March 2018 by Carrie Morris

Audience: Foster Caregivers, Shelter/Rescue Staff & Volunteers

Video Length: 39 Minutes

Through a partnership with Best Friends Animal Society, Austin Pets Alive! embarked on a six-month pilot program to test the effectiveness of Canine Good Citizen Training on adoption rates. The results have been jaw-dropping and show a clear adoption rate and length of stay difference between dogs that participate in this program and those that don't.

Come learn about the CGC-Ready Program and how it runs. Learn how one person oversees a team of volunteers to train and find homes for hundreds of dogs every year. This is well worth your time if you rescue dogs that are big, hyper, and unmannered and operate a big shelter. Austin Pets Alive's CGC-Ready Program has become a hallmark of Austin's No-Kill success.

This presentation was recorded at the 2018 American Pets Alive! Conference.

About Carrie Morris

Carrie started volunteering at Austin Pets Alive! in 2011, lending her skills in photojournalism to the dog marketing team and working in the neonatal kitten nursery. She joined the APA! staff in 2012 as a Dog Matchmaker, helping potential adopters find the dog that will be the best fit for them.

Discovering a passion for working hands-on with dogs and a desire to learn more about canine needs and behavior, she soon moved on to become an APA! dog adoption counselor. Carrie was very interested in the Dogs Playing for Life Program and loved how playgroup positively impacted the dogs at APA. She wanted to learn more about the program and dog behavior and in 2013, Carrie was invited to become a member of APA!'s dog behavior team. With the behavior team she was able to focus on daily training of APA!'s most behaviorally challenged dogs and learned to run playgroups.

In 2015 she became the Canine Good Citizen Program Coordinator. She loves helping each dog reach its full potential through training and showing people how amazing the dogs of APA! are.