Structured dog behavior assessments help shelters shift from reacting to behavior concerns after they escalate to proactively identifying needs early in a dog’s shelter stay. Although walks, enrichment, playgroups, and quiet time are important parts of daily care, some dogs need more individualized support to reduce stress, improve quality of life, and increase their likelihood of successful placement into homes. Using real shelter dog examples, behavior rating tools, action items, and outcome data, attendees will learn how early assessments can create consistency across staff and volunteers, support safer, more effective care, and identify concerns early, before they become significant barriers to adoption.
Guest Speaker: Vanly Griffith, Dog Behavior Coordinator at SICSA Pet Adoption & Wellness
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.
