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What to do if you lose or find a pet

May 11, 2021

Did you know that what we don’t know about lost pets can hurt them? It’s true! We recently updated one of the most popular articles on our site about this very topic. Kat Albrecht-Thiessen, the article author is a former police officer, field training officer, police detective, and K9 (police bloodhounds and cadaver dogs) trainer turned…

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How animal shelters can create a culture of safety for employees, volunteers and community members

April 15, 2021

This is a guest post written by Colleen Parker and Danielle Emery of Urban Resource Institute People and Animals Living Safely (URI PALS). Read part two of this two-part series.  As with any change you're trying to implement at your animal welfare organization, culture starts with policy and is rooted in the people you surround yourself…

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One final push of inspiration as the No Place Like Home Challenge winds down

March 30, 2021

There’s just one more day left of the No Place Like Home Challenge, and we’ve been so impressed with what we have seen on Maddie’s® Pet Forum and social media alone! We’ve seen loads of microchips clinics, happy reunions and even a photoshoot for pets! We rounded up a few ideas to provide some inspiration…

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Catch-up with the No Place Like Home Challenge huddles on Maddie’s Pet Forum

February 16, 2021

We are halfway through the eight, great Return to Home (RTH) huddles! If you’ve been unable to attend all of them or simply want to connect with other Challenge participants, head on over to Maddie's® Pet Forum. Our kickoff huddle focused on organizations embracing the culture of Return to Home. There, one of our panelists, Ed…

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Starting today, join us for 8 great Return to Home huddles!

February 2, 2021

Starting today and through the end of the month, we are hosting eight huddles that focus on Return to Home practices. While these huddles are meant to be used as part of the No Place Like Home Challenge preparation, anyone can participate and learn more about Return to Home (traditionally known as Return to Owner).…

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Join us for an important webcast on how to support renters with pets through Covid-19

October 6, 2020

The eviction crisis has been on the forefront of the animal welfare industry's focus over the past several months. While renters have already been facing challenges finding pet-friendly housing, many are now finding themselves on the brink of eviction. In response, animal welfare organizations are preparing for a surge of housing instability and as a…

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Animal lifesaving doesn’t begin and end at the shelter

May 5, 2020

As shelter and rescue organizations continue to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic, we thought now would be a good time to revisit this important post from September 2018. Investing in preventive programming keeps animals in loving homes and also makes financial sense. If we want to save the lives of more pets, it’s important to understand…

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Managing Intake & Reuniting Pets with Families

Sonia Gonzalez, Intake Coordinator, SPCA of Tompkins CountyJuly 2019

In this workshop viewers learn about how the SPCA of Tompkins County manages its intake in order to create better outcomes, conduct smoother intakes and lower intake. This presentation was recorded at the 2019 ASPCA Maddie's® Cornell Shelter Medicine Conference.

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Save Lives in Space Crises

Michele Figueroa, Christi Metropole and Faith WrightMarch 2019

Learn how to not end lives due to temporary space shortages by pulling other levers that will decrease the pressure that you feel.

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#FeelGoodFriday: Veteran gets his beloved dog back

February 15, 2019

It's a reality that is far too common. An owner relinquishes a pet because they cannot afford the costs associated with caring for a pet. David Randall surrendered his comfort dog, Maddie, to the Humane Society of the Pikes Peak Region (HSPPR) because she needed costly surgery that he couldn't afford. Randall, who is also…

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Study: Nonprofit spay/neuter is good for people, pets and communities

September 18, 2018

No one wants to see pets born who will end up homeless or unwanted. But in areas where veterinary practices are already facing a tough economic landscape, the opening of nonprofit spay/neuter clinics can feel threatening. Are those fears realistic? A new study published in the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association suggests the…

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How Maddie’s Pet Assistant can help with owner return prevention

August 2, 2018

What if you could support your pet adopters and help prevent returns without having to put in a lot of extra effort or spend any money? Maddie's Pet Assistant (MPA), a tool that helps you provide support to adopters and foster caregivers, might be exactly what you need. What's more, it comes at no cost…

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Memphis shelter finds a stray pet’s family might be right ‘Nextdoor’

October 17, 2017

Director Alexis Pugh of Memphis Animal Services made plenty of changes when she took over the shelter last year. One of the biggest was implementing a safety net program designed to keep pets with their families, and get lost pets back home. Maddie’s Fund® spoke with Pugh to find out more about the shelter’s innovative…

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Reducing animal surrender due to medical costs, #ThanksToMaddie!

