Animal Welfare Professionals

Hello, all I am Elise, the executive director of a small animal sanctuary in Franktown Colorado. Sometimes I find that being in the rescue industry you have to focus on the positive and good moments when they can be hard to find. I like doing so by imaginarily fixing the problems of the world! Much like the founders of our rescue, I have always had big ideas that entertain most as fantasy, however, I had a thought a few nights ago that I'm excited to bring forward even though it's an outlandish proposal. 

The question at stake is what are some of the biggest barriers that prevent people from fostering or adopting dogs? 

In my personal experience, it is affordability and time. Nobody knows what to do with their pet when they're at work all day to afford the roof over their head which is already hard to cover with the cost of living being so high.

What if there were organizations that were non-profit-based and provided services much like an elementary school?

 A bus comes and picks them up in the morning, they go to school, have different classroom subjects and electives, recess, and then go home on the bus. I think this would only work for dogs, but hear me out. 
These facilities could be much like barndominiums, which are a lot more affordable to build and they could have sealed concrete floors that have drain systems designed to be easy to clean.

The dogs would be organized and assessed during registration to keep the peace and build the semester roster; including details like the preference of peer personalities and size as well as their current knowledge and skills. Then, once the school year begins, they are with the same dogs every day. Much like a children's classroom, they have a teacher that's the same teacher for that school year and if a dog drops the class, a new one is enrolled. 

This would solve the problem that most dog parks are struggling with, since consistently integrating new dogs can cause anxiety and fights that are completely unnecessary and unintentional. Integrating a single pup every once in a while is a different story.

Beyond homeroom class teaching the basics at their level; Sit, Stay, Down. Leave it (or higher grades being more advanced skills). There would also be electives and recess to split up the day for energy outlets, uplifting talents, and enrichment to their day rather than doggy daycare facilities do in just the play yard or napping kennel.

In doing this, pet parents are receiving the freedom from costly training and energy outlets, just as schools do for children. 

If this was an option that was readily available without massive costs, people would be more inclined to have fostered in their homes or adopt dogs that would otherwise be at risk of homelessness. If it was ever government funded it would be a beautiful way for our states to help with the animal shelter overload epidemic. However, I don't feel like we're at a place where something like that is possible, yet. 

There could be an income outlet if this had internships, or "student teachers" interested in dog training education that is especially Hands-On or as a stepping stone into the industry with an entry-level position as a lunch lady, art teacher, music teacher, etc. There would be many jobs created for young or new professionals with talents that they're still trying to figure out what they want to do with their careers. In addition, much like the educational systems, there would be jobs that especially cater to those with learning/physical disabilities, emotional trauma, illness, etc. Dogs save people (as we know)!

All profit from school costs could go back into the school programs for the dogs, supplies, teacher/employee wages, and overhead. School fundraisers, partnerships, and field trips where children/groups come out to mentor the dogs on a school donation cost. School plays featuring our pets, shelter pets, adoptable pets, etc. I know I'd pay for that! 

I mean, this could be an amazing thing if it were to break out across the country. It would help the dog's quality of life, and save lives in cases where the dog's actions were unpredictable and could have been saved if there had been previous training. Working with rescues especially, this concept would change lives the day it opened.

I'd love some feedback, and hole-poking into the concept to counter ideas back and forth!

Thanks Yall!

#EducationandTraining

------------------------------
Elise Smith
Executive Director
Fostering Love Rescues
------------------------------

Elise,

Thank you for your post. I think that this is actually a pretty wonderful idea. I love he concept that it is literally a school for pups. I think that there should also be a guardian drop off option sine we all know that some of our canine friends do not always respond well to strangers and various transportation modes. 

Would there b e a principals office?- meaning is there someone monitoring behaviors that may not be the best fit for the school. Would there be a policy for negative behavior, late pick up and other issues.  Would there be a dog fight policy?

Would you plan to have a nurses office?- meaning a tech and/or doctor to monitor, assess and treat any injuries or illnesses? 
Would you offer boarding at this place?

 I think that this is a wonderful idea and I truly feel that this idea would definitely help a lot of fosters out. This is in my opinion a great concept and I am happy that you made this post. 



