Hello! There were some great questions asked in the Right Care webinar today that those of you watching the recording may miss. I'm adding them to this post in case you have a similar question.
Q: How do you manage the intakes when we are an open admission shelter and the only shelter for about 5,000 square miles? Are you suggesting euthanizing the excess?
The hope is that euthanasia is not used as a reactive tool to make space for an unending number of animals to continue to come into the shelter, but rather is reserved for animals who truly require it. The goal of the four rights framework is to proactively try to manage who's coming into your shelter. I know this can be harder for open admission shelters because of the pressure to intake everyone all of the time, but reach out to us if you want to chat more about open admission shelters we've worked with that have figured out ways to mitigate this struggle. Much of it has focused on not intaking community cats into the shelter and finding them TNR and increasing return to owner (esp return to home in the field) for dogs. |
Q: How do we maintain capacity for care when people are standing in front of the shelter, asking for help?A: I hear you. It definitely takes proactive planning, partnering, and reshaping of old pathways. For a long time, we've sent our communities the message that they should bring their pets to us without questions asked. Nowadays, we want to ask questions - not judgmental questions necessarily but rather questions about how we might be able to help people keep their pets/how to help people rehome their pets without entering the shelter/how to help community members get lost pets in their neighborhoods back home without having to stop at the shelter. Having helplines, text helplines, working with community partners to divert intake/create safety net programs, having scripts for your receiving staff to help them help the community, etc are tools you've probably heard of. In one of our other webinars in this series, we discussed the First 48 Hours program at Cabot Animal Services - this program helps keep animals out of the shelter and asks communities members to help us get lost pets back to their homes since these animals and people are already in the neighborhood together. These types of programs help keep animals of out of your shelter, which is so needed IMO so that you can then give the time and resources needed to those people are do end up standing outside of your shelter and need your help. Focusing on keeping as many animals out of the shelter that you can through the use of the four rights framework will hopefully then allow you to help these folks standing out front that really need you.
Q: Could a larger space affect dogs housetraining learning capacity or motivation?
A: Isabelle, our research has found that providing double compartment housing facilitates housetraining in that dogs will eliminate away from where they rest/eat. So, more so than one single larger space, a double compartment space is likely more influential on housetraining, In addition, taking dogs out of their kennels for walks is important for housetraining - so giving dogs the chance to eliminate outside and reinforcing that
Isabelle, since dogs vary so much in size (as you've referred to in your third question), it's harder to come up with dog co-housing space requirements like we have for co-housed cats. Each dog's five freedoms and five domains of welfare should be met regardless of housing space, which is a general good rule of thumb and then, on top of that, observing/monitoring how animals behave when co-housed is critical.
Isabelle, it depends on what the dogs needs are. Some dogs can be cohoused in a double compartment housing space. others - even dogs that may come in as a bonded pair may need to be housed as individuals. I like having enough housing space available so dogs can be indivudually housed if needed - say for feeding time. some kennels have side to side transfer doors in addition to doors that provide double compartment housing and some of these are nice to provide co- housing during some of the day while allowing dogs to be individually housed overnight or when needed.
Q: Which size of dog should you use to design housing? How do you house a great dane for example?
If building new, I like a variety of kennel sizes. Make sure in bigger kennels that adjustments are also made to the guillotine door - larger- to meet the larger dog's needs.
Q: We have scheduled owner surrenders (2 a day), we do our very best not to take in community cats and have a TNR program but still struggle with the enormous amount of strays. I really feel that since we have stopped and attempted to control the enormous amount of owner surrenders people are just dumping or just opening the gate. We have a program that we transport out animals to other organizations. We just cannot keep up
A: Hi Andrea, that's a really good question. If one path becomes more difficult but the other is wide open, people might just shift from bringing animals in as surrenders and turn them in as strays instead. Some things that shelters have found successful (though never perfect) include:
Consider taking in healthy strays (especially cats) by appointment also unless they are in urgent danger. Stray cats are generally a chronic situation and there is really no reason to take them on an unscheduled basis most of the time. That way there is less difference/less temptation to just switch categories and bring surrenders in as strays.
Make as many alternatives available as possible so that people can feel like they're doing something while they're waiting - give them some ideas for what to do with their found stray or their own pet (home to home, adoptapet etc.)
Do your best to communicate the WHY behind the policy...some people really will respond to guilt/persuasion when they understand lives are at stake
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Mandy Newkirk
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Original Message:
Sent: 03-01-2022 02:29 PM
From: alison gibson
Subject: Webcast Series - The Future Is Four: The Right Care in the Right Place at the Right Time to the Right Outcome
The foundation of the Million Cat Challenge rested on Five Key Initiatives, refined and adapted to shelters of every size and type throughout North America, which together represented a holistic approach that addressed the "before, during and after" for any cat at risk of shelter entry. These initiatives were proven by over 3.5 million more cat lives saved by over 1,500 Challenger Shelters.
Now, with Maddie's® Million Pet Challenge, we're thinking bigger. The Five Key Initiatives have expanded to include other species at risk in shelters and evolved into the Four Rights, with community safety net services, humane care within the shelter, and appropriate outcomes for the animals that do come in all working in concert to support one another.
Join these experts as they look at creating a world in which every single shelter is able to provide every animal at risk with the Right Care in the Right Place at the Right Time to the Right Outcome.
Register once for all sessions
April 12, 2022 - The Right Place - WATCH THE RECORDING HERE
Drs. Cindy Karsten and @Chumkee Aziz will guide you through the framework that allows you to remove decision fatigue and get animals where they need to be-or help them right where they are.
April 26, 2022 - The Right Time WATCH THE RECORDING HERE
Drs. @Cindi Delany and @Kate Hurley will outline strategies for streamlining tasks, reducing length of stay, capturing lost resources, and making the most of the resources you have.
May 10, 2022 - The Right Care WATCH THE RECORDING HERE
Offering the Right Care means animals are not left in dangerous circumstances to cause harm, suffer, or die because the shelter can‚ admit them; nor are they are admitted to a crowded shelter when there are better options within the community. Drs. Chumkee Aziz, Denae Wagner and @karen green discuss how to provide humane housing and match community need to community capacity and shelter services to ensure all animals receive the care that is right for them.
May 24, 2022 - The Right Outcome
Drs. Cindy Karsten and @Kate Hurley discuss how we can ensure the right outcome for pets and people facing challenges big and small.
Each webinar has been pre-approved for 1.0 Certified Animal Welfare Administrator continuing education credits by The Association for Animal Welfare Advancement and by the National Animal Care & Control Association.
#AccesstoCare
#AdmissionsandIntake(includingIntake-to-placement)
#AdoptionsandAdoptionPrograms
#Behavior,TrainingandEnrichment
#CommunityCatManagement
#CommunityPartnerships*
#Conferences,WorkshopsandWebcasts
#EducationandTraining
#FieldServicesandPublicSafety*
#FosterPrograms
#PeopleManagement(includingVolunteerIntegration)
#PetSupportServices*
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alison gibson
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