Watch Recorded Webinars

The webinars you’ve been asking for!

Legal Meets Best Practices: Translating California regulations into best practices that benefit you, your shelter, and the people and animals in your community.

Join us in this two-part series as 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.   Webinar recordings are available on-demand at Maddie’s&reg University.

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!

At the end of this series, you’ll understand how California laws and regulations should impact and inform best practices in how your shelter approaches critical areas including: 

• Improving Community Cat Programs
• Getting lost animals home fast
• Focusing intake on the neediest animals
• Knowing intake & holding period requirements
• Knowing who can do what in the shelter

Powered by partnership.

This webinar is brought to you by the Maddie’s Million Pet Challenge Learniverse at the UC Davis Koret Shelter Medicine Program, San Francisco SPCA’s Shelter PALS program, and CalAnimals.

By sharing our diverse expertise and working together to find the intersections where California law impacts animal shelters, we’ve formulated holistic shelter practices that allow you to better leverage the law.

Watch On Demand at Maddie’s University

Both webinars will be recorded and available on-demand after the live events.

Watch Recordings

Your exclusive gateway to unlocking crucial insights, empowering you to address challenges and navigate the intricate landscape of drug and premises permit regulations.

The goal of this course is to simplify, distill, and deliver the essential knowledge you need to address challenges and navigate the intricate landscape of drug and premises permit regulations.

We’ll cover:

•Understanding Legal Dynamics: Gain valuable access to the inner workings of the legal landscape governing medical and euthanasia services in shelters. Discover the transformative impact of understanding the agencies that impact the type and quality of care you provide.

•Decoding Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) & Veterinary Medical Board (VMB) Roles: Untangle regulations around controlled substances, enhance your understanding of premises permits, and gain insight into the role of premises permit holders, with a focus on compliance.

•Strengthen Your Team: Gain insights into the diverse roles of licensed and unlicensed staff in delivering top-tier medical care within shelters. Equip your team with knowledge that will directly amplify care quality.

•Facilitate Access to Medical Care in Shelters: Explore actionable solutions! Master the art of collaboration with regulatory agencies, opening pathways for advanced medical care for animals in your shelter and in your community.

Continuing Education Credits

This short course has been approved for 2  Certified Animal Welfare Administrator (CAWA) continuing education credit by The Association for Animal Welfare Advancement (AAWA) and by National Animal Care and Control Association (NACA). 

This course has been approved for 2 hours of RACE continuing education credit until 9/25/2025 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.

Please contact learniverse@sheltermedportal.com if you have any questions or concerns about this course.

How can your shelter best leverage the veterinary care capabilities of your entire staff?

In this short course, you’ll learn how to fully leverage the veterinary care capabilities of your entire team – not just your designated “medical” staff – including front office staff, field officers, kennel attendants, volunteers, and fosters. Bruce Wagman, Lead Counsel for San Francisco SPCA’s Shelter Policy and Legal Services (Shelter PALS), will review which shelter tasks team members can perform, from intake-related care and running diagnostics to providing treatment, surgery, euthanasia, public veterinary services, and emergency care. After this course, you’ll be ready to maximize your shelter’s options for providing veterinary care while adhering to the law and Practice Act requirements.

By the end of this course, you should be able to: 

• Describe how the practice of veterinary medicine is defined in California and the law surrounding its practice.
• Compare and contrast the required training, licensing, and other qualifications of Veterinarians, Registered Veterinary Technicians, and Veterinary Assistants/other shelter team members.
• List permitted tasks for each shelter team member.
• Demonstrate an understanding of who can perform various animal care and medical tasks including but not limited to administering medications, vaccinations, and deworming, microchipping, rabies vaccinations, inducing anesthesia, and performing euthanasia.

This course was adapted from a webinar by Bruce Wagman, Lead Counsel for the San Francisco SPCA’s Shelter Policy and Legal Services (Shelter PALS) program and hosted by the California Animal Welfare Association (CalAnimals).

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

This course has been approved for 1 hour of RACE continuing education credit until 8/2/2025 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.

Email us at learniverse@sheltermedportal.com if you have any questions or concerns about this course.

What is a “Community Cat Program” – how do community cat programs work, what are the important legal aspects to consider?

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’s Learniverse program, 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.

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 December 7th, 2024 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.

PLEASE CONTACT:  learniverse@sheltermedportal.com if you have any questions or concerns about this course.

Do you know which animals your shelter is required to take in and what the minimum legal hold times are?

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’s Learniverse program, 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.

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 November 14, 2024 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.

PLEASE CONTACT:  learniverse@sheltermedportal.com if you have any questions or concerns about this course.

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

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.

As part of the Maddie’s®️ Million Pet Challenge’s Learniverse program, 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.

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 25, 2024 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.

PLEASE CONTACT:  learniverse@sheltermedportal.com if you have any questions or concerns about this course.

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