,

------------------------------
Marissa Reid
Assistant Practice Manager
Blue Pearl Specialty and Emergency Pet Hospital

-----------------
Access To Care Specialist
Clinic Management Specialist
------------------------------

I think the traditional staffing concept of a public elementary school would all serve a good purpose. Principle as well as other administrative staff, (close relation to board members).  There's the finance community, fundraising board, etc as there typically would be in a high-volume shelter or a children's elementary school. The structure is comparable. Policies would be an important thing to outline.

Regarding negative behaviors, much like in younger grade schools, the approach of gentle correction applies. Perhaps this pup student needs an educational accommodation, a tutor session during half of the recess for a few weeks, or needs sponsorship for additional one-on-one classes.

The point being not all kids, fair or otherwise, learn the same way. However, strengths and weaknesses being witnessed in the day-to-day with professionals that see and understand the psychology behind actions are going to be able to catch these moments in the act and correct it in the safest environment possible rather than when a two-year-old child sits on the dog's tail wrong near its food bowl. In a split second, how much can we say we've prepared our dogs enough?  

Late pick-up would have to be firm policies in place. I do not believe boarding would allow for us to keep the focus on the educational part, but at some point could be factored in as long as it would be an unattached building and ample staff to allow for extra hours of enrichment and wind-down time. Dogs need companions, when I left my two for just two nights, they were insane at pick up, high on toxic anxiety energy. A lot of that tends to set in easily in that scenario. I worked as a pet groomer in a boarding facility and getting dogs to relax, or stand still was a completely different story than when I worked in a stand-alone salon.

On that same note, we had dogfight policies that were easy and simple to follow. If anything, they were more relaxed than I would recommend or liked seeing (reason for leaving). We had 1-2 bites a month, many needing stitches, and they never had anyone blink an eye or a vet on staff.
Easily, All due to dogs not being compatible, mixed up into a group of 30, all between 40lbs-150lbs with two high schoolers babysitting for 6-hour shifts in a large play yard with no toys, or activities aside from filling a baby pool. The standard is low, and people can do better.

Regarding your thought of a nurse's office, I think that would be great. Having a primary vet, and tech on staff would help keep up with physical health, and well-being. The primary vet could have appointment checkups with our students throughout the year, keep up on vaccines, and the occasional apt when a pet parent has a concern. In downtime, this would be a massive opportunity for dog physical therapists, chiropractors, and dermatologists to have a partnership with shelters and rescues for such. Since these are nonemergency appointments it would allow students time and could be an encouragement for someone to enroll a specific student looking to address said concern.

I think all of us can agree that making this possible is going to take a significant amount of funding.  Long-term hopes would be that eventually, society could see the need for this and budget it into taxes,  but until then there are leaps and bounds to even get something like this off the ground.

I understand where the thought process of boarding facility prices being aligned however I think the number one important goal is to keep this affordable and accessible to the public especially shelters and rescues that are on tight budgets. To do so I have a couple of proposals;  I have read up on a lot of the canine psychology testing that has been going on and there could be an opportunity for people to gain a lot of knowledge on Canine Behavior and how much they understand.  Imagine a "student teacher" opp in Homeroom class.

With each of the electives, I think different departments could have a huge impact on helping cover overhead costs.  Having events for the community to attend such as school plays, school sports games, and school fundraisers of all kinds. It gives the staff specific goal points to go by in the curriculum during the school year and allows us to chart their milestones along the way. 

Behind each of these departments are going to be specialists, and with educated staff... lies opportunities to learn for people willing to pay for it. AKA
Structured educational opportunities such as internships with the professionals on staff. It would take a lot of mentoring, and perhaps partnerships with PIMA medical institute (or something or the sort). If there was a paid educational system that went back into the non-profit, that would also help keep things afloat. 

There are so many ways that community nonprofits would be able to integrate with this to fostering love and support back into the community. I'm a firm believer that when animals and people work together it changes us both for the better. 

Even if these facilities started with the bare minimum staff and 30 students that were sponsored for a school year as a trial run I would love to see what statistics and things we could learn in one single school year for canine elementary education!

------------------------------
Elise Smith
Executive Director
Fostering Love Rescues
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 01-31-2023 06:52 PM
From: Marissa Reid
Subject: Big Ideas (outside the box)

Elise,

Thank you for your post. I think that this is actually a pretty wonderful idea. I love he concept that it is literally a school for pups. I think that there should also be a guardian drop off option sine we all know that some of our canine friends do not always respond well to strangers and various transportation modes. 

