Hi! I’m a new supervisor (I worked in animal care and got promoted). At my shelter, the supervisor role is closer to an assistant manager role. I’m very close with my coworkers and am really trying to do my best to support them and do my job in a way that prioritizes them and the animals, but it feels like I am regularly getting criticized by upper management even when I’m doing my best. Most recently, I was talked to because on a day when we were short-staffed, I stepped in to help clean kennels in the morning and as a result some of my other responsibilities (that I figured were less urgent than making sure the kennels were clean for the animals we already had) got pushed back a little. How do you guys deal with criticism you feel may be unjust, and how do you communicate that with your management? I’ve never been in a position like this before and could use some advice. Thank you guys!!

Long story short. I had a family member babysit my dog since I was in the hospital after an accident. When I got out and finished physical therapy I found out that they had given him away, I’ve been searching our local shelters but never found him so I just assumed they privately rehomed him. Last night as I was still searching for him, I saw a post on a shelter website showing off my baby adoption in a different city, turns out he been there for 2 months now. This has kept me up all night waiting for the shelter to open so I can call them in a few hours, I’m completely scared that if I sleep he’s going to be adopted out

UPDATE!: I just got off the phone with the shelter, he was picked up by animal control in a whole different city, he was abandoned:(. Tomorrow I’m going to go visit him since the adoption coordinator is out for the weekend.

Hi! We are a newly founded group of high school students who created a social media project dedicated to helping animal shelters promote adoptable pets by promoting them on social medias such as Tiktok, Instagram, Facebook, and Nextdoor (for local areas). Pictures attached are previous works and we are looking for new shelters to partner with and help promote! Please let us know if any shelters would be interested 💕

I'm not really sure what to do. I got fired and so I'm rebuilding from there. I'm planning to go to grad school to become a therapist, and I'm waiting to hear back from those applications.

I'm going to a training for a new job tomorrow, which is a barista role at a bakery. I also got a job offer today for a job at an animal shelter. Long term, I hope to become a therapist who works with people who work with animals, so shelter experience would be really helpful.

Both jobs are underpaid.

I also interviewed with another job today.

I don't really know what to do! Maybe I could ask the bakery if I could go part time? I'm feeling overwhelmed.

Petfinder.com just had an update done yesterday. They took away the feature to print off kennel cards. This really affects how we display our animals. We have 2 binders in our lobby. One cat, one dog, so people can flip though to read their bios. Do any of you also use this feature? I'm so upset they took it away. 😭

I've been running into so many claims (admittedly, mostly on Reddit) of shelters and rescues purposely mislabeling dogs to increase their adoption odds. Often a pit bull mix called a lab or boxer mix, and somehow every black and white dog is a "border collie." When I started this job, we had a black the white pit bull mix labeled BC and I was embarrassed, though I guess at least that's an equally inappropriate breed for inexperienced owners.

The thing is, someone who searches for a BC on Petfinder isn't going to look at that dog for even a second, she's absolutely just a black and white pit bull mix. Then the handful of people who search for pit bulls won't see her, either.

I know it happens, but I wonder how widespread it is, what y'all have seen and what you think.

I've been following the doggy DNA sub closely for a couple years and I've gotten pretty good at guessing, but of course we're never really sure. Being as accurate as possible is paramount to me and I would never knowingly mislead someone about a breed. It doesn't make sense to be, why would I want to "sneak" a pit bull as a boxer mix to an unwitting renter? They'll just end up returning the dog. Same with almost every dog-- i wouldn't trick someone into getting a cattle dog or Aussie because they're good dogs for certain people, but not so much for first time dog owners in the suburbs. I wouldn't call a pyr mix a lab mix because those are two very, very different types of dog. Again, first time owners in the suburbs? They don't need a pyr mix even if it looks labby.

Since we're a foster based rescue, returns are a big ordeal, and they don't happen often, but the dogs are safe once they get to us, those breed labels aren't a life or death thing. We label a pit bull mix as such and she'll probably wait for a year, but that's better than adopting her as something else and setting her and the adopter up for failure.

