Maddie’s Fund Presents: When reactive dogs are confronted with their triggers at every turn in the shelter setting, how do we make progress? This presentation will go over a special shelter dog, Cypress, and the multifaceted approach his shelter team took to help him overcome his reactivity and find his way into a home. His case created what his shelter now calls the “Cypress Protocol” and has helped many dogs in the shelter setting succeed.

Open Door Veterinary Collective Presents: The veterinary profession is dealing with a workforce shortage and pet families are finding it harder to be able to afford needed care. These issues feel separate, but they actually have a lot more in common than you might think. Join us for a Live Discussion with Valerie Marcano – DVM, PhD, DACPV; Shadi Ireifej, DVM, DACVS; and Serena Nayee, DVM to explore their research, “The Connection Between Access to Care and Access to the Veterinary Profession”, published in Veterinary Ophthalmology.

Maddie’s Fund Presents: Shelters can be overwhelming places, impacting cats’ well-being and adoptability. In this session, we’ll explore actionable strategies to reduce stress and fear for cat fosters. From environmental factors to trust-building techniques, you’ll leave with practical techniques that can be used immediately to reduce stress and fear in cats.

Maddie’s Fund Presents: Resource guarding is a common behaviour seen in dogs entering rescue and shelter environments, often arising from stress, uncertainty, and past experiences around scarce or valuable resources. This presentation explores the current research on resource guarding and how it applies to real-world rescue settings. Participants will learn how to recognize and assess resource guarding safely, understand the factors that contribute to the behaviour, and interpret guarding signals in a shelter context.

Open Door Veterinary Collective Presents: Join us for live (and lively) discussions of important topics and research about strategies for increasing access to veterinary care. In our June Live Community Discussion we welcome Dr. Amara Estrada, to discuss “Beating Heart Disease with Spectrum of Care Strategies.”

Maddie’s Fund Presents: In this presentation, Misty Valenta will explore how your community can transform the way you look at your intake counter. Building a community-based team through fostering benefits the everyone involved – especially the pets!

CalAnimals Presents: We are pleased to announce that this year’s Executive Leadership Program cohort will be delivering their final presentations. If you are unable to attend the entire event, feel free to join us at any time during the session.

HASS Presents: Is your organization looking for people who excel at empathy and community problem-solving or are you looking for more technical skills? Are you focusing on compassion fatigue while creating a lighter, more supportive culture? We’d love to hear what’s working and what’s not!

Maddie’s Fund Presents: 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.