Would there b e a principals office?- meaning is there someone monitoring behaviors that may not be the best fit for the school. Would there be a policy for negative behavior, late pick up and other issues.  Would there be a dog fight policy?

Would you plan to have a nurses office?- meaning a tech and/or doctor to monitor, assess and treat any injuries or illnesses? 
Would you offer boarding at this place?

 I think that this is a wonderful idea and I truly feel that this idea would definitely help a lot of fosters out. This is in my opinion a great concept and I am happy that you made this post. 



,

------------------------------
Marissa Reid
Assistant Practice Manager
Blue Pearl Specialty and Emergency Pet Hospital

-----------------
Access To Care Specialist
Clinic Management Specialist
------------------------------

"I understand where the thought process of boarding facility prices being aligned however I think the number one important goal is to keep this affordable and accessible to the public especially shelters and rescues that are on tight budgets. To do so I have a couple of proposals;  I have read up on a lot of the canine psychology testing that has been going on and there could be an opportunity for people to gain a lot of knowledge on Canine Behavior and how much they understand.  Imagine a "student teacher" opp in Homeroom class."

• Not quite sure what you mean here.  Typically in a school classroom setup, the school is paying the student teacher, not the other way around.  On the research side, while there are rare opportunities for funded research programs, they are rare and wouldn't really approach the level of funding needed to support a project like this.

"With each of the electives, I think different departments could have a huge impact on helping cover overhead costs.  Having events for the community to attend such as school plays, school sports games, and school fundraisers of all kinds. It gives the staff specific goal points to go by in the curriculum during the school year and allows us to chart their milestones along the way. "

• In a school setting these events have the natural draw that the community is interested in the growth and activities of their own children and/or have events that are tied into the cultural landscape such as football.  Things like concerts, plays, and sports have huge cost components to the schools that have to be offset by fundraising.  That fundraising is successful because people are interested in supporting their children's development, but in many cases does not cover the entire program cost.  That's not to say that people wouldn't be interested in supporting their pet's development, but it's a tough sell to say this would be a money maker.

"Behind each of these departments are going to be specialists, and with educated staff... lies opportunities to learn for people willing to pay for it. AKA Structured educational opportunities such as internships with the professionals on staff. It would take a lot of mentoring, and perhaps partnerships with PIMA medical institute (or something or the sort). If there was a paid educational system that went back into the non-profit, that would also help keep things afloat. "

• Federal law requires internships for for-profit companies to be paid, while non-profits are exempt, there is still a general standard that interns are either paid or will receive substantial experience or education in their field.  There's not really a scenario where an intern would pay to be  placed in a program like this.  If you're thinking more of a college student or fellowship model, there's generally additional benefits such as a degree or accredited program that is associated with that payment which wouldn't be the case here.

It would be really interesting to see a program like this and I think it would be amazingly beneficial for the animals, but I just don't see it being in any way sustainable financially.

------------------------------
Jeff Okazaki
Humane Society of Jefferson County
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 02-01-2023 01:06 PM
From: Elise Smith
Subject: Big Ideas (outside the box)

I think the traditional staffing concept of a public elementary school would all serve a good purpose. Principle as well as other administrative staff, (close relation to board members).  There's the finance community, fundraising board, etc as there typically would be in a high-volume shelter or a children's elementary school. The structure is comparable. Policies would be an important thing to outline.

Regarding negative behaviors, much like in younger grade schools, the approach of gentle correction applies. Perhaps this pup student needs an educational accommodation, a tutor session during half of the recess for a few weeks, or needs sponsorship for additional one-on-one classes.

The point being not all kids, fair or otherwise, learn the same way. However, strengths and weaknesses being witnessed in the day-to-day with professionals that see and understand the psychology behind actions are going to be able to catch these moments in the act and correct it in the safest environment possible rather than when a two-year-old child sits on the dog's tail wrong near its food bowl. In a split second, how much can we say we've prepared our dogs enough?  

