Shelter Animal Care Meetings
We talk a lot about what goes into running a shelter, like building budgets, forecasting funds, hiring staff, and collecting data. But what about the tedious, day-to-day tasks that are every bit as important as big-picture thinking?
Care meetings, also known as population rounds, are one of the foundational bricks that lay the framework for a successful shelter. Proactive and intentional rounds can help to quickly identify medical and behavioral needs, decrease length of stay, and keep staff on the same page, thereby improving animal welfare and reducing staff burnout. Animal care meetings are an essential part of a well-functioning shelter, and it’s worth it to get them right. Let’s talk about how to build animal rounds into your shelter.
Why Bother With Animal Care Meetings?
It’s alarmingly common for animal care staff to feel like their managers barely know their animal population. In fact, when I visit shelters and meet with their staff, the biggest complaint I hear is that staff barely see their managers. Actions speak louder than words, and that’s doubly important when dealing with the sentient beings housed in animal shelters.
Managers can say they care all they want, but unless their staff actually see it through their actions, their words will always fall on deaf ears. Animal care meetings are a natural opportunity for leadership to show staff and volunteers that they’re invested in the well-being of their staff and animal population
Performing Daily Rounds
Okay, we get it. Animal care meetings are important. Now, how do you actually implement them at your shelter? The exact structure of your rounds will be dependent on the unique culture and needs of your shelter, but here’s what I’ve found works at many of the shelters I’ve worked with.
During playgroups, you get to observe a dog’s play style, temperament, and tolerance to other dogs. Similarly, daily rounds provide a wealth of information about how a dog behaves when they’re alone.
Who Should Be There?
Rounds should be conducted by a small team of no more than 3-4 decision-making staff members. Ideally, a manager should be appointed to direct daily rounds and decide on next steps, and remaining staff should represent multiple perspectives, including:
Shelter operations
Veterinary care
Behavioral wellness
Animal placement
Conducting rounds as a small, dedicated team allows for less confusion and more cohesion among the group so that urgent and immediate concerns can be identified and resolved on the spot. Less urgent matters can be earmarked for weekly pathway meetings where big-picture discussions can be hashed out.
How Often Should Rounds Be Completed?
Ideally, rounds should take place at a consistent time each day. Daily rounds before cleaning and feeding times allow leadership staff to keep an eye on animals’ eating habits, energy levels, signs of vomit or abnormal elimination, etc. If you’re a new shelter that’s overwhelmed by implementing a daily rounds system, you might consider starting with weekly rounds and working your way up from there.
How Should Rounds Be Structured?
Like I mentioned above, the exact structure of your rounds will depend on the needs of your shelter. I recommend trying out various systems until you find one that fits your shelter. To help you get started, here’s a basic, efficient structure that I’ve implemented at shelters I’ve worked with:
Equip each kennel, room, or office holding animals with an area, like a white board or clipboard, for staff and volunteers to document concerns on a day-to-day basis.
Begin your rounds by checking listed staff concerns, if any.
Discuss staff concerns briefly. If a concern requires more than 2-3 minutes of discussion, address the most immediate concern and earmark the rest for later discussion.
Once you’ve addressed staff concerns, observe each animal closely and consider their status within the Five Domains of Animal Welfare.
Once you’ve finished, sign off that the animal has been checked, notate any concerns, indicate next steps, and assign a staff member to follow up.
It may be helpful to develop an action list, which can be prepared ahead of time with questions to consider as you complete your evaluations. Be sure to engage in proper documentation of behavior observations to ensure clarity and consistency.
White boards, signage, and other tools can be useful for conducting animal care meetings and/or communicating amongst staff.
Avoid Common Mistakes
Want to know the #1 mistake I’ve seen in shelters trying to implement a population rounds system? Lack of follow through. Management often struggles with communication on the staff level, which is a big mistake. After all, how can we expect staff to communicate with us when we don’t return the favor? Make sure you’re always looping back to staff and avoiding other common mistakes by:
Updating kennel signage: Did staff list a concern that was addressed during your rounds? Update signage to indicate how the issue has been resolved.
Documenting behavior clearly: Perform behavior observations using clear language that is easy to follow and means the same thing to all of your staff members. Check out our behavior observations blog to learn how to document behavior clearly and accurately.
Assigning follow-up tasks: Don’t just note an issue and leave it hanging. Make sure to take the extra step to assign next steps, like training plans, enrichment changes, or vet checks, with a clear indication of who on your staff should complete these steps.
Prioritizing collaboration: One of the biggest barriers to regular rounds boils down to a lack of collaboration. Scheduling conflicts between departments, lack of clarity about staff involvement, you name it. I highly encourage the leadership team to prioritize collaborative rounds above all else. If you’re noticing that collaboration is a challenge, you might consider taking a step back to look at what needs to be addressed in your organization’s culture.
Being transparent: make sure to transparently discuss your findings during regular team meetings, and give staff the chance to ask questions, give input, and contribute to the process.
I provide hands-on support to all of my clients and the animals in their care.
Want Help With Daily Rounds?
This all sounds great in theory, but what about in practice? If you’ve struggled to build daily rounds into your shelter’s operations, I get it. I’ve got first-hand experience with the struggles of managing an animal shelter, and I’ve made it my mission to help shelters put animals first. Whether you’re looking to start a playgroup, need help implementing better pathways planning, or feel lost managing cruelty and neglect cases, I’m here to help. I started Shelter Behavior Integrations because I love working with people who love animals just as much as I do. If that sounds like you, feel free to schedule a free discovery call, access my educational resources, or take a casual scroll through my other blog posts.
