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Shelter Learniverse and Industry-Wide Calendar

Author: Andy Cowitt

  • Legal Meets Best Practices 2 (12/13/23)

    Legal Meets Best Practices 2 (12/13/23)

    NOW AVAILABLE ON DEMAND AT MADDIE’S UNIVERSITY

    In Part 2 of this two-part series we continue a fun, interactive journey to demystify California’s legal landscape and discover how California laws and regulations can work in harmony with shelter policy to reduce unnecessary intakes and shorten shelter stays. 

    In this series, we will cut through the legalese, distill key takeaways, and provide you with practical, “what does this mean for me and my work?” guidance. If your shelter squad only ever attends one webinar series about how legal guidelines can be used to your advantage let this be the one!


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  • Legal Meets Best Practices 1 (12/6/23)

    Legal Meets Best Practices 1 (12/6/23)

    NOW AVAILABLE ON DEMAND MADDIE’S UNIVERSITY

    In Part 1 of this two-part series, we embark on a fun, interactive journey to demystify California’s legal landscape and discover how California laws and regulations can work in harmony with shelter policy to reduce unnecessary intakes and shorten shelter stays. 

    In this series, we will cut through the legalese, distill key takeaways, and provide you with practical, “what does this mean for me and my work?” guidance. If your shelter squad only ever attends one webinar series about how legal guidelines can be used to your advantage let this be the one!


    Learn more

  • Sign Up Now: Post-Summit Fast Tracks Begin Next Week

    Sign Up Now: Post-Summit Fast Tracks Begin Next Week

    Now that the Shelter Summit event is over, it’s time to join Fast Tracks and Track Packs! You can find schedules, registration links, and descriptions of each track below. Be sure to register for Fast Tracks (open to everyone, no application needed) before 3/28. Thinking about applying for one of our limited spots as a “Track Pack” member in one or more of the Fast Tracks? Apply to be considered by 3/31. We would love to have you join us!

    If you would like to watch all or part of the recorded Summit, each presentation and Q&A session is viewable on Maddie’s® University.

    If you have any questions, please contact us at learniverse@sheltermedportal.com. For more information, visit www.sheltersummit.com. We hope you enjoyed our event.

    Fast Tracks:

    If the topics intrigued you and/or you liked what you heard at the Summit and want to dive deeper, be sure to register for one or more of the 8-week-long Fast Tracks and start doing—with support! Sprint from idea to implementation and ongoing improvement by connecting with coaches and fellow participants along the way.

    Fast Tracks are open to everyone and there is no application process, just register to attend any or all of the meetings and office hours for the track you are interested in.

    You can join one of the Fast Tracks to get more information, support, and guidance from your coaches in 4 one hour live meetings over the weeks of 3/27, 4/17, 5/1, and 5/15.  You’ll also be invited to join the coaches’ optional office hours during off-weeks (weeks of 4/10, 4/24, 5/8, and 5/22).

    Read more below or click the track title below to register for the Track and get links to the meetings and office hours.

    Track Live Meetings Optional Office Hours
    Coordinated Care: The Secret Sauce to Ensuring Animals and People Get the Right Care in the Right Place 3/30, 4/20, 5/4, 5/18 11 am Pacific 4/12, 4/26, 5/10, 5/24 9am Pacific
    Are You Staying Within Your Capacity for Care? (you might be surprised) 3/30, 4/20, 5/4, 5/18 9 am Pacific 4/13, 4/27, 5/11, 5/25 9 am Pacific
    Hidden Gems: How to Make Your Shelter Software Help You Work Smarter, Not Harder 3/28, 4/18, 5/2, 5/16 9 am Pacific 4/11, 4/25, 5/9, 5/23 1 pm Pacific
    Proven Barrier-Busting Strategies That Send Animals Home 3/29, 4/19, 5/3, 5/17 11 am Pacific 4/13, 4/27, 5/11, 5/25 9am Pacific
    Feeling Overwhelmed with Making Outcome Decisions? We can help! 3/29, 4/19, 5/3, 5/17 12 pm Pacific 4/11, 4/25, 5/9, 5/23 10 am Pacific

     

    Fast Track Options,  Information, and Registration:

    Coordinated Care: The Secret Sauce to Ensuring Animals and People Get the Right Care in the Right Place

    Learn progressive and collaborative ways of respecting all of the members of your community, especially those who come to us for supportive services. We’ll focus on ways to help pets stay in their current homes when possible and how to effectively reserve shelter intake for animals who really need to be in our care. We’ll discuss not only how these techniques can reduce shelter intakes, but also how this approach will set everyone up for success, including families, animals, and shelter team members.

    Track Coaches:
    Lead Coach: Jennifer Toussaint, Chief Animal Control Officer at the Animal Welfare League of Arlington
    Co-Coach: Kelly Bremken, Veterinary Social Worker at Oregon Humane Society

    Registration Link: https://sheltermedicine.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZUvduurrT4iE9UKlsg4WkBeNNfaDMRAcWmz

    Are You Staying Within Your Capacity for Care? (You Might Be Surprised!)