Late pick-up would have to be firm policies in place. I do not believe boarding would allow for us to keep the focus on the educational part, but at some point could be factored in as long as it would be an unattached building and ample staff to allow for extra hours of enrichment and wind-down time. Dogs need companions, when I left my two for just two nights, they were insane at pick up, high on toxic anxiety energy. A lot of that tends to set in easily in that scenario. I worked as a pet groomer in a boarding facility and getting dogs to relax, or stand still was a completely different story than when I worked in a stand-alone salon.

On that same note, we had dogfight policies that were easy and simple to follow. If anything, they were more relaxed than I would recommend or liked seeing (reason for leaving). We had 1-2 bites a month, many needing stitches, and they never had anyone blink an eye or a vet on staff.
Easily, All due to dogs not being compatible, mixed up into a group of 30, all between 40lbs-150lbs with two high schoolers babysitting for 6-hour shifts in a large play yard with no toys, or activities aside from filling a baby pool. The standard is low, and people can do better.

Regarding your thought of a nurse's office, I think that would be great. Having a primary vet, and tech on staff would help keep up with physical health, and well-being. The primary vet could have appointment checkups with our students throughout the year, keep up on vaccines, and the occasional apt when a pet parent has a concern. In downtime, this would be a massive opportunity for dog physical therapists, chiropractors, and dermatologists to have a partnership with shelters and rescues for such. Since these are nonemergency appointments it would allow students time and could be an encouragement for someone to enroll a specific student looking to address said concern.

I think all of us can agree that making this possible is going to take a significant amount of funding.  Long-term hopes would be that eventually, society could see the need for this and budget it into taxes,  but until then there are leaps and bounds to even get something like this off the ground.

I understand where the thought process of boarding facility prices being aligned however I think the number one important goal is to keep this affordable and accessible to the public especially shelters and rescues that are on tight budgets. To do so I have a couple of proposals;  I have read up on a lot of the canine psychology testing that has been going on and there could be an opportunity for people to gain a lot of knowledge on Canine Behavior and how much they understand.  Imagine a "student teacher" opp in Homeroom class.

With each of the electives, I think different departments could have a huge impact on helping cover overhead costs.  Having events for the community to attend such as school plays, school sports games, and school fundraisers of all kinds. It gives the staff specific goal points to go by in the curriculum during the school year and allows us to chart their milestones along the way. 

Behind each of these departments are going to be specialists, and with educated staff... lies opportunities to learn for people willing to pay for it. AKA
Structured educational opportunities such as internships with the professionals on staff. It would take a lot of mentoring, and perhaps partnerships with PIMA medical institute (or something or the sort). If there was a paid educational system that went back into the non-profit, that would also help keep things afloat. 

There are so many ways that community nonprofits would be able to integrate with this to fostering love and support back into the community. I'm a firm believer that when animals and people work together it changes us both for the better. 

Even if these facilities started with the bare minimum staff and 30 students that were sponsored for a school year as a trial run I would love to see what statistics and things we could learn in one single school year for canine elementary education!

------------------------------
Elise Smith
Executive Director
Fostering Love Rescues
------------------------------


Original Message:
Sent: 01-31-2023 06:52 PM
From: Marissa Reid
Subject: Big Ideas (outside the box)

Elise,

Thank you for your post. I think that this is actually a pretty wonderful idea. I love he concept that it is literally a school for pups. I think that there should also be a guardian drop off option sine we all know that some of our canine friends do not always respond well to strangers and various transportation modes. 

Would there b e a principals office?- meaning is there someone monitoring behaviors that may not be the best fit for the school. Would there be a policy for negative behavior, late pick up and other issues.  Would there be a dog fight policy?

Would you plan to have a nurses office?- meaning a tech and/or doctor to monitor, assess and treat any injuries or illnesses? 
Would you offer boarding at this place?

 I think that this is a wonderful idea and I truly feel that this idea would definitely help a lot of fosters out. This is in my opinion a great concept and I am happy that you made this post. 



,

------------------------------
Marissa Reid
Assistant Practice Manager
Blue Pearl Specialty and Emergency Pet Hospital

-----------------
Access To Care Specialist
Clinic Management Specialist

To further elaborate on my thought process; 

As we've all agreed, funding is always the biggest roadblock, and saying that government funding would fix everything, is definitely not the answer especially when they're already so many things that are lacking within the system as is, (especially our foster care for children, etc). 