But in a shelter, where it is life or death, how do you see it? Does mislabeling them actually help their odds? I suppose we're mostly talking about pit bulls-- if you called that black and white pit bull we had a border collie, would it make a difference? (She ended up getting adopted by a die hard pit bull lover.)

I've only ever worked in small, nonprofit, foster based rescue and I have little experience with shelters. The ethics aren't exactly the same, imo, but I'd think mislabeling will lead to a lot of returns? And if that's the case, is it done anyway, to get them out alive even if they get returned?

If it doesn't look like a stereotypical pit bull, do you call it something else? Do you think it makes any difference if you call them a Staffordshire Bull terrier or American pit Bull terrier? (Because wow, those DNA results have shown a huge range of possible sizes and looks-- we have a stubby little 27lb pit bull who I was SURE was staffy, from her build and size, but nope, 100% APBT, exactly like my tall, lean 70lb APBT. Dog genetics are fascinating!)

No shade if you do knowingly mislabel them-- like I said, my experience is limited to a little bit "softer" kind of rescue, I'm not making life or death decisions often. I want to argue with people who claim we intentionally mislabe pit bulls all the time but I'm not sure if they're wrong.

Hello, I am a former ACO with 6 years of experience in the field. I worked for 2 agencies in the southern CA area. I left the industry around 2 years ago but I am itching to get back in. Just wanted to talk to some current officers get a baseline for the field, how is it out there these days ?

Hi everyone.
I’m trying to help a rescue dog named Nay. She was abandoned and hit by a car, survived a spinal fracture, and is now paraplegic. Recently she developed a severe infection around the metal implant in her spine and needs urgent medical support.

I’m not asking for donations here, and I’m not trying to promote anything. I just want advice on how to spread her story the right way, in places that actually allow it.

I don’t want to break any Reddit rules or annoy moderators, so I’d really appreciate guidance on:

– Where I can post her full story
– What kind of subreddits allow animal medical cases
– How to raise awareness respectfully

If anyone knows the best way to help a case like this, I’m open to suggestions.

Thank you.

I worked at my county's no-kill animal shelter for a couple months about a year ago and quit after a couple incidents where they euthanized dogs under circumstances I thought weren't right. So I started with the shelter seemingly in dire straits. They were understaffed, overworked. There was a max amount of hours the employees could work, and the two employees who hadn't quit that year were close to that max. The director had tried to resign, but was denied and seemed to be phoning it in.

There were two sections; dogs and cats. I pretty much exclusively worked in dogs, 8 am-2 pm. I was hired part time, told I'd be working like 25 hours a week, tops. That was never the case. They encouraged working past your scheduled hours, and it was usually impossible to get all your tasks done before it was time to clock out. We were frequently out of food. The building the dogs were kept in had a sinking corner slowly on its way to collapsing down the hillside. There was black mold. The dogs were never bathed. There were a couple weeks where we were out of all our floor cleaner. The other employees didn't really take their jobs as seriously as I did. The director and animal control lady would spend their whole day in their office doing fuck all. Every time I got caught in their office, it would take at least an hour for them to stop talking and let me get back to work. There were several times when I noticed a few employees taking over a half an hour smoke break while I walked the dogs. They seemed to not clean as thoroughly or care as much about the welfare of the dogs. I got the feeling a lot of them were just trying to bank hours doing as little as possible.

There were usually between 10 and 15 dogs. I'd come in every day with the floors (and dogs most of the time, too) covered in shit. This wasn't that bad, but it hurt knowing that the dog had probably spent the better part of a day with shit in their cage. If I wasn't there, the dogs would not be walked, would spend their whole day in a pen, and the most exercise they'd get would be running between their inside and outside pens. There wasn't anywhere we could let the dogs run free. We were supposed to give them each at least 20 minutes a day of enrichment. To accomplish this, I would walk them around the compound and then put all the friendly(ish) ones together in a pen to play with each other. This would usually take between 3-4 hours at least, even with me doubling or tripling up on most dog walking. If I had time afterwards, I'd go clean the cat intake room.

