Can a few days at an apprenticeship change your perspective on no-kill sheltering and foster care for large dogs? After attending Maddie’s® Medium and Large Adult Dog Foster Program Apprenticeship at Austin Animal Center, Patricia Zimmerman from Prince George’s County Animal Services in Maryland says it sure can. And it did. “It was amazing,” she… Learn More

There is no animal shelter or rescue group that couldn’t use more fosters, volunteers, adopters, donors, board members and other supporters. Without them, the amount of lives these organizations can save is severely diminished. So, how do you break through the clamoring voices demanding people’s time and attention, and get them to choose you to… Learn More

Nina Stively wanted to increase welfare and lifesaving for shelter animals. She also believed it was crucial to the goal that the level of professionalism in the sheltering field rise. When she heard about the Maddie’s® Shelter Medicine Program online Masters in shelter medicine, she knew that was how she’d make both goals a reality… Learn More

Whether it’s how to take the temperature of puppies, socializing an unsocialized kitten or identifying emergencies, adoption organizations and their foster caregivers want to be equipped with the tools and knowledge to handle challenges. That’s where Maddie’s Fund’s brand new — and free — Flash Classes come in. Flash Classes are short videos or presentations… Learn More

One of the greatest obstacles to developing animal welfare leaders is the very thing that brings people into the field in the first place: compassion. Unfortunately, unless people who work with animals learn how to keep themselves emotionally healthy and balanced while doing this important work, they’ll be at high risk of leaving their job,… Learn More

It turns out procrastinating pays off for animal welfare workers — and so does getting everything done on time! In a blog post published last year by ASPCAPro, Julie Morris discussed her own “pre-crastination” — the fact that she gets everything done not just on time, but early. That’s usually what we think of when… Learn More

If you want to help animals but don’t have the time to physically volunteer at your local shelter or rescue organization, what can you do? Look no further than your resume! There are plenty of ways you can help just by utilizing your natural talents. Whether you’re a tech-savvy social media maven, an introverted writer,… Learn More

Community cats: If you’ve got them, Best Friends wants to help. They’ve written a book covering everything from the ABCs to the rocket science of community cat management, and they’re giving it away as a free download! Topics covered include: The history of the TNR movement The importance of leadership Who in your community is… Learn More

What’s your secret weapon in saving as many cats as possible from a shelter’s euthanasia list? Volunteers — trained volunteers. “When it comes to recruiting volunteers, we’ve learned a lot since we began our cat program in 2009,” said Dr. Frances Flower at the 2015 American Pets Alive! No-Kill Conference. “It’s definitely not an easy… Learn More

What happens when you mix a giant name in cat welfare and two leaders in sheltering and adoption? You get incredible resources like Alley Cat Allies‘ guide to fostering cats and kittens, written with Bonney Brown and Diane Blankenburg of Humane Network, who while at the Nevada Humane Society led a successful program that provided… Learn More