A few years ago, I wanted to start getting serious about becoming a dog trainer myself. I had two dogs of my own whom I was the sole caregiver, so I figured; maybe,  just maybe, if I was willing to relocate anywhere in the United States, I would be able to find a school where I could bring my two dogs and we could live on site so that I didn't have to pay for rent in addition to the school.

For days, I collected a significant amount of notes from every school that I came across online and one that stood out above all the rest was a Texas school called Starmark.

First, I loved that they said to bring 2 dogs of ANY temperament. Even the worst of behaviors are rarely turned away, if at all.  Secondly, they mentioned that if you did not bring two dogs with you, they have a partnership with rescues where they will pull dogs in and train them to their highest potential and then adopt them out.

What I loved about this most was that the school had canine police dog training, search and rescue training, agility training, service dog training, as well as all of the basics on several levels. I didn't do enough research to be able to say that this is the best school by any means, however, the concept there stayed in my mind.

If we had more schools like that nationwide, then we have people that are able to use FASFA for gaining Dog Training certifications and experience, while also directly assisting some of our toughest cases and lifting them up in the category that they flourish in the most. Coming from that direction, (human) students also have an on-site externship near the end of graduation with the pups in our community that need this the most.

My proposal would be that several like-minded educational schools that were passionate about the mission of reducing pet homelessness and behavior-driven euthanasia, come together.

Say, one department is a vet tech program, another is dog training, and one is grooming,  all under one roof. A classroom structure for the enrichment and group activities with the same dogs in their classrooms each day (insert dog behavioralist certification opportunities with electives; art, music, agility, recess) rather than doggy daycare open play that consistently confuses the pack pecking order.

Allowing field trips where we can give tours like a college campus would is also a big one in my mind. I know when I was near graduating high school, a place to help me understand the options within the animal industry would have saved many years of back and forth, but also would have educated me much sooner about the epidemic of animal homelessness, and the importance of many animal care practices in owning my own dogs.

Thank you for all of the engagement, and for hanging with me as I organized my thought process! It has been so fun bouncing ideas off one another and I appreciate all of the encouragement to dig deeper and ponder dreams, realistically!

------------------------------
Elise Smith
Executive Director
Fostering Love Rescues
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 02-01-2023 01:31 PM
From: Jeff Okazaki
Subject: Big Ideas (outside the box)

"I understand where the thought process of boarding facility prices being aligned however I think the number one important goal is to keep this affordable and accessible to the public especially shelters and rescues that are on tight budgets. To do so I have a couple of proposals;  I have read up on a lot of the canine psychology testing that has been going on and there could be an opportunity for people to gain a lot of knowledge on Canine Behavior and how much they understand.  Imagine a "student teacher" opp in Homeroom class."

• Not quite sure what you mean here.  Typically in a school classroom setup, the school is paying the student teacher, not the other way around.  On the research side, while there are rare opportunities for funded research programs, they are rare and wouldn't really approach the level of funding needed to support a project like this.

"With each of the electives, I think different departments could have a huge impact on helping cover overhead costs.  Having events for the community to attend such as school plays, school sports games, and school fundraisers of all kinds. It gives the staff specific goal points to go by in the curriculum during the school year and allows us to chart their milestones along the way. "

• In a school setting these events have the natural draw that the community is interested in the growth and activities of their own children and/or have events that are tied into the cultural landscape such as football.  Things like concerts, plays, and sports have huge cost components to the schools that have to be offset by fundraising.  That fundraising is successful because people are interested in supporting their children's development, but in many cases does not cover the entire program cost.  That's not to say that people wouldn't be interested in supporting their pet's development, but it's a tough sell to say this would be a money maker.

"Behind each of these departments are going to be specialists, and with educated staff... lies opportunities to learn for people willing to pay for it. AKA Structured educational opportunities such as internships with the professionals on staff. It would take a lot of mentoring, and perhaps partnerships with PIMA medical institute (or something or the sort). If there was a paid educational system that went back into the non-profit, that would also help keep things afloat. "

• Federal law requires internships for for-profit companies to be paid, while non-profits are exempt, there is still a general standard that interns are either paid or will receive substantial experience or education in their field.  There's not really a scenario where an intern would pay to be  placed in a program like this.  If you're thinking more of a college student or fellowship model, there's generally additional benefits such as a degree or accredited program that is associated with that payment which wouldn't be the case here.