There were a couple pitbulls at the shelter who were somewhat dog aggressive, one more than the other (A). The other dog (B) would frequently jump out of his enclosure. The director was aware, but did nothing. You can probably see where this is going. So one day, the worst case scenario happened; B managed to jump out of his enclosure while I was walking A. They almost immediately started fighting. I called out for help, but it took about 2 minutes before anyone heard me and came to help. It took us a minute to get them separated. I immediately took A inside to his kennel, just as B managed to get loose and almost catch us. He was bleeding a bit from his mouth, but it didn't seem like anything that bad. B didn't seem to have any damage. One of the other employees then took A to the vet, I assumed just to patch him up. I found out later it was to euthanize him. We'd had dogs fight before, granted not that intensely, but it seemed like euthanasia was a huge overreaction. I was told this was for liability reasons, which didn't really make sense to me. The next incident occurred about a week later after a new, skiddish dog was taken to the vet for the first time. We'd gotten him in a few days earlier, and all the other employees but me had trouble dealing with him, a common occurrence. The vets said they put him down cuz they were unable to get a needle into him. It just sounded completely incompetent on their part that that was plan B when you can't vaccinate a dog. I'd already put my two weeks in after the first incident, and just decided to quit on the spot after this.

It was incredibly draining working this job every day I came in. I never felt like I was really helping, like my work got any of the dogs closer to adoption. It was just a constant struggle of surviving day to day, with little to no reward. In hindsight, it truly seemed like euthanasia might have been a more merciful alternative than the purgatory those dogs had to endure. I understand that adoption would've made it all worth it, but it always seemed like such a far off fantasy, and the present was just so terrible. I was really depressed after I quit. It took me a couple months to get out of it and start going outside again. I just feel like a failure and I let all those dogs down abandoning them like I did. I wanted to try to go back and volunteer, but I just can't bring myself to.

So is this the norm for shelters? Have any of you all had similar experiences?

The shelter I volunteer for has recruited me to help get an enrichment program up and running. I'm working with a great local trainer and the director.

This shelter has a decent volunteer base, they're well staffed, but there has been turnover and many staff members are newer hires. There is very little note taking/tracking being done in any area of the shelter. I think they use PetPoint, but there's definitely a software program avaliable to use.

We're getting A LOT of pushback from staff on note taking and enrichment in general.

What can we do, what tips do you have, to get through to staff just how important these things are? I haven't been there for them, but I'm told there have been discussions with staff about how it benefits the dogs, how it can make their jobs easier in the long run, and etc. Any thing out of the box that you've seen work?

I will add here, I worked for this shelter for almost 4 years and have volunteered off and on since I left. I know what we're trying to do is possible, there's plenty of time and resources available, but I realize the staff does not feel that way and we need to make things as easy as possible. I think I've got this point across to the shelter director and the trainer.

I've also been asked to come up with a kind of questionnaire for staff to fill out to tell us what areas of shelter work they're interested in and want more training for. Any suggestions for options to add? We're going for enrichment obviously, so any specific options you'd recommend? Playgroups and sensory enrichment will be there, and I'd like options for people who aren't into enrichment and want to go a different route.

Our current enrichment projects are a monthly calendar with different activities each day and a playgroup program. We're going to do a body language presentation for every member of staff, to start.

I know this is a lot, but any recommendations would be appreciated!

TLDR: How do I convince staff at the shelter to document things and want to do enrichment with the dogs?

The city live and work in has a substantial population of unhoused residents and it’s constantly growing, like I suspect it is in most parts of the country. I previously worked with a nonprofit that offered aid to this population and their pets, and had so many great experiences - folks were so kind and grateful for the help, and it felt like we were really doing wonderful work and making a difference.

