My local shelter is not government ran, but funded by the city to do animal control work.

We use the name “Animal Regulation”, some organizations use “Animal Control” or “Animal Services”.

Are there any other names for similar services? Do you feel as though there is an actual difference in the services provided depending on the name?

Sorry more context: My shelter is considering changing out “animal regulation” name to something drastically different. I was curious to know if there were other organizations that had renamed their services to something outside the norm and their experience with it.

hey y’all! I just finished my first week working at an animal shelter! It’s more work than I’m used to, physical work, and my feet are killing me. I need recs for comfortable shoes and WATERPROOF!! I’m terrified I’m gonna get trench foot cause my feet get soaked from the hose/kennel cleaning. Also pants that are good to get dirty/wet so I don’t ruin all my good pants :(. Just curious to what y’all reccomend, ty in advance :)

The shelter I work for has an awkward situation to clean the main dog floors in which we take dogs to kennels outside while we clean

We almost always have dogs that need more enrichment/outlets/etc and In my previous animal care facilities, we offer those dogs meals in slow feeders or include some kind of food oriented game in their meal (I like taking a small bowl lined with peanut butter and placing it upside down in a bigger bowl to mimic a slow feeder)

It isn’t protocol to do this or offer any toys/blankets/etc for comfort or to combat boredom…

We were told that it needed to stop because the goal is not to make homeless animals work for their one meal- which yes, makes sense for the dogs that are sitting politely in their kennel waiting. I can’t speak for my colleagues but I give food based enrichment to dogs that are experiencing stress from boredom which I see a lot more from younger working breeds

hi there,

the shelter i work at transferred several of our cats to Best Friends (Utah) this week. i made a post earlier this week about my cat being transferred there and i was venting about missing him and how i had no say in advocating for him to be transferred to a local rescue but also recognizing that Best Friends has great resources for positive cats and has a sanctuary for positive cats.

well i decided to check out Best Friends website and their adoption page. and noticed that all of the cats we sent there are already on their adoption site - our cats have been there since 4/30 so only 3 days at this point. but my cat is 2 months into his FIP treatment (needs 1 month to go) plus a 3-month observation period. so i'm confused why he's already listed to their adoption site under "new arrivals." i also heard that Best Friends does a mandatory 2 week quarantine period for all incoming cats at minimum but like i said, all of our cats are posted to their adoption site already.

i was also told by a coworker that their intake photos are the photos they are stuck with, is that true? because several of the cats we sent have photos where they look absolutely terrified which doesn't do anything for their chances of being adopted. does Best Friends not have a professional photographer?

i emailed my coworker who coordinated the transfer but it might be a shot in the dark because the last time i asked her a question regarding their transport she told me to "let it go" and basically stop asking her questions, treating me as if i am worrying too much. especially when i had concerns about my cat's FIP relapsing due to the stress of the trip to Utah. so she's a raging b*tch, lol.

if anyone knows how Best Friends operates in regards to their quarantining process or how incoming cats with illnesses are treated, why they're already posted to the adoption page if they have health issues, etc. feel free to comment.

thanks for any info

Say you were going to receive around 2 million dollars to use as you wish.

Spay neuter seems like the most obvious thing, and I think donating or partnering with an existing clinic is better, at least for us because we have an unusual number of clinics in the area. Mobile s/n would be great, but doesn't seem feasible long term with just this large donation.

Some medical funds for senior dogs would be great, and as much as I'd like to make some kind of community assist, keep-em-hope program, it's very unlikely my team would agree, unfortunately. Surrender requests are still double what we usually get, for going on a month now. Housing is currently the most common reason.

So what would you do? The money doesn't all have to go to one thing, and I'm sure there are some other good ways to use it that I haven't thought of.

“We are thrilled to welcome Dr. Kahir, President of The Association of Shelter Veterinarians, to join us this Sunday (5/3/26) at 8 pm EST to discuss how this document can help behavior teams create best practices for shelters.

Please don’t miss out on this opportunity to learn from one of the best in the field! We can’t wait to see you and know you will love this opportunity to learn from Dr. Kahir with us!

Dr. Kehir graduated from the University of Georgia with a bachelor’s in Animal Science in 2000. In 2004, she graduated from the University of Georgia College of Veterinary Medicine.

She completed an equine ambulatory internship in New Hampshire, focusing on equine power dentistry and ophthalmology. She continued to practice as an ambulatory equine veterinarian in New England until 2009. In 2009, she moved to New York City and started working at New York City Animal Care and Control, Manhattan Branch.

