Maddie's® Insights are monthly webcasts with practical tips based on current research to help pets and people. 

Animal sheltering has evolved to focus on community-based services as much as in-shelter care. The philosophy that animal sheltering begins and ends within the community through various support programs is gaining traction. These programs, ranging from food banks and training classes to veterinary services, aim to support pet guardianship and retention in the home. However, there's often a mismatch between the programs offered and the actual needs of the community. In this session, Seana will share research on pre-COVID retention programs focused on companion dogs offered by US animal sheltering organizations, highlighting gaps between these programs and community needs. She will outline a strategic decision-making process for selecting community programs to support pets in homes and discuss different program options.

 Learning Objectives: 

In this session, attendees will:

·      Learn about common retention programs focused on companion dogs offered by US shelters and identify gaps between available programs and community needs

·      Become familiar with a strategic decision-making process that can be used when developing and evaluating community programs that support pets in homes

Presenter: Seana Dowling-Guyer, MS, Associate Director, Collaborative (Center) for Shelter Dogs; Lecturer, Masters in Animals and Public Policy,Center for Animals and Public Policy, Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine

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 approved for 1 hour of continuing education credit in jurisdictions which recognize RACE approval from July 22, 2024 - July 21, 2026. Complete the quiz to earn continuing education credit for RACE, CAWA and NACA.

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

keywords  Maddie's Insights, Seana Downling-Guyer, dog retention programs, community programs for shelter dogs

Maddie's® Insights are monthly webcasts with practical tips based on current research to help pets and people.  

Many people feel that they have shared a strong bond with a do, and there is growing scientific evidence that these dogs also form strong bonds with their humans. However, science also tells us that not all bonds are created equal. The kind and quality of attachment relationship shared can influence a dog’s behavior and welfare outcomes. In this talk, Dr. Monique Udell provides an overview of attachment theory, including what it means to be a Secure Base, and how this knowledge can be applied to better understand and improve dog-human relationships and the relationships shared between humans and other animals.

Presenter: Monique Udell, Ph. D., CAAB

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 approved for 1 hour of continuing education credit in jurisdictions which recognize RACE approval through 1/10/27. Complete the quiz to earn continuing education credit.

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

keywords  Maddie's Insights, Monique Udell, Human-Animal Interactions Lab, human-canine bond, dog behavior, attachment theory, Secure Base, dog-human relationships

Maddie's® Insights are monthly webcasts with practical tips based on current research to help pets and people.  

Behavioral euthanasia is a sensitive topic with a wide variety of personal thoughts and emotions. But what do we actually know about it? How often does it happen, and why? Do we have data we can use to make decisions? Where can we turn for information? This talk will walk you through the existing (and pending!) research on behavioral euthanasia to help us separate fact from fiction.

Learning Objectives 

In this session, attendees will come away with:

●      An understanding of the history of research on behavioral euthanasia and the gaps

●      A summary of the 2024 paper "Factors Associated with Behavioral Euthanasia in Pet Dogs" and learn about the methods used (and why)

●      The types of behaviors that led to euthanasia in this study, and the information we can (and can't) use from it to make decisions

●      The main findings of the study, including pieces that agree or disagree with previous literature

●      The limitations of research like this, and the potential for future study

●      Takeaways for pet professionals based on this research and resources available for folks in this situation

Presenter: Miranda Hitchcock, MS Applied Animal Behavior, CDBC, CBCC-KA, CPDT-KA, Fear Free Certified

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 approved for 1 hour of continuing education credit in jurisdictions which recognize RACE approval between 8/19/24 - 8/19/26. Complete the quiz to earn continuing education credit.

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

keywords  Maddie's Insights, Miranda Hitchcock MS, behavioral euthanasia in pet dogs

Maddie's® Insights is our ongoing webcast series with practical tips based on current research to help pets and people. 

Presenter: Erica Feuerbacher, PhD, Associate Professor, School of Animal Sciences, Virginia Tech and Director, Applied Behavior & Welfare Lab

Program Description:
Dogs are often housed alone in shelter settings to reduce injury and disease spread. However, social isolation can be a stressor for dogs. Most prior studies have focused on laboratory dogs or shelter dogs that have been kenneled for several months. Thus, those results might not necessarily generalize to shelter dogs, many of which have shorter lengths of stay than those dogs studied to date and might be cohoused soon after intake.

