Shelter Playgroup Alliance Presents (fee applies): Learn about feline behavior! Join us a day before the SPA 2021 Shelter Behavior and Enrichment Conference for a special option on Thursday, May 20, 2021. Immerse yourself in feline behavior during a full day deep dive with Mikel Delgado, PhD. Mikel is a cat behavior consultant and co-founder of Feline Minds.

VIN/VSPN Presents (fee applies): Shock is a complex syndrome with a wide range of etiologies. It is a life-threatening emergency, which requires prompt recognition and intervention. Clinicians will be guided through key pathophysiological processes explaining common clinical presentations in veterinary patients. Step-by-step patient management will be discussed.

Suzanne Clothier Presents (fee applies): RAT™ is a rapid assessment tool that provides clear information about each relationship. Whoever they may be, in every relationship the handler brings his or her habits, personalities, needs and style to interact with the dog, who also brings his own personality, patterns of response, needs and style. We need to work with the whole package. RAT™ is ideal for trainers, instructors, shelter workers, rescue groups, veterinarians, vet techs, breeders, service dog trainers, AAI/AAT and anyone interested in understanding and enhancing the dog/human relationship.

Suzanne Clothier Presents (fee applies): Did you miss CARAT last time? Here’s your chance to join us and find out why people say, “CARAT changes everything!” CARAT is a novel temperament assessment system that categorizes behavior traits in multiple components that are intuitive and practical. CARAT is truly a game changer that will alter how you assess, understand and work with dogs.

IAABC Presents (fee applies): Modification of any problematic or unwanted behavior requires mechanical skill, knowledge of species-specific behavior, and experience with a variety of strategies and techniques. This course will provide opportunities for anyone who works with cats to gain all of that, and more. Each of the five weeks is packed with information that can be directly and immediately applied to a variety of cat behavior cases, from aggression to anxiety and from fighting to fear.

Humane Network Presents (fee applies): This award-winning online certificate program provides practical information and valuable networking for current sheltering professionals, those looking to advance their career, or move into the field of animal sheltering. The program’s courses include leadership, shelter operations, community program development, animal health/clinic operations, and marketing/development.

VIN/VSPN Presents (fee applies): Appropriate pediatric care and client education is critical part of companion animal practice. It helps set the stage for lifelong health, enhances the bond between owner and pet, and helps avoid common preventable diseases. This course will discuss important topics that need to be covered during wellness visits, vaccination and deworming protocols, and common health conditions encountered during the pediatric period. We will focus exclusively on those patients between the ages of about 6-16 weeks of age. A separate class on VIN focuses on the care of the neonate.

Best Friends Presents: The term “community engagement” gets thrown around a lot, as if it is something that an officer can do if they have a few extra minutes.  To unlock the full potential of community engagement, however, we must start thinking of it as less of a project and more of a state of mind. This lifesaving philosophy will not only help save the lives of animals but could potentially save an officer’s life as well.  In this course you will learn how embracing community engagement as a mindset can, and will, increase lifesaving efforts and officer safety.

Best Friends Presents: Animal control officers play an integral role today in the reduction of shelter intake by choosing to identify and return stray dogs to their families without bringing them into the shelter, but all too often, officers stop looking for an owner was they find that the animal has no ID, tags, or microchip. This workshop highlights successful efforts from agencies across the country that have shown to significantly increase the field RTO rate for those animals without obvious identification.

Best Friends Presents: This session will cover how to respond to residents who don’t want community cats, also know as feral, stray or free-roaming cats, on their property. We’ll discuss strategic placement of deterrents, de-escalation techniques and information sharing regarding the long-term effectiveness of managing populations of community cats after sterilization.