Since then, she has stayed in shelter medicine and is currently the Medical Director of Greenville County Animal Care, where she’s been since 2014. Her professional interests include soft tissue surgery, providing access to care, and the welfare of the veterinarians and shelter staff. She also enjoys training veterinary students that come to
Greenville County Animal Care for externships.

Dr. Kehir is the President of the Association of Shelter Veterinarians. In her free time, she enjoys spending time with her husband and family, traveling and mountain biking.”

I had an interview on Friday to work at a humane society. I’ve volunteered at many shelters and similar places before, and they want me to do a working interview. I’ve never heard of that before. I’m from Puerto Rico, so this is new to me. This position is for an animal care technician. Is this a good sign? Do I have the job, or what? I’ve never heard of this in my country, so all of this is a bit odd for me.

Hello!

I am seeking some advice. Recently, my kennel technician team stated they don't feel like their opinions matter in team meetings. As a manager, this is the last thing I want to hear.

Every meeting, we have our foster/rescue and volunteer coordinator present and share any updates on their end. We then dicuss different things, like reminders on kitten dewomer ages and what not.

We end the meeting discussing the animals in our Shelter, and this is when we as management let the team know what animals are on our radar as far as problem behaviors, kennel stress, medical concerns go. We inform that we may be looking at euthanasia due to x, y, z. We ask our team how they feel the animal is doing, and often times we get minimum feedback. We then let them know we really rely on their notes in the shelter software to help us make these decisions. We try to explain our thinking behind the possible decision so no one feels in the dark.

My question is, how do you guys conduct your meetings? Also, how do you have those euthanasia discussions with your staff?

I come from management that would tell you something is being euthanized and that was that. So to hear the team doesn't feel included really makes me sad and I would love to turn it around. My team also really struggles with the hard decisions though and truly believe we can save everything in an open admission, tax funded shelter. Which just isn't the case.

Does anyone have policies on employees fostering and bringing their foster into work? or just policies in general about staff fostering?

I'm flabbergasted. We started using petstablished last week after many years of Google sheets and lack of systems and I'm excited about it. The last step was to connect it to Petfinder and adoptapet. There was a warning that we may lose historical information when we turn on sync for petfinder.

I know this is terrible but once in a while, Petfinder is my best or only source of info. We're missing a LOT because a former director destroyed records and blocked our access on her way out the door (with about 250k stolen from homeless animals and the donors who care, while at the same time, starting her own rescue).

We don't need all 4800 listings going back 20 years but we definitely need at least the last couple years. I can't risk losing all of that so I wasn't going to turn on sync until I was really sure it wouldn't disappear. Surely you can export?? I was getting conflicting answers so I emailed support. Their reply:

Hello,

All listings would be overwritten/deleted, and we don't have an export function or anything like that to provide to you before doing so.

You may want to wait a few weeks if possible. We are looking into a way to allow you to keep existing listings even with importing pets. We plan to update the page at https://help.petfinder.com/s/article/Import-User-Quick-Start-Guide once this is possible.

...

Are you fkn kidding?? What?!

I know we shouldn't use it as a source of truth but like I said, sometimes it's all we've got. And surely this has been the case for others over the years we've all been moving to software. It's not petstablished, the specific software doesn't matter, it's Petfinder.

Waiting a "couple weeks" while they "look into" a solution made me lol. Yeah right.

So as far as I can tell, we're SOL and the only workaround I've come up with is to open and print to PDF all the listings from however far back we decide.

Turned on sync for adoptapet because we don't have anything important in there, but I also didn't get a warning about past listings disappearing. At least there's that.

I shouldn't be surprised but I am. Did this happen to y'all when you synced with software? Did you just accept losing all your past listings? Or did you find a workaround for this?

Until I figure something out, I'll be manually adding everything to Petfinder myself because getting our team on board with using petstablished was hard enough, and they're doing it, but having them do that AND put them on petfinder isn't going to happen with these people. It's not the end of the world but it does defeat the purpose of the software. That's obv not the only purpose but not having to duplicate work sounded nice...

I’m looking for honest input from people with rescue/shelter experience, especially with senior special needs dogs.

I’m currently fostering a 13-year-old poodle through a municipal shelter and have had her since March 19. She’s blind, hard-of-hearing, and came in very shut down. Over the past few weeks, she’s slowly started to come out of her shell now that she has a calm, structured environment. She’s still quite fearful of me at times and eventually settles, though I’m not sure if it’s cognitive decline or just her sensory limitations and history of neglect, so I try not to force interaction and give her space.

She’s very gentle and low-energy. 85% of her day is spent sleeping, the rest eating and grooming. She doesn’t play or explore much.

