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In this interactive session, Trish will share her extensive experience and expertise, diving into: Traditional Dog Evaluations vs. Playgroup Assessments: How playgroups provide deeper insights into canine behavior. 🐾 The Benefits and Challenges of Playgroup Programs: What you need to know to start or enhance your program. 🐾Data-Driven Decision Making: Tools to track and analyze the impact of playgroups on shelter operations. 🐾 The Playgroup-Adoption Connection: How playgroups increase adoptab
Join Laurie as she discusses a variety of topics regarding adopting dogs to homes with children. We decode myths and realities of dogs bites to children, discuss why adding arbitrary age limits to certain adoptions can be harmful and extend length of stay, and how we can appropriately coach families for their first few weeks after adoption.
Led by feline behavior expert and certified consultant Karen Plescia, this webinar will dive into all things cats in the shelter, and how we can support them, especially when it comes to our shy, scared, fearful, and feral-born populations.
Join Laurie Lawless for an exciting webinar, "From Shelter to Service: Identifