Shelter Learniverse and Industry-Wide Calendar

The AAWA Presents: Join us to analyze key data insights, challenges, and successes from 2023, then peek into what Shelter Animals Count (SAC) has planned for 2024.

HASS Presents: Having a 90% or higher save rate has become the gold standard for measuring the success or failure of an animal shelter or rescue, and it will continue to be an important metric. The problem is that the save rate focuses only on a singular point in a complex societal issue. Join Dr. Ellen Jefferson and Cole Wakefield, Executive Director of The Good Shepherd Humane Society, for what is sure to be a lively discussion.

Dogs Playing for Life Presents (fee applies): In this webinar, we will teach the fundamentals of our “Fancy Footwork” techniques that focus on achieving good leash manners through the use of your FEET instead of your hands. Come learn this unique and highly effective approach that promotes dogs happily walking softly by your side, offering tons of eye contact, and wowing adopters!

Dogs Playing for Life Presents: Reactivity on the part of dogs living in shelters is a rampant issue that can contribute to behavioral deterioration, increased length of stay, and even loss of life. From a misdiagnosis of “aggression” to dogs whose reactive behavior escalates to problematic and potentially unsafe levels, learning how to help dogs suffering from reactivity issues is a crucial need shared by our entire industry.

Community Cats Podcast Presents (small fee applies): Join us for an eye-opening workshop that will revolutionize the way we view “dumped, abandoned, or unwanted” stray cats. Titled “Leaving Preconceived Notions Behind,” this session is not just a workshop; it’s a call to action!

VETGirl Presents:

PPG Presents (fee applies): This webinar looks at how we can create successful behaviour modification plans in challenging environments. From shelters to busy households, learn how to work around challenges.

Dogs Playing for Life Presents (fee applies): At DPFL’s Stranger Danger webinar, you will learn how to work with dogs that are wary of strangers by building their confidence and helping them to develop the skills to meet new people (and potential adopters) happily and successfully! Even for the private dog trainer or dog owner, the skills taught in this webinar will help support your stranger danger dog to expand their comfort level when meeting new people at home!

NACA/Justice Clearinghouse Presents: This webinar will offer tips on how to handle living under scrutiny and making sure your case is not jeopardized by it.  We will discuss jury voir dire, opening and closing statements, and witness preparation with these considerations in mind.

Maddie’s Fund Presents: Debra Olmedo and Greg Miller of the ASPCA will provide an overview of recent research aimed at identifying ways to increase awareness and engagement in kitten fostering programs among residents of areas with high intake of kittens to animal shelters. They will discuss the project methodology, what they learned about awareness, interest, and concerns related to fostering, and what opportunities this research highlighted for increasing fostering program engagement. 

HASS Presents: Over the last several months, HASS collaborated with a selection of HASS pilot shelters to identify any lingering shelter operation barriers to positive adoption outcomes as part of a formal Competitive Pet Placement (CPP) project. Join Kate McHugh-Westfall, Embedded Data and Implementation Coordinator, for an overview of this impactful project, including how preliminary foot traffic data informed barrier-busting solutions.

NACA/Justice Clearinghouse Presents: This webinar will help you assess reuniting and renesting opportunities and achieve the best outcome for these animals. Learn how to know when intervention is necessary and focus on strategies that increase opportunities to reunite dependent young with their wild parent(s), including recognizing when community members can help and how to best facilitate that as an organization.

Life of Riley Presents: Join Humane Action Pittsburgh’s Natalie Ahwesh, Executive Director, and Shannon Dickerson, Director of Operations, for a discussion of community animal care. This webinar series aims to complement existing skills, resources, and knowledge by introducing new perspectives, research and advocacy tools from other social justice movements, and discussing how learnings from different sectors might inform efforts to end puppy mills and other forms of animal cruelty.

FDSA Presents (fee applies): In this webinar, we’ll examine how expectations drive emotions, and how emotions drive behavior… and how crafting your dog’s expectations in specific contexts helps to build consistent appropriate emotional states and desirable behavior in similar situations in the future.

Community Cats Podcast and Neighborhood Cats Present: Discover ingenious techniques, including using Spam as bait, implementing clear rear doors, wrapping traps with green garden netting, and even training cats to enter traps! Whether you’re a seasoned trapper or just starting, there’s something here for everyone to elevate your trapping success.

Dogs Playing for Life Presents (fee applies): In this session, we will focus on the HUMAN handling that contributes to unwanted behavior, even “aggression”. Get ready to rethink your approach as we reveal the common and widely accepted and taught handling errors that set dogs up for failure. Through extensive video examples, we will demonstrate alternative handling techniques that help dogs to trust and thrive!

NACA/Justice Clearinghouse Presents: Join this interactive discussion to learn how creating a pet housing program not only removes a significant barrier to service, but also provides tremendous support in the healing process for people in crisis. You don’t have to be an animal lover to see how including pets in programming can have a powerful effect on everyone involved – from pets, to pet parents, to staff.

CalAnimals Presents: CalAnimals deeply appreciates the incredibly important work of rescue organizations throughout California. As adoption partners to shelters statewide, your success matters. Please join us for this important webinar to learn about state laws that affect your work, get the scoop on what’s happening with respect to insurance for rescues, and explore ideas that will help us get more pets into loving homes.

HeARTs Speak Presents: This webinar looks at how our marketing efforts — from our social media posts to our signage — can welcome more community members to our mission through the words we choose and the consideration we give to our audience.

ASPCAPro Presents: How we talk about the pets in our care matters. Whether counseling an adopter about the sassy cat they are interested in or talking with staff about the reactive behavior they observed in a new dog, the words we use will affect the pathway for that animal. Join our panel of experts as they dig into the issue of how we talk and think about some of our more challenging shelter animals. Panelists will share examples and tools with attendees that can be implemented quickly into daily operations.  

HASS Presents: Heard about the HASS Playbook, but not sure how it can support your own community? Join Eliza Torres, Education and Implementation Manager, for an expert overview of the Playbook, the accompanying self-assessment tools, and how you can get started. Vincent Medley, Maddie’s® Director of Human Animal Support Services, will moderate. 

NACA/Justice Clearinghouse Presents: We believe we can create a more compassionate and peaceful life by developing the skills and mindsets to Live Better and Work Better. In this webinar, we’ll explore seven key practices designed to unlock your untapped wisdom and potential, enabling you to lead a more intentional life —both at home and at work.

VETGirl Presents: Ticks, fleas, heartworm, and Lyme may be things your practice sees every day, but new products, diagnostics, and medical recommendations might have muddied your plans. We’ll clear it up with up-to-date information on best diagnostic, treatment, and management practices! Don’t see these issues very often?? You’re in luck, but maybe not for long! We’ll talk about where these vectors are moving so you can begin to assess which patients might be at risk in your practice!

FDSA Presents (fee applies): This is Part One of a two-part webinar on working with “atypical” dogs. Both webinars are stand-alone webinars covering a different aspect of this topic, but they combine to cover the topic more broadly. We will look at a range of solutions that can create a more focused, happier, and more consistently successful training partner.