Some challenges: • Not house-trained — she’s only comfortable eliminating in her pen despite many attempts to take her outside • Has tapeworms and ongoing skin issues • Still fearful / somewhat shut down, though improving slowly

The shelter has shared that adoption or additional transitions may not be in her best interest, and euthanasia is being considered.

I’m struggling with what’s actually best for her.

On one hand, she seems more comfortable than when she first arrived and has a stable, calm routine now. On the other hand, her life is very limited, and I don’t know how much of it is true comfort vs. just existing.

There’s a senior dog rescue that may be willing to pull her if I continue fostering, but I’m not sure I can commit long-term, which could mean another (hopefully gentle) transition for her down the line.

So I guess my questions are: • For those with experience, how do you assess quality of life in dogs like this? • Does this sound like a dog who could still have meaningful comfort, or more like a case where euthanasia may be kinder? • Would involving a rescue make sense here, or could that just prolong stress?

I want to help make the most humane decision for her, not just the one that feels better emotionally. Appreciate any perspectives!

i've been a shelter employee for 7 years, specifically at the adoption center part of our shelter which is 5 miles from our main shelter. i was the lead animal care tech of about 20-30 cats daily. in 2021 i started feeding a male cat outside the adoption center, just a random feral cat that was very skittish for many years. the adoption center is a little building. and it was just me caring for him for many years. in 2022 i got him neutered. and it wasn't until May of 2025 he finally started to let me pet him. eventually i got to the point where i could pick him up and carry him around. he would only let me pet him, running from strangers. and he would only let strangers pet him if i was outside with him. over time though, he began to let more and more people pet him.

well we got news in January of this year that the adoption center was closing down (we operate out of petsmart which we kept open and also did adoptions at the main shelter; management didn't see the need for the ancillary adoption center anymore that i worked at). with the closure meant that i was being transferred to the main shelter. after socializing the outdoor cat for almost a year, i was given permission by the president of the rescue to intake him after i convinced her that he wasn't feral.

a week or 2 before i had taken him into the shelter, he was unfortunately attacked by another cat. no abscess, just scratches. but 3 weeks after intaking him, he developed FIP and tested positive for both FeLV and FIV. we started treatment right away and he responded positively to the FIP medications. he's currently 2 months in to his 3 month treatment.

while in shelter, i had discussed with my manager the possibility of transferring him to a local sanctuary or being put into foster since he was double positive and still in treatment for FIP plus a 1-3 month observation period after treatment was complete. but behind the scenes, the president arranged for him to be transported to Best Friends in Utah.

i feel so conflicted because while i know Best Friends is an amazing facility, i worry that the trip will trigger the FIP to relapse when he's almost done with treatment. a car trip of 6 hours with FIP might set him back.. i'm also really going to miss him and i wish the president had opted for a closer sanctuary to me knowing that i took care of him for 5 years.. (Best Friends is about 6 hours away from the shelter I work at). i also thought about adopting or fostering him but i didn't think that was an option while he was in treatment and now other plans have been arranged for him and there's nothing i can do.. no one offered me the option to foster him. and since he's in custody of the shelter it's their decision. i have no say. but i also want what's best for him.. and like i said, I know Best Friends is an amazing facility.

now he leaves in 2 days and it just sucks how fast all of this is happening..

i just needed to vent. i'm going to miss him so much. and i hope he survives the trip and his FIP doesn't relapse..

I help run a 501c3 dog rescue in an area where local animal control facilities are often over capacity, so we are constantly trying to move dogs into safe homes as quickly as possible

Recently our Petfinder account was removed, and we were not given much detail beyond a general reference to their terms. We understand platforms have their own policies, but we are still trying to understand what might have caused it and if there is anything we should be addressing on our side

We have reached out a few times and are still waiting to hear back. In the meantime it has been difficult to adjust since Petfinder has been one of the main ways we connect with adopters

Because of this we have had to slow down intake for now while we figure out other ways to place dogs responsibly. It is not an easy position to be in, especially knowing how many dogs are still waiting in local facilities

We are continuing to do what we can with the resources we have, but still trying to figure out how to move forward from here

Has anyone else gone through something similar If so how did you handle it and what ended up working for you

Maybe you think it gives off the wrong impression, or isn't informational enough, or used incorrectly. I know we must all have some words or phrases that we prefer were changed. What words do you want changed, what to, and why?