    Capacity for Care (C4C) – such a wonderful place to be and yet can feel so out of reach. What is your shelter’s capacity for care, what is it based on and are you staying within it? Even just understanding what C4C is for an organization can feel overwhelming, much less getting there. Need a refresher or don’t know where to start? Answer – right here! It all starts with knowing that it is possible to stay within your capacity for care at all organizations, regardless of how animals come to you. We’ll dive into what determines your capacity, how it impacts the work you do every day, and the decisions you make. Discover how you can provide the Right Care in the Right Place for people and animals AND stay within your C4C. This is your chance to learn some of the ways you can get out of crisis mode, decrease overwhelm, and make it possible for your team to maximize your limited resources all while ensuring your shelter is able to have the greatest impact on the people and pets in your community.

    This track is a wonderful partner to the tracks being offered at this summit – to take the groundwork into action! Not a shelter director or manager? No problem, we invite anyone in the animal shelter space to join us on this journey!

    Track Coaches:
    Lead Coach: Cindy Karsten, DVM, Director of Outreach at the UC Davis Koret Shelter Medicine Program
    Co-Coach: Ivy Ruiz, Outreach Specialist at the UC Davis Koret Shelter Medicine Program

    Registration Link: https://sheltermedicine.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZMtdumppzosHtV9whKkEVbdWk5QBA4WUM8Q

    Hidden Gems: How to Make Your Shelter Software Help You Work Smarter, Not Harder

    Is what your shelter software has to say being ignored? Start transforming numbers and patterns in your intake and outcome reports into concrete benefits for animals and staff! Discover how to increase live release and lower length of stay based on the information you already have at your fingertips.

    Track Coaches:
    Lead Coach: Becky Stuntebeck, DVM, Facility Design Veterinarian at the UC Davis Koret Shelter Medicine Program
    Co-Coach: Cindi Delany, DVM, Maddie’s Million Pet Challenge Director of Online Learning at UC Davis Koret Shelter Medicine Program

    Registration Link: https://sheltermedicine.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZIqcOqpqTkoHNbXcS9Bt9VZ1P5m3OA31Dnu

    Proven Barrier-Busting Strategies That Send Animals Home

    Uncover hidden and not-so-hidden roadblocks that are keeping animals in the shelter, contributing to shelter team overwhelm and fatigue, and tying up precious resources. Discover how to clear the way to ensure more pets are reunited with their families or placed in new homes. Tap into opportunities to increase live outcomes and build relationships with potential partners, volunteers, fosters, and adopters in your community.

    Track Coaches:
    Lead Coach: Nadia Oseguera, California Program Manager at the UC Davis Koret Shelter Medicine Program
    Co-Coach: Allison Cardona, California State Director at the UC Davis Koret Shelter Medicine Program

    Registration Link: https://sheltermedicine.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZAvfuuqrDsiEtJ509W7t5bd2rkyav3BWA6k

    Feeling Overwhelmed with Making Outcome Decisions? We can help!

    Shelter teams are faced daily with high-stakes outcome decisions made harder by an increasingly complex and strained system. We’ll discuss some of the issues at play and help you to develop tools to remove bottlenecks to outcomes and overcome the toughest decision-making dilemmas, from Adoption to Euthanasia, with transparency and compassion.

    Track Coaches:
    Lead Coach: Chumkee Aziz, DVM, Outreach Veterinarian, at the UC Davis Koret Shelter Medicine Program
    Co-Coach: Cindi Delany, DVM, Maddie’s Million Pet Challenge Director of Online Learning at the UC Davis Koret Shelter Medicine Program

    Registration Link: https://sheltermedicine.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZIkcOyrqD4qG9Qn8jMPEgrOT3mXIRZe1Rvc

    Track Pack Opportunity for Even More Coaching Help

    Apply for one of the limited spots in a Fast Track’s “Track Pack” to unlock dedicated coaching sessions and get the extra accountability, motivation, and inspiration you need to get the impact you want. Stay on track by advancing within a tight-knit group of shelters working side-by-side with your coaches to achieve your goals.

    As a Track Pack member, you could be spotlighted for other track participants to learn from your challenges and successes. You’ll cheer each other on, exchange experiences and ideas to turn setbacks into solutions, and measure progress together.

    Applications will be reviewed and applicants selected on a rolling basis.

    Track Pack spots are limited!

    Final deadline to apply is March 31, 2023. APPLY NOW HERE!

  • Tips to Dip: Best Practices for Ringworm Treatment

    Tips to Dip: Best Practices for Ringworm Treatment

    Ringworm is not a worm. A lime sulfur “dip” doesn’t involve lowering a kitten into a bucket of liquid. You don’t have to be the San Francisco SPCA’s Laura Mullen to know that.