It would be really interesting to see a program like this and I think it would be amazingly beneficial for the animals, but I just don't see it being in any way sustainable financially.

------------------------------
Jeff Okazaki
Humane Society of Jefferson County
------------------------------


Original Message:
Sent: 02-01-2023 01:06 PM
From: Elise Smith
Subject: Big Ideas (outside the box)

I think the traditional staffing concept of a public elementary school would all serve a good purpose. Principle as well as other administrative staff, (close relation to board members).  There's the finance community, fundraising board, etc as there typically would be in a high-volume shelter or a children's elementary school. The structure is comparable. Policies would be an important thing to outline.

Regarding negative behaviors, much like in younger grade schools, the approach of gentle correction applies. Perhaps this pup student needs an educational accommodation, a tutor session during half of the recess for a few weeks, or needs sponsorship for additional one-on-one classes.

The point being not all kids, fair or otherwise, learn the same way. However, strengths and weaknesses being witnessed in the day-to-day with professionals that see and understand the psychology behind actions are going to be able to catch these moments in the act and correct it in the safest environment possible rather than when a two-year-old child sits on the dog's tail wrong near its food bowl. In a split second, how much can we say we've prepared our dogs enough?  

Late pick-up would have to be firm policies in place. I do not believe boarding would allow for us to keep the focus on the educational part, but at some point could be factored in as long as it would be an unattached building and ample staff to allow for extra hours of enrichment and wind-down time. Dogs need companions, when I left my two for just two nights, they were insane at pick up, high on toxic anxiety energy. A lot of that tends to set in easily in that scenario. I worked as a pet groomer in a boarding facility and getting dogs to relax, or stand still was a completely different story than when I worked in a stand-alone salon.

On that same note, we had dogfight policies that were easy and simple to follow. If anything, they were more relaxed than I would recommend or liked seeing (reason for leaving). We had 1-2 bites a month, many needing stitches, and they never had anyone blink an eye or a vet on staff.
Easily, All due to dogs not being compatible, mixed up into a group of 30, all between 40lbs-150lbs with two high schoolers babysitting for 6-hour shifts in a large play yard with no toys, or activities aside from filling a baby pool. The standard is low, and people can do better.

Regarding your thought of a nurse's office, I think that would be great. Having a primary vet, and tech on staff would help keep up with physical health, and well-being. The primary vet could have appointment checkups with our students throughout the year, keep up on vaccines, and the occasional apt when a pet parent has a concern. In downtime, this would be a massive opportunity for dog physical therapists, chiropractors, and dermatologists to have a partnership with shelters and rescues for such. Since these are nonemergency appointments it would allow students time and could be an encouragement for someone to enroll a specific student looking to address said concern.

I think all of us can agree that making this possible is going to take a significant amount of funding.  Long-term hopes would be that eventually, society could see the need for this and budget it into taxes,  but until then there are leaps and bounds to even get something like this off the ground.

I understand where the thought process of boarding facility prices being aligned however I think the number one important goal is to keep this affordable and accessible to the public especially shelters and rescues that are on tight budgets. To do so I have a couple of proposals;  I have read up on a lot of the canine psychology testing that has been going on and there could be an opportunity for people to gain a lot of knowledge on Canine Behavior and how much they understand.  Imagine a "student teacher" opp in Homeroom class.

With each of the electives, I think different departments could have a huge impact on helping cover overhead costs.  Having events for the community to attend such as school plays, school sports games, and school fundraisers of all kinds. It gives the staff specific goal points to go by in the curriculum during the school year and allows us to chart their milestones along the way. 

Behind each of these departments are going to be specialists, and with educated staff... lies opportunities to learn for people willing to pay for it. AKA
Structured educational opportunities such as internships with the professionals on staff. It would take a lot of mentoring, and perhaps partnerships with PIMA medical institute (or something or the sort). If there was a paid educational system that went back into the non-profit, that would also help keep things afloat. 

There are so many ways that community nonprofits would be able to integrate with this to fostering love and support back into the community. I'm a firm believer that when animals and people work together it changes us both for the better. 