June 15, 2017

What if you could help keep pets out of the shelter and with their families by subsidizing veterinary care costs? That's exactly what Colorado’s Humane Society of the Pikes Peak Region (HSPPR) had in mind when they applied for an Innovation Grant earlier this year. "Their Innovation Grant was to help people surrendering their animals…

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Pet Retention Program - St. Hubert's Animal Welfare Center

February 2017

Learn how to assist your community members in finding alternative paths for their pets other than shelter surrender.

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Study: The effect of declawing on litter box use in multi-cat households

January 3, 2017

Problems related to urinating and defecating outside the litter box and living with more than one cat are among the top reasons people surrender cats to a shelter. Is that worse for cats who have been declawed? The average number of cats per cat-owning household is 2, indicating that multi-cat households are very common in…

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Good intentions can go very wrong when you find a lost pet

December 6, 2016

Mary Kennedy Withrow, a staffer at the Western Pennsylvania Humane Society, arrived at the shelter recently and found a woman standing outside with a gorgeous German Shepherd. She said she had found the dog running down her street, and wanted to have her scanned. “I would have kept her, but my other dog didn’t seem…

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Breed Restrictions in Housing - Panel Discussion

Tawney Hamond, Scott Giacoppo, Lindsey OrtizJanuary 2017

The panel covers how breed restrictions impact "pitbull" terriers and what can be done to remove or bypass the restrictions.

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Judgment-Free Zones: Building Relationships in Underserved Communities to Keep Dogs in Homes

Maureen Keenan and Kelsey WestbrookJuly 2016

Learn how to create a more compassionate community for all dogs and their owners - and boost lifesaving numbers. See how it was done, and how the model can be duplicated anywhere.

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A stranger told her his dog had gone missing. What she told him made all the difference!

February 18, 2016

A stranger stops you in the street and tells you his dog is missing. Would you know what to tell him? Thanks to her time volunteering for Lost Dogs Minnesota, Linda Conrad did. Conrad was packing up her van for a trip one morning when a car stopped in her driveway. He’d noticed the dog…

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Getting Big Dogs Out of the Shelter via Canine Good Citizen Training

Marian Cannell and Amy LewisFebruary 2015

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 (CGC) Training on adoption rates. The results have been very good and show a clear adoption rate difference between dogs who undergo training and those who don’t.

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Helping Cats Who Hiss and Hide: Pre-Webcast Survey Results

November 2013

On November 14, 2013, Maddie's Fund® presented the webcast Helping Cats Who Hiss and Hide: Assessment, Behavior Modification and Re-Homing Strategies for Shy and Fearful Cats, with Dr. Sheila D'Arpino, a board-certified veterinary behaviorist. Those who registered for the live webcast filled out a short questionnaire regarding their own experiences with shy and fearful cats.

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Cats by Appointment Only

Barbara CarrMarch 2013

The SPCA Serving Erie County has dramatically reduced cat admissions and eliminated overcrowding and severe disease outbreaks with its cats by appointment policy – worries about an angry public, bad press and an increase in cat abandonment haven't materialized.

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Reducing Shelter Admissions with an Animal Help Desk

Bonney Brown, Executive Director, Nevada Humane SocietyMarch 2013

Sixty percent of the callers who wanted to surrender one or more pets were convinced to try alternatives as a result of Nevada Humane Society’s free Animal Help Desk.

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Pets in Rental Housing

Leslie Wilson2000

A simple, field-proven seven-step guide that groups or individuals can use to create a program for increasing pet-friendly rental housing in their area.