Every Monday and Friday morning, shelter and rescue organization professionals across the country and beyond, gather virtually to discuss a myriad of topics. Nothing is off the table – transport, foster recruitment, return to home, fundraising and mental health to name a few, have all been topics of discussion on these vital calls. With so… Learn More

With social distancing guidelines relaxing, many organizations are beginning to relaunch short-term foster programs. In addition to being a gateway to engagement with the local community, most organizations who run short-term foster programs report that a percentage (sometimes as high as 75% or more!) of their participants decide to try out longer-term foster because of… Learn More

This is a guest post written by Caitlin Quinn, Director of Operations at HeARTs Speak. Read her previous post, “How lessons from 2020 can inform your marketing efforts now” here.   When it comes to marketing, we can’t forget that everything we do — from our messages, to our campaigns, to the images we use — is based on… Learn More

We’re thrilled to announce that the 2021 Avanzino Leadership Award goes to Dr. Lila Miller for her trailblazing leadership and purposeful dedication to the field of veterinary shelter medicine.  Dr. Miller transformed the lives of countless pets, developing the first veterinarian-written guidelines for shelter animal care, which are now used in shelters across the country to ensure the humane treatment… Learn More

Ann Dunn has been director of Oakland Animal Services (OAS) for about 17 months now. When the opportunity to join the Human Animal Support Services presented itself, it was a no-brainer. On a recent Shelter and Rescue Support call in April, Dunn shared why OAS joined the initiative, what her biggest takeaways have been thus far and what she thinks the future holds.   Why… Learn More

It’s been about a year since the Human Animal Support Services initiative officially launched. Based on the work of the amazing communities involved and the press that continues, we look forward to what the next year has in store! Below are just a handful of recent press articles from communities around the country, all working to reform… Learn More

The No Place Like Home Challenge is completed and to say we are thrilled with the results would be an understatement.   Return to Home programs are incredibly important. By focusing on reunions in the field, families are reunited in a matter of minutes or hours and never have to step foot inside a shelter. By making return… Learn More

Cleaning isn’t the may not be the most exciting topic, but it’s extremely important! You’ll learn loads from Dr. Chumkee Aziz in Cleaning and Disinfection in the Shelter, in this 2018 ASPCA-Maddie’s® Cornell Shelter Medicine Conference presentation.    In this informative talk, Dr. Aziz stresses that cleaning and disinfecting is a two-step process, with cleaning being the most important. A little… Learn More

Our No Place Like Home Challenge may be over, but our initiative to reunite pets with their families will forever continue. And with lost pets making up the majority of intake at most animal shelters, we highly encourage reviewing the Lost Pet Reunification Toolkit from Human Animal Support Services.  This toolkit is just one of the TWELVE… Learn More

In the latest Maddie’s® Candid Conversation, Ariel Zhang, Senior Director of Strategic Initiatives at the Animal Foundation, touched on a myriad of topics, including the uptick of violence and discrimination against Asian Americans over the course of the pandemic and being a “model minority.” In this short clip below, hear Zhang discuss these two important subjects.… Learn More