Even if these facilities started with the bare minimum staff and 30 students that were sponsored for a school year as a trial run I would love to see what statistics and things we could learn in one single school year for canine elementary education!

------------------------------
Elise Smith
Executive Director
Fostering Love Rescues


Original Message:
Sent: 01-31-2023 06:52 PM
From: Marissa Reid
Subject: Big Ideas (outside the box)

Elise,

Thank you for your post. I think that this is actually a pretty wonderful idea. I love he concept that it is literally a school for pups. I think that there should also be a guardian drop off option sine we all know that some of our canine friends do not always respond well to strangers and various transportation modes. 

Would there b e a principals office?- meaning is there someone monitoring behaviors that may not be the best fit for the school. Would there be a policy for negative behavior, late pick up and other issues.  Would there be a dog fight policy?

Would you plan to have a nurses office?- meaning a tech and/or doctor to monitor, assess and treat any injuries or illnesses? 
Would you offer boarding at this place?

 I think that this is a wonderful idea and I truly feel that this idea would definitely help a lot of fosters out. This is in my opinion a great concept and I am happy that you made this post. 



,

------------------------------
Marissa Reid
Assistant Practice Manager
Blue Pearl Specialty and Emergency Pet Hospital

-----------------
Access To Care Specialist
Clinic Management Specialist

This makes so much sense to me!  Imagine how much the dogs would learn, considering most dogs are happiest in a pack.  They would come home exhausted and happy.  They could have classes for all of those dog puzzles that take quite a bit of training for a dog to figure out. I think I read you are in Colorado but while visiting family in massachusetts this holiday season I went to the Dartmouth Dog park and met someone who had a young chocolate lab.  After we compared a few chew stories, he was telling me about a program where in good weather he pays for a company to pick up his dog while he is at work, and they take a group of dogs on an off-leash hike.  We where laughing because he said he also has a small lap dog that rules over the puppy.

So where this gentleman I met at a dog park pays to send his dog on hikes, your idea isn't that far off from this reality.  Only your plan would include the small dog as well maybe it wouldn't be in the same class as a puppy but I'm sure he could also benefit from some structured dog time.

In conclusion I have to say to your original question about why people don't adopt or foster dogs more, I have to say that I rent my house and it is so hard to find landlords that will accept dogs.  Bad dog behaviors are of course a consideration and fleas, I understand both sides but it does make it more difficult if you can't afford to purchase a home to have a dog.   Landlords also love to put a weight restriction  on dogs that are acceptable and I don't believe you should be able to do this since a small dog can bite just as much as a large dog.  Thanks for sharing the dog school idea its a wonderful dream.

------------------------------
Lynn Beaulieu
President of the Board
Somerset Humane Society
------------------------------

Thank you so much for your participation in my imagination!  Having three dogs myself it was so difficult trying to find a place to rent and we're in the same boat because many people have had bad experiences with dogs in the past they assume that all dogs are the same Etc. 

Perhaps if there was something that the dog leaves our educational program with that allows them to overcome that massive obstacle?  I would think that if we are having these dogs at our facility day in and day out we could most certainly focus on getting them through the process of becoming an emotional support animal,  not only legally but legitimately teaching them the skills to do so.

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Elise Smith
Executive Director
Fostering Love Rescues
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Original Message:
Sent: 01-31-2023 06:31 PM
From: Lynn Beaulieu
Subject: Big Ideas (outside the box)

This makes so much sense to me!  Imagine how much the dogs would learn, considering most dogs are happiest in a pack.  They would come home exhausted and happy.  They could have classes for all of those dog puzzles that take quite a bit of training for a dog to figure out. I think I read you are in Colorado but while visiting family in massachusetts this holiday season I went to the Dartmouth Dog park and met someone who had a young chocolate lab.  After we compared a few chew stories, he was telling me about a program where in good weather he pays for a company to pick up his dog while he is at work, and they take a group of dogs on an off-leash hike.  We where laughing because he said he also has a small lap dog that rules over the puppy.

So where this gentleman I met at a dog park pays to send his dog on hikes, your idea isn't that far off from this reality.  Only your plan would include the small dog as well maybe it wouldn't be in the same class as a puppy but I'm sure he could also benefit from some structured dog time.