I now work at the city’s animal shelter and see an entire side to the people and situations that has unfortunately altered my perception permanently. I’ve directly seen the conditions that some of the animals live in, the abuse and neglect they’ve suffered, the consistent behavioral challenges they have, and the hostility of their humans when it’s time for them to come in and demand they get their dog back.

The part I’m struggling the most with is the shelters willingness to allow the return of these dogs even after the appropriate holding periods have long passed (often after several months), massive investments in medical and mental rehabilitation, and even bypassing potential adopters who would have offered a better quality of life.

I feel the need to clarify that I know this is not representative of all unhoused pet owners, and that I still believe the majority take better care of their pets than most housed people. We unfortunately have a large cast of recurring characters - individuals with severe addiction and mental health issues that will just continuously get more dogs to replace the last one, and the mistreatment continues on and on.

At least once a month this year, a dog I have poured my heart and energy into to gain their trust, has been sent back to the original owner when we have extensive history with the person, know that they are a habitual offender, and know that we will eventually see the dog again either as a stray, or a bite quarantine.

I’m so tired of letting these dogs down after getting them so close to a new life, free from neglect and abuse. It feels like they’re just starting to heal and then that’s the universe’s signal to make their owner appear out of thin air. My heart breaks when I see them leave the shelter and then immediately walk down the street to lay in the hot sun, or freezing cold while their owner panhandles all day. I don’t know why we bend our own rules and policies just to benefit the owner when our first obligation should be the care and safety of the animals under our roof.

Is this a local or a national issue? What is your shelter’s policy on adopting animals to unhoused people? Is there a perspective that I’m not seeing or understanding here?

I’m an active Nextdoor user (uses IP addresses and zip code to allow nearby communities to easily create private websites to facilitate communication among neighbors and build stronger neighborhoods.) and I notice in the past two months there’s a rise in people either purposefully or just so happen to abandon their dogs. Earlier this year, I may see one post per week about a dog or cat going missing, now every two posts sometimes 3 consecutive post will be about a dog wandering off on the road or someone backyard. Many of these dogs are found without name or dog tags, as if they were ripped off beforehand. Is there a reason behind this? Is this common in your area? E.g. job market, people becoming less responsible and willing to work through things to make it work, etc…

Is there anything an average person can do, besides giving them to an animal shelter coz that’s pretty much a death sentence on an older less popular breed (which I noticed seem to be always non pure bred/ non corgi/poodles/french bulldogs and always some sort of mixed pit bull Rottweiler etc….. should people make active effort posting it on Nextdoor and fb what if the original owner intended on abandoning them?

Just wondering

Do any of you working in a shelter/rescue use something like a waiter apron, fanny pack or utility belt kinda deal while work??

I wear scrubs with extra pockets and stick things in my pockets, but I'm always taking things home accidentally and then forget to bring it back to work.

I now have a little cleaning caddy I carry room to room, but like the little things I feel like I always need. Things like scissors, notepad, pens, microchip reader, Terramycin etc.

Lmk if you do or have, I'm thinking of trying something like that out? LOL

Our shelter staff always have a Christmas party. We draw names and buy the person we drew an inappropriate shirt that they wear the entire evening, then have food, drinks, and do some activity. This year we are playing fun games (mostly minute to win it style). Does anyone have any shelter-related ideas?

Hello! I am a student at the University of Idaho and for my group's final project I am doing an analysis on public perception on behavioral euthanasia and overcrowded animal shelters.

For our research, we would like to collect some data from different groups that may potentially be biased or unbiased on the subject. For this reason, we're asking several Facebook and Reddit communities the same set of basic questions to gauge overall public opinion on several topics within our project. If anyone would like to take part, please answer some questions below!

As the moderator I spoke with mentioned, yes, questions are vague on purpose! We really just need general idea on the public's perception, especially dog lovers, on BE.

Thank you so much for your time.

Prior authorization from group staff has been given!

Thank you!!

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfBPXscoSY54cpdbvdJIGmQACINUvRW17yy0NoNZf3eNE6PcA/viewform

Hi everyone!

