoption, live outcomes, adoption, high-volume adoption

What is a "Finder Foster" program - how does it work, how long do finders need to hold an animal and what are other important legal aspects of these programs?

In this course you’ll learn how Finder Foster programs can help you reunite more animals with their families, promote animal well-being and minimize stress by reducing time spent in the shelter, and reserve resources for animals who really do need to come in—all by engaging people who are already helping animals in your community.

We've asked a legal expert to help us understand these important details.  We'll be using the state of California and its legal requirements for these programs as an example.  You'll want to speak to your own legal counsel to make sure your area (state, county, city or other locality) doesn't have different regulations in place.

As part of Maddie's® Million Pet Challenge Learniverse program, Bruce Wagman, Lead Counsel for the Shelter Policy and Legal Services (Shelter PALS) program of the San Francisco SPCA, covers the concepts, legal specifics, and requirements of finder-foster programs for animal shelters in the state of California. The country’s first and only legal aid organization dedicated exclusively to the needs of animal shelters, Shelter PALS leverages the expertise of the best legal minds in animal welfare, and channels significant legal aid to animal shelters. Although the specific information in this course is applicable to and derived from California state law, many of the principles will be similar in other states.

• Learn more about SF SPCA's Shelter PALS
• Learn more about  Maddie's®️ Million Pet Challenge Learniverse.  #ThankstoMaddie

This short, self-paced course has been approved for 1.0 Certified Animal Welfare Administrator (CAWA) continuing education credits by The Association for Animal Welfare Advancement and by National Animal Care and Control Association. 

This course has been approved for 1 hour of continuing education credit until July 27, 2028 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:  Animal Care Laws, Finder Foster, Lifesaving.

PLEASE CONTACT:  [email protected] if you have any questions or concerns about this course.

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.

This course focuses on how Finder Foster programs support the Right Place, Right Care, and Right Outcome components of the Four Rights.

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

You can also join the discussion about these concepts over on Maddie's Pet Forum in the Shelter PALS Legal Series Discussion Group

Click to visit the Discussion Group (will open in a new window/tab).

We have a dedicated discussion group on Maddie's Pet Forum to discuss the Shelter PALS Legal Series.  Bring your questions, comments, thoughts, and suggestions, or just see what others are thinking about these ideas.

When it comes to daily shelter activities, the most common questions, and greatest confusion, revolve around intake (if, when, who) of animals, and the applicable holding periods once intake occurs. 

This course will discuss the laws that shape intake and holding periods for animals in shelters in the state of California (but the basic concepts and discussion points will apply to all states). You’ll learn the California-specific state mandates and requirements surrounding intake, exceptions surrounding holding periods, and how to determine holding periods in various situations. If you're not in California let this information guide you in what to research in your own state.

Knowing which animals should enter the shelter and how long they must stay is crucial to prioritizing intake of the animals who truly need to be at your shelter and minimizing length of stay in shelters for those animals.

As part of the Maddie's^® Million Pet Challenge Learniverse program, Bruce Wagman, Lead Counsel for San Francisco SPCA's Shelter Policy and Legal Services (Shelter PALS) program, covers intake and holding periods for animal shelters in the state of California. The country’s first and only legal aid organization dedicated exclusively to the needs of animal shelters, Shelter PALS leverages the expertise of the best minds in animal welfare and channels significant legal aid to animal shelters. 

• Learn more about SF SPCA's Shelter PALS
• Learn more about  Maddie's®️ Million Pet Challenge Learniverse.  #ThankstoMaddie

This short, self-paced course has been approved for 1.0 Certified Animal Welfare Administrator (CAWA) continuing education credits by The Association for Animal Welfare Advancement and by National Animal Care and Control Association. 

This course has been approved for 1 hour of continuing education credit until September 7, 2028 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:  Animal care laws, intake, holding periods, legal, holds, holding, period, laws, ordinances, mandates, stray, hold, owner, surrender, public, shelter, private 

PLEASE CONTACT:  [email protected] if you have any questions or concerns about this course.

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

This course focuses on understanding intake requirements and holding periods that can help your shelter make sure animals are in the Right Place for the Right Time. 

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

You can also join the discussion about these concepts over on Maddie's Pet Forum in the Shelter PALS Legal Series Discussion Group.

Click to visit the Discussion Group (will open in a new window/tab).

We have a dedicated discussion group on Maddie's Pet Forum to discuss the Shelter PALS Legal Series.  Bring your questions, comments, thoughts, and suggestions, or just see what others are thinking about these ideas.

This course will explore what community cat programs (CCPs) are, explain why CCPs are needed, and describe how effective CCPs operate in compliance with state and local laws. You'll learn how your shelter can address cat overpopulation and help cats thrive where they are by implementing humane, life-saving, evidence-based community cat programs. 

As part of the Maddie's^® Million Pet Challenge Learniverse program, Bruce Wagman, Lead Counsel for San Francisco SPCA's Shelter Policy and Legal Services (Shelter PALS) program, covers community cat programs in the state of California. The country’s first and only legal aid organization dedicated exclusively to the needs of animal shelters, Shelter PALS leverages the expertise of the best minds in animal welfare and channels significant legal aid to animal shelters. 

• Learn more about SF SPCA's Shelter PALS
• Learn more about  Maddie's®️ Million Pet Challenge Learniverse.  #ThankstoMaddie

This short, self-paced course has been approved for 1.0 Certified Animal Welfare Administrator (CAWA) continuing education credit by The Association for Animal Welfare Advancement and by National Animal Care and Control Association. 

This course has been approved for 1 hour of continuing education credit until September 19th, 2028 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:  cats, kittens, community, cat, programs, TNR, SNR

PLEASE CONTACT:  [email protected] if you have any questions or concerns about this course.

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.

This course focuses on community cat programs to help make sure cats get the Right Care, in the Right Place, and get to the Right Outcome. 

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

You can also join the discussion about these concepts over on Maddie's Pet Forum in the Shelter PALS Legal Series Discussion Group.

Click to visit the Discussion Group (will open in a new window/tab).

We have a dedicated discussion group on Maddie's Pet Forum to discuss the Shelter PALS Legal Series.  Bring your questions, comments, thoughts, and suggestions, or just see what others are thinking about these ideas.