In conclusion I have to say to your original question about why people don't adopt or foster dogs more, I have to say that I rent my house and it is so hard to find landlords that will accept dogs.  Bad dog behaviors are of course a consideration and fleas, I understand both sides but it does make it more difficult if you can't afford to purchase a home to have a dog.   Landlords also love to put a weight restriction  on dogs that are acceptable and I don't believe you should be able to do this since a small dog can bite just as much as a large dog.  Thanks for sharing the dog school idea its a wonderful dream.

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Lynn Beaulieu
President of the Board
Somerset Humane Society
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It sounds like this would be an incredible service, would definitely help with foster availability, and even if dogs weren't fostered, it would be an incredible resource for shelters to be able to get the dogs out for training and enrichment.  

The big hurdle, and the one that just seems really, really hard to overcome is there just aren't good economics around a program like this.  Looking at the cost of a doggie daycare, the listed range online is anywhere from $20-50+ a day.  Having looked for doggie daycare in the past, I'd say the $20 range is essentially impossible to find in most places, the cheapest one we found when looking was more expensive than our mortgage.  Those programs also don't include transportation and often don't include training or other school type services.  So while it would be a huge benefit for adopters, being able to provide a program of this scope at a low cost seems unsustainable.

Even if you could figure out a way to hit the lowest range on cost that would cover facility, utility, administration, insurance, staff, food, transportation, etc., asking fosters to pay $20 a day for fostering is a BIG ask.  Most shelters aren't able to afford to pay this or divert fundraising from other programs either.  Even a small program with 10 dogs, at $20 a day for a school week is $1,000 a week.  No government is going to divert that type of funding for elective animal programs.  Grant funders could be an option, but usually wouldn't be interested in funding a program without a sustainable income source or ability to fund itself beyond year one.

It does seem more feasible to implement a smaller version of this program within existing shelters where you wouldn't have to have separate staff, facility, or care costs. Some of the services sound similar to the trend in group play that organizations like Dogs Playing For Life are encouraging.  Having structured training and/or the ability for fosters to come participate in those activities could be beneficial to help get all the dogs adopted.

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Jeff Okazaki
Humane Society of Jefferson County
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(I responded to both replies above) thanks!

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Elise Smith
Executive Director
Fostering Love Rescues
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Original Message:
Sent: 02-01-2023 07:26 AM
From: Jeff Okazaki
Subject: Big Ideas (outside the box)

It sounds like this would be an incredible service, would definitely help with foster availability, and even if dogs weren't fostered, it would be an incredible resource for shelters to be able to get the dogs out for training and enrichment.  

The big hurdle, and the one that just seems really, really hard to overcome is there just aren't good economics around a program like this.  Looking at the cost of a doggie daycare, the listed range online is anywhere from $20-50+ a day.  Having looked for doggie daycare in the past, I'd say the $20 range is essentially impossible to find in most places, the cheapest one we found when looking was more expensive than our mortgage.  Those programs also don't include transportation and often don't include training or other school type services.  So while it would be a huge benefit for adopters, being able to provide a program of this scope at a low cost seems unsustainable.

Even if you could figure out a way to hit the lowest range on cost that would cover facility, utility, administration, insurance, staff, food, transportation, etc., asking fosters to pay $20 a day for fostering is a BIG ask.  Most shelters aren't able to afford to pay this or divert fundraising from other programs either.  Even a small program with 10 dogs, at $20 a day for a school week is $1,000 a week.  No government is going to divert that type of funding for elective animal programs.  Grant funders could be an option, but usually wouldn't be interested in funding a program without a sustainable income source or ability to fund itself beyond year one.

It does seem more feasible to implement a smaller version of this program within existing shelters where you wouldn't have to have separate staff, facility, or care costs. Some of the services sound similar to the trend in group play that organizations like Dogs Playing For Life are encouraging.  Having structured training and/or the ability for fosters to come participate in those activities could be beneficial to help get all the dogs adopted.

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Jeff Okazaki
Humane Society of Jefferson County
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HI Elise!  I LUV the way your brain works!    Thanks for the momentary thought of such a wonderful place!   I would definitely participate! 
C

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Cindy Shotwell
Founder/Executive Director
Must Luv Dogs Rescue
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