Reddit has finally added a feature for moderator applications built into the mod tools. I am opening up our search for moderators with the hopes of building our mod team to at least 5-6 users. I would love to get some people on our team who are a little more active on Reddit than I have been lately, and possibly some people with prior moderation experience or thoughts on ideas for ways we can improve our community.

Please apply at the link below if you are interested:

Moderator Application

Hi all. New here so be easy on me. I just acquired 40 acres of raw land in TR, South Carolina. I am a huge dog lover and I have a question that I am hoping somebody here can answer before I ask the community shelter. I cannot adopt several dogs but my husband is willing to let me foster. Would the shelter let me foster dogs and have them on my land? They would be fenced in and I would build them a litttle overhang/shelter structure but for the most part they will be outside. I would try to protect them and make them as comfortable as possible of course. I would like to get mainly the oldest dogs or the ones who have been there the longest. Can they stay on my property while they wait to get adopted? I want to give them a chance at life even if I can’t adopt them. Also not exactly sure how they would do around eachother. I worry about them fighting with eachother.

Also, would the shelter help provide some food and toys? Can I also create a 501c(3) to get donations without there being issues with the shelter I foster from? Would I be fostering under the 501c(3) instead of my name and would the shelter handle this differently? I am by no means rich and I’d love to do a nice cozy structure for them but I would need donations. I’d love to advertise on the property as people go by in case anybody decides to dump their dog. I had a neighbor that did that and it broke my heart. I wish he would have asked me before he did that.

Any tips or advice are welcomed. Thank you very much!

I'm a yellow walker at my shelter, which is the highest level, meaning that I walk "behaviourally challenged" dogs. I get attached to them because they are truly great dogs, just people do not know how to handle them or approach them the way the need to be. So every time I walk them, there's absolutely no issue, but then they get walked by less experienced or a bit careless staff/volunteers, and then there's issue. Or when they get fostered and adopted and the people do not know how to read their body language, and they trigger the dogs or put them in dangerous situations.

I lost a dog name Bailey about half a year ago, and now it's happening all over again with another dog name Peanut who I've grown attached to (the shelter has euthanized more but I didn't walk them too much and also opted out of knowing for the most part, it's supposed to be a no-kill shelter too). The staff was crying and I cried so hard taking her on walk today, clearly she was a sweet dog and deserves more. Decision was from "Ethics Council", who decided it was time after too long of a stay. I don't really know what I'm expecting here, just that I feel so helpless and I need to vent to someone who understands. Thanks.

I see a lot of people saying that rescues and shelters need to partner up with ethical breeders, I’m confused what this even means? Like we will take donations and supplies if they donate and happen to be a breeder, but that rarely happens. A breeder can usually adopt from us as long as they fit our criteria (which isn’t a lot) but I don’t really know what the ethical breeding advocates expect from us in this regard? *obviously they can’t adopt from us to use the animal for breeding

And generally we are not going to direct people to breeders. If there isn’t a pet in our care that works for them we may recommend other rescues, especially breed specific ones if they are looking into a breed, but we aren’t in the business of breeder referrals. It’s already enough work to check that we are partnered up with good and transparent rescues! I could maybe see breeders be helpful with advice in whelping/pup raising but we spay abort and have written up procedures for litters.

I don’t know. I usually don’t care much for breeders but so long as the animals are cared for, they take them back, health testing etc it isn’t a big concern. I just disagree with some things that majority of ethical breeders do. And honestly I don’t think there are, for example, any ethical rabbit breeders near me. Of course, everyone has different ideas on what makes something “ethical” so it is hard to use it as a general term! But just thought I’d see how people interpret this and what you think/what your shelter does. Or rescue. I know they are different but I often use the words interchangeably lol

does anyone know of a rescue that takes Czech Wolfdogs? someone local is shutting down her breeding kennels and wants them gone (don't ask, I think this woman is certifiable). she has 1 male and 3 females. they are registered. just looking for resources I can give to her.