The presenter and her team investigated the behavioral and physiological effects of single- or pair-housing shelter dogs, most of which had recently entered the shelter, as well as the impact of pair-housing on length of stay. In this talk, Dr. Feuerbacher will review the literature on co-housing dogs, go into detail on her study methods and results, and discuss the benefits and practical considerations of pair-housing dogs.

Attendees will learn to:
1.     Identify behavioral and physiological benefits of pair housing
2.     Identify adoption benefits of pair housing
3.     Understand the requirements to consider using pair housing safely

Earn continuing education credit from The Association for Animal Welfare Advancement towards 1.0 CAWA CEs. This webinar has also been pre-approved for 1.0 continuing education credits by the National Animal Care & Control Association (NACA). It has also been approved for 1 hour of continuing education credit between 12/6/24 - 12/6/26 in jurisdictions which recognize RACE approval. Complete the quiz to earn continuing education credit.

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

keywords  Maddie's Insights, Erica N. Feuerbacher, pair-housing shelter dogs, co-housing shelter dogs, adoption benefits of pair housing

Maddie's® Insights are monthly webcasts with practical tips based on current research to help pets and people.  

How do we reduce relinquishment to animal shelters? In the U.S. and Canada, approximately 25-30% of animals that enter shelters are surrendered by owners. However, despite many shelters and rescues providing various pet support services for the past few decades, there has been little demonstratable reduction in owner surrendered animals. Currently, many animal shelters use data collected at intake, such as surrender reasons, to create programs that aim to support pet owners to keep their pets. This presentation will outline research into animal shelters, pet owning communities, self-rehoming platforms, and pet owners to demonstrate the complex system of pet surrender. By the end of this presentation, participants will learn how community data can complement animal shelter data to help divert animals from shelters.

Learning Objectives:

By the end of this presentation, you will be able to…

·      Discuss strategies to improve standardization of intake data collection within your shelter

·      Identify ways to connect animal shelter data to community-level demographic data to understand risks of surrender

·      Interpret data from pet support services, self-rehoming platforms, and pet owners to understand how to promote intake diversion

Presenter: Lexis Ly, PhD Student, UBC Animal Welfare Program 

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 approved for 1 hour of continuing education credit in jurisdictions which recognize RACE approval. Complete the quiz to earn continuing education credit for CAWA and NACA.

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

keywords  Maddie's Insights, Lexis Ly, intake data collection, animal shelter data, animal shelter intake reduction,owner surrendered animals

Maddie's® Insights are monthly webcasts with practical tips based on current research to help pets and people.  

Program Description:

Safeguarding the well-being of cats is essential to the mission of any responsible animal shelter. Environmental enrichment and behavior modification are often key to this goal. Measuring response to these interventions is essential to ensure strategies are successful. This webinar will present four ordinal rating scales designed to evaluate different expressions of cat behavior/welfare on a 0–5 scale (modified Fear, Anxiety, and Stress score; Response to Petting score; Participation in Play score; and Food Intake Summary score) that have excellent inter-observer agreement and reliability, and a few other tools to describe behavior in a quantitative way. These tools are exceptionally useful to evaluate the response individual cats have to specific interventions, make decisions about which interventions should be tried first by looking at what was effective in cases presenting similarly in the past, and evaluating the efficacy of different interventions across a population of similar cats in a research project.

What you'll come away with:
- An understanding of the value of using standardized rating tools to evaluate behavior and welfare in shelters
- The ability to identify a range of practical applications for these tools, in both in the shelter and beyond

Presenter: Jacklyn Ellis, PhD, Director of Behavior, Toronto Humane Society

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 approved for 1 hour of continuing education credit in jurisdictions which recognize RACE approval between 9/26/24 - 9/25/26. Complete the quiz to earn continuing education credit.

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

keywords  Maddie's Insights, Jacklyn Ellis, PhD, behavioral data for cats, feline behavior

Maddie's® Insights is our ongoing webcast series with practical tips based on current research to help pets and people. 

Presenter: Dr. Claire Corridan, BVMSPhD, MRCVS, Great Expectations Veterinary Consultancy

Program Description:
This talk explores the aspects of Trauma-Informed Care for humans which might be applied in dogs, focusing on the assessment of shelter dogs or those presented for problematic behaviors, and the potential for protecting puppies from adverse early experiences.

