On Live from The Ranch, Sarah Owings joins Ken Ramirez to demonstrate protected contact training, which is invaluable for trainers working in a zoo, dog trainers working with aggressive or fearful dogs, and for many trainers who want a safe way to start working with large animals, such as cows, like Sarah.

Tune in on Thursday, August 7, at 1:00 pm (PT) for this free, live broadcast with audience Q&A!

WEBSITE LINK: https://theranch.clickertraining.com/live/#next

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 restructured its foster program over the past year to boost engagement, ease staff workload, and improve care for animals. Learn how they:

• Streamlined our foster roster through a full audit and re-engagement campaign
• Combined and modernized our 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.

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

About Maddie’s Monthly Foster Connection:
Join us on the first Thursday of every month to discuss successful foster innovations and programs, collaborate with others in the field, answer questions and talk through complex foster-related issues.

Who should join: Foster managers, coordinators, volunteers and any staff who are interested in learning about what’s working in foster programs.

You only need to register once for all meetings: https://maddies.fund/MonthlyFosterRegistration

Can’t attend live?  Register anyway and you will get a link to the recording within a day or two after each meeting.

All recordings and resources shared during the webcast will also be available in the Maddie’s Monthly Foster Connection group on Maddie’s Pet Forum https://maddies.fund/monthlyfosterconnectionMPF

Maddie’s Fund does not share registration information.

The opinions expressed by webinar presenters are their own and do not necessarily represent those of Maddie’s Fund.

WEBSITE LINK:  https://maddies.fund/MonthlyFosterRegistration

Veterinary Social Worker Most of us in the animal shelter world are there because we love animals. But what about all of the human emotions and situations that come with the job? In this session, Valerie Bogie, MSSW, Veterinary Social Worker, discusses some of the toughest emotional challenges shelter workers face- and how to navigate them with care and compassion.

Attendees will learn:

• How communicating with clients & co-workers impacts well-being
• An overview of types of grief and current grief models to support emotional processing
• The emotional toll of euthanasia and how to care through it
• Tools to support yourself and your team through emotionally complex situations

This webinar is for anyone working in or around animals in shelters. You are not alone – and you can work towards a more sustainable career.

About Maddie’s Monthly Behavior Connection: Join us on the fourth Thursday of every month as we talk about dog and cat behavior – supporting pets in our community and animal shelters. Each month, we hear from speakers about topics of interest to our group, such as behavior medications, modifying animal behavior, assessing and improving animal welfare, and how organizations successfully provide behavior support to dogs and cats.

Who should join: Animal welfare staff and volunteers who are interested in dog and cat behavior, and everyone who works to keep pets out of shelters and in homes.

You only need to register once for all meetings: https://maddies.fund/MonthlyBehaviorRegistration

Can’t attend live? Register anyway and you will get a link to the recording within a day or two after each meeting.

All recordings and resources shared during the webcast will also be available in the Maddie’s Monthly Behavior Connection group on Maddie’s Pet Forum – https://maddies.fund/monthlybehaviorconnectionMPF

Maddie’s Fund does not share registration information.

The opinions expressed by webinar presenters are their own and do not necessarily represent those of Maddie’s Fund.

WEBSITE LINK:  https://maddies.fund/MonthlyBehaviorRegistration