    But you do have to be Laura Mullen, CAWA, to combat dermatophytosis in animal shelters by creating a program known as SPORE (Shelters Preventing Outbreaks of Ringworm through Education). Since 2013, Laura has trained folks from dozens of shelters how to prevent and manage the disease.

    To further her fungus-fighting mission, last month Laura gave a presentation to California shelters during our weekly CASCAR Zoom call. CASCAR, a group formed in response to COVID-19, gives animal shelter leaders in California and KSMP team members a chance to meet regularly and support each other through this challenging time.

    Laura’s presentation focused on empowering volunteers to safely foster cats and kittens with ringworm. Soon after, Laura shared a ringworm treatment video with us that we want to share with you.

    Find “Tips to Dip: How to Dip Cats and Kittens for Ringworm Using Minimal Stress Handling” at sheltermedicine.com in the Treating Ringworm chapter of the Ringworm Guidebook in our online resource library.

    Thanks to Laura and the SF SPCA for spreading the word about how not to spread ringworm!

  • BLOG – Where Are All the Strays?

    BLOG – Where Are All the Strays?

    People are worried. Looking at the data collected from over a thousand PetPoint shelters throughout the USA for the week of March 28-April 3, revealed remarkable drops in both intake and outcomes. In general, that made sense. In order to slow the spread of COVID-19, many shelters were open to the public for emergencies only, and communities had really stepped up to foster, opening space in the shelters in preparation for a possible onslaught of intakes when the pandemic peaks. But why was there a 47% drop in stray intakes since the start of the pandemic? Were thousands of stray dogs and cats suddenly roaming the streets, injured, hungry, scared, and desperately in need of shelter?

    Shelter staff know the answer to that last question is “No.” The animals are getting home without actually needing to enter the shelter at all. Thanks to social media like facebook and Nextdoor, community members are able to reunite wandering pets with their owners directly, and owners can find their lost pets quickly. A quick look at my neighborhood Nextdoor yielded three lost-and-found mini-dramas in just the last few days. One owner found her dog by driving around the neighborhood right after she posted that he’d escaped her backyard through a hole in the fence. That’s not unusual. A 2012 study by Slater and Weiss found that almost half of owners trying to find lost dogs succeeded simply by searching their neighborhood.

    Methods by which lost dogs are reunited with their owners pie chart

    One finder who posted on Nextdoor brought a friendly dog inside, took some photos, and posted them. Soon after, the relieved owner wrote, “Omg he’s mine!!…You’re an amazing soul!” Our local animal control is still taking in non-emergency cases. The finder took the dog to animal control, so the owner had to go to the shelter to pick up their pet. If the shelter had suggested the finder deal with the owner directly, that would have eliminated one touch point in the transaction. 

    This third Nextdoor post is a great example of how a community comes together to solve the mystery of a “stray” dog:

    Note a small detail in that last comment: “He goes in and out of the gate a lot.” While we might want to take this little dog’s owners aside and tell them to put a collar and tags on him, and perhaps fortify their gate with some chicken wire along the bottom, what’s worth noting is that the dog is not stray or lost; he’s just taking a solo walk around his neighborhood. In fact, “Returned on their own” makes up 20% of the “Methods by which lost dogs are reunited with their owners” pie in that Slater and Weiss study. Another 15% represents dogs who were returned by finders calling the phone number on the dog’s tags. 

    We’re all familiar with the statistic that cats are at least ten times more likely to get back home when they bypass the shelter entirely. From Slater and Weiss, we can infer that we never even hear about or come across most lost dogs. The truth is most companion animals never interact with a shelter, and isn’t that really what we want? We are one (vital) part of a community safety net for pets and pet owners. We always need to be able to provide a safe, healthy environment for animals in the shelter, and to protect animals and the public outside the shelter walls. 

    When a pandemic sharpens our focus and narrows our priorities, it can be hard to let go of the things we have been doing for years to help animals and keep our communities safe. When weighing an activity against the potential for spreading the virus that causes COVID-19, we have to ask, “Is this truly an emergency?” 

    Is the dog in poor body condition? Is the dog in danger? Is the dog a danger to others? If the answer to all of these questions is “No,” we can empower community members to find a solution that doesn’t include a trip to the shelter. While we don’t have any numbers around this yet, it’s worth saying that as the sheltering world has come together to share notes and compare strategies, we haven’t heard of an increase in dead animal pickups; if anything, anecdotal evidence suggests that dead animal pickups are down. 

    It probably helps that with their owners home, dogs have less reason to break out of their yards, and that staff now have time to triage and help pets stay in homes. 

    People have gotten the message that shelters have had to suspend business as usual. Communities have really stepped up to help animals in response to this pandemic: fostering rose by nearly 800% in the third week after the federal declaration, compared to the same time last year. People in front of their computers all day are using social media to stay in contact with friends…and also to return roaming pets to their owners. That frees us up to concentrate our efforts where they’re needed most.