Animal Welfare Professionals

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  • 1.  Shelter Dog Field Trip Program

    Posted 11-29-2021 08:01 AM
    Hi There,

    We are looking to add a field trip program for our shelter dogs. We used to have one a long time ago, but due to some volunteer issues we had to reevaluate and stop offering the program. We'd like to bring it back, but want to make sure we are doing it in the safest way possible. For those of you with a shelter dog field trip program, how do you run yours, what rules/guidelines do you have volunteers follow, how do you select which dogs are candidates of your program as well as volunteers you select to be candidates and lastly, how is the program managed?

    Thanks!
    #Behavior,TrainingandEnrichment
    #PeopleManagement(includingVolunteerIntegration)

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    Erin Ellis
    Community Engagement Director
    Humane Society of Truckee-Tahoe

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    Volunteer & Community Partnerships Specialist
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  • 2.  RE: Shelter Dog Field Trip Program

    Posted 11-30-2021 09:10 AM
    Hi Erin,

    I have some resources for you! A few are attached.

    There are also a few short videos on orgs' programs in Louisville, Fredericksburg, VA and in Austin, TX.

    You can find some SOPs and other documents from several orgs' field trip programs in this folder .


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    Kelly Duer
    Maddie's Fund
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  • 3.  RE: Shelter Dog Field Trip Program

    Posted 11-30-2021 11:56 AM
    This is great, thank you Kelly!

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    Erin Ellis
    Community Engagement Director
    Humane Society of Truckee-Tahoe

    ---------
    Volunteer & Community Partnerships Specialist
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  • 4.  RE: Shelter Dog Field Trip Program

    Posted 12-02-2021 06:29 AM
    Erin,


     This is a great idea.   At our shelter we have dogs that are separated by levels ( level 1,2,3). Level 3 dogs usually canot attend field trips bcause of behavior. Our volunteers have levels as well. We usually try to match the levels with pets and volunteers so level 1 volunteers can only handle level 1 dogs and as they learn more and receive more training they can level up. We can identify the levels because volunteers wear aprons while they are here and the aprons are color coded by level and the cage cards for the animals that show the levels have those same colors.  I hope this helps a bit.

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    Marissa Reid
    Clinic Director
    LifeLine Animal Project

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    Access To Care Specialist
    Clinic Management Specialist
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  • 5.  RE: Shelter Dog Field Trip Program

    Posted 12-02-2021 07:42 AM
    Thank you Marissa! We color code the dogs, similar to your level structure and were thinking along those same lines. Some dogs will be candidates and some won't depending on behavior.  We live in a community with leash laws that are a bit different. Dogs have to be under voice control and within eye contact, so we have a lot of off leash dogs (and of course, not everyone follows those rules)...it complicates things a bit for sure. Thanks again, I really appreciate the shared information!

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    Erin Ellis
    Community Engagement Director
    Humane Society of Truckee-Tahoe

    ---------
    Volunteer & Community Partnerships Specialist
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