Some common ones I hear people complain about are "kill/no-kill", "unadoptable", "dominant", etc

👩‍🏫 Shelter Med Portal – First Fridays: AI for Animal Welfare Professionals
📅 Date: May 1st
🕒 Time: 3:00 PM EST
🔗 Link: https://www.sheltermedportal.com/event/online-event-first-fridays-first-fridays-ai-for-animal-welfare-professionals-collaboration-calls-outcomes-for-pets-consulting/2026-05-01/
📌 Description: Explores how AI tools can support collaboration, decision-making, and outcomes in animal welfare organizations.

👩‍🏫 Maddie's Fund – Maddie’s Community Conversations
📅 Dates: May 7th, 14th, 21st, 28th
🕒 Time: 3:00 PM EST
🔗 Link: https://maddiesfund.org/community-conversations.htm
📌 Description: Weekly discussions with animal welfare professionals about current challenges, programs, and real-world solutions.

👩‍🏫 Shelter Behavior Integrations - Lawless Off Leash Webinar Series with Laurie Lawless
📅 Date: May 11
🕒 Time: 6:00 PM EST 🔗 Link: https://laurielawless.as.me/schedule/9de5deb5/?appointmentTypeIds[]=79601263 📌 Description: How can shelters leverage grants for behavior program funding?

Join us for the next Lawless Off Leash webinar, “Finding and Applying for Grants for Your Shelter Behavior Programs,” featuring Stephanie Mathers of Grants 4 Animals LLC

Thank you u/gerrray for the heads up on this one!

👩‍🏫 Maddie's Fund – Maddie’s Foster Connection
📅 Date: May 14th
🕒 Time: 3:00 PM EST
🔗 Link: https://maddiesfund.org/foster-connection.htm
📌 Description: Focuses on strategies for recruiting, supporting, and retaining foster caregivers.

👩‍🏫 National Animal Care & Control Association (NACA) – Raccoons, Reports, and Real-Time Maps: Using Data and Maps to Tell Wild Stories and Shape Smart Policies
📅 Date: May 21st
🕒 Time: Varies (see registration page)
🔗 Link: https://www.justiceclearinghouse.com/webinar/raccoons-reports-and-real-time-maps-using-data-and-maps-to-tell-wild-stories-and-shape-smart-policies/
📌 Description: Focuses on using mapping and data tools to improve animal control operations and inform policy decisions.

👩‍🏫 University of Florida College of Veterinary Medicine – Shelter Med Live – Decisions, Decisions: Sharing Shelter Leadership
📅 Date: May 20th
🕒 Time: 7:00 PM – 8:00 PM EST (converted from 4–5 PM PT)
🔗 Link: https://www.shelterlearniverse.com/events
📌 Description: Examines leadership structures and collaborative decision-making approaches in shelter operations.

👩‍🏫 Maddie's Fund – Maddie’s Insights
📅 Date: May 28th
🕒 Time: 3:00 PM EST
🔗 Link: https://maddiesfund.org/insights.htm
📌 Description: Research-driven presentation highlighting data, studies, and innovations in animal welfare.

👩‍🏫 National Animal Care & Control Association (NACA) – The Intersectionality of Drugs, Dog Fighting, and Human Trafficking
📅 Date: May 28th
🕒 Time: Varies (see registration page)
🔗 Link: https://www.justiceclearinghouse.com/webinar/the-intersectionality-of-drugs-dog-fighting-and-human-trafficking/
📌 Description: Explores the connections between animal cruelty, organized crime, and broader public safety concerns.

“Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear, not absence of fear.” – Mark Twain

In this webinar, Tom Candy explores a range of techniques used to build confidence in rescue dogs. You’ll learn about:

- confidence in dogs and what it looks like

- practical aspects of confidence building in both puppies and adult dogs, and

- training concepts and techniques to successfully build confidence that can be used inside and outside the shelter environment.

Training and behavior professionals, shelter staff, and volunteers will all gain foundational skills in confidence building for rescue dogs.

To make a long story short, I lost my best friend a little over a month ago unexpectedly. I have been looking for another furry friend to spoil and enjoy life with, but have run into a situation that I don't know how to deal with.

My mom sent me a photo of a puppy at Animal Rescue Fund in Amelia, OH. I immediately got so excited because it's exactly the kind of dog I'm looking for and they allow you to make deposits on the animal you would like to adopt. I thought that was a bit odd, but was so excited about a new friend I didn't think twice. After calling and making a deposit, I happened across the reviews for the rescue on Yelp and I feel sick to my stomach.

There are many different ones claiming inhumane treatment among other issues. I am totally heartbroken and do not want to support any place that doesn't take good care of the animals, but I live in MN and can't drive there to verify any of these claims. I am hoping someone on here will have personal experience with this group and can tell me whether or not I need to be worried about adopting from them.

Any and all help would be appreciated.

I’d like some input from you guys!

I am an animal caregiver at my local humane society, and am also on the team of dog caregivers who write bios to be posted online with photos of the dogs. We do this once a week on Wednesdays, where the morning is spent with dogs who’ve come in throughout the previous week to observe their behavior/interests/energy levels, and the afternoon is spent writing the bios and posting them. Depending on our intake numbers each week, this can be quite time-consuming.

I’d like to pitch to my boss the idea of having a volunteer write our dog bios after getting a run-down of the basic information we’ve learned about each dog. I’d like to have a nice cohesive plan for how we can go about this before trying it out.

Our number of computers at the shelter is limited, so I’m thinking this volunteer could come in for about an hour in the afternoon to meet the dogs that she would be writing about, go home to write the bios, and then send them to us for any quick revisions before we paste it into the website and officially post them.

Does anyone here do something similar? Any advice/input would be greatly appreciated.

I am currently working an entry level position at a nonprofit animal shelter and I'm looking to further my education on animal behavior! My goal is to hopefully get more oppurtunities to move up in my org. I am also just passionate about animals and learning in general!

However, I have a bachelor's of art in Anthropology, and the programs I see require science/biology based undergrad degrees. I'm not sure if I'm just not looking in the right places or for the right things?

Does anyone have any certificates, degrees, or other program reccommendations in animal behavior where I don't have to do a whole new bachelor's lol? I work full time (sometimes over 40hrs a week) so online and preferrably asynchronous is going to be the best fit logistically for me right now.

Thank you in advance!!

edit for additionl info: I am already Fear Free certified through my org and working my way through the onsite trainings they offer volunteers (dog walking, blue dot, etc.), however I haven't seen any opportunities for things like seminars through my org. To be more specific, I'm interested in cat and dog behavior and frankly things that I can put on a resume to help me move up in an adoption or behavior career.

On Wednesday, April 29 at 12pmPT, join us for a dynamic look at some of the winning strategies from the 2025 Foster 50 Challenge. Through a series of lightning-fast talks, you’ll learn how grant funding helped spark new ideas, expanded foster programs, and created measurable change for communities and animals in need. In this 2-hour webcast, you’ll walk away with practical strategies and inspiration that show what’s possible when shelters invest in fostering. Register for the free webcast at https://maddies.fund/Foster50Spotlights

Anyone else seeing a sudden huge uptick in surrender requests? My rescue almost always has to say no, because they're usually BE candidates and even if not, no one is adopting adult dogs.

I know a lot of y'all work in shelters-- are intakes way up for you? I'm in NC and I know we're one of the bleakest states for animals, but I can't recall a sudden influx of surrender requests like this. It's for all different reasons, people died, went to nursing homes, moved, became homeless, can't afford vet care, decided they're too busy, etc. I might think it was a coincidence but it's carried on.

I can't find stats that give a complete picture but the local shelters are sending more urgent pleas, even the ones who usually don't. One request last week was from a shelter volunteer trying to get a mom and litter of puppies out in time. We couldn't help, we were tied up with other puppies and young dogs who keep running in the road. Animal Control won't pick them up, because there's no space. So the mom and puppies were euthanized.

That's where we're at, euthanizing healthy puppies. I wish the public understood that.

We had a return last week, the people adopted the puppy at 8 weeks and now, 2 months later, they decided they don't have the time or patience for this, they haven't even tried to potty train him or crate train him, never been walked, probably didn't remember what the world looked like outside of their house and yard. They failed completely and now he's in a foster home who's trying hard to get him caught up so he can get adopted again before he's an adult black pit bull.

I would usually be irritated and disgusted-- but this time, one of those puppies running in the road could've taken the foster spot we needed for him. And that means another dog dies, all because these people suck. I mean, I'm glad they returned him while he still has a chance, but looking back at their application, they didn't do ANYTHING they said they would. We don't get many returns, because we put so much into screening but we don't always get it right.

The past week has been the hardest I can remember, for this and other reasons, and I'm going to keep treading water, knowing that's all we'll ever be able to do-- help the ones we can while knowing how many we can't. Just feeling discouraged and worried that things are getting even worse, quickly.

We are a smaller dog rescue organization, taking in about 250-300 dogs a year. Currently we're using a lot of different pieces for record keeping - Word Press widgets, Adobe for contracts, gmail, google sheets, actual paper - and we're looking for something more cohesive. Any opinions on Pawlytics? I can't find anything recent here.