Learning objectives:
1. Summarizing trauma informed care - what it is and where the concept came from
2. Considering adverse early experience and the impact of this for dogs
3. Assessment of animals impacted by adverse early experience
4. Treatment and rehabilitation of animals impacted by adverse early experience
5. The future of TIC in promoting positive welfare for dogs

Earn continuing education credit from The Association for Animal Welfare Advancement towards 1.0 CAWA CEs. This webinar has also been pre-approved for 1.0 continuing education credits by the National Animal Care & Control Association (NACA). It has also been approved for 1 hour of continuing education credit between 11/13/24 - 11/13/26 in jurisdictions which recognize RACE approval. Complete the quiz to earn continuing education credit. 

Visit Maddie's Pet Forum to comment, follow a discussion or ask questions: https://maddies.fund/MIwebcast02132025

keywords  Maddie's Insights, trauma-informed care, shelter dogs, behavior modification, Claire Corridan

Maddie's® Insights are monthly webcasts with practical tips based on current research to help pets and people.  

The Family Bondedness Scale (FBS) was designed to measure scores which represent the degree to which a person is emotionally and affectionately bonded to a pet as a member of their family. This presentation will cover the development and use of and research to date on the FBS when measuring equivalence between cat and dog owners. Dr. Nugent will go over the rationale for the scale, what it is intended to measure, how it was developed, how scores on the scale should be interpreted and how it should be scored and used. He also discusses current research on the scale and the implications of the results in both veterinary research and practice.

Presenter: William R. Nugent, PhD, Professor at the College of Social Work, The University of Tennessee in Knoxville, TN

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 approved 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 (non-medical) is available until 10/23/2025.

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

keywords  Maddie's Insights, William R. Nugent, Family Bondedness Scale, animal well-being, keeping pets and people together

Maddie's® Insights are monthly webcasts with practical tips based on current research to help pets and people.  

Catherine Kisavi-Atatah PhD will share the findings of her publication, Examining the Relationship between BIPOC Communities and Their Companion Animals. This study explored the relationship between BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) communities with their companion animals, using Attachment Theory as a lens of analysis. Findings suggest that public and private policy decision-makers should develop and implement holistic, across-the-board, companion animal policies that are user-friendly to all.

 Learning Objectives:

·      Understand the complexities of the multifaceted aspects of the relationship between Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) communities and their companion animals, including historical, cultural and socio-economic factors

·      Identify the unique challenges and barriers that BIPOC communities encounter in accessing veterinary care, resources and support for their companion animals, and evaluate the implications for both the animals and communities

·      Understand the significance of cultural competency and diversity in veterinary medicine and animal welfare; analyze how these factors influence the provision of care and support to BIPOC individuals and their communities

·      Evaluate policy recommendations and practical insights presented in the paper to better support BIPOC communities in their relationship with companion animals, and consider the broader implications for public policies, animal welfare organizations, and community initiatives

Presenter: Catherine Kisavi-Atatah Ph.D., Professor, Health and Human Performance Department, Prairie View A&M University 

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 approved 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 valid until 9/18/2025.

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

keywords  Maddie's Insights, Catherine Kisavi-Atatah PhD, BIPOC communities and their pets, Black, Indigenous, and People of Color communities and their companion animals, challenges and barriers that BIPOC communities, cultural competency and diversity in veterinary medicine and animal welfare, resources and support for BIPOC communities and their pets,

Maddie's Insights are monthly webcasts with practical tips based on current research to help pets and people.

Presenter: Dr. Lisa Gunter, Assistant Professor, Coastal Carolina University

On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization deemed the coronavirus outbreak a worldwide pandemic, and subsequently a nationwide emergency was declared in the United States. During this time, media outlets reported increased interest in foster caregiving and adoption of shelter pets. In this talk, Dr. Gunter will describe her research team's examination of canine foster caregiving at 19 US animal shelters during the first four months of the COVID-19 pandemic and what they learned about shelters' utilization of foster caregiving, the foster caregivers and their relationships to the shelter, and how monetary resources influenced foster caregiving and dog outcomes. Specifically, Dr. Gunter discusses key takeaways for foster recruitment, trial adoption programs, caregiving practices, and behavioral support that can be utilized in our post-pandemic world.

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/MIwebcast...

keywords foster care, adoption, animal sheltering research, Dr. Lisa Gunter, canine foster caregiving study, COVID-19 pandemic, foster recruitment, direct adoption, foster caregiving practices, dog behavioral support, emergency fostering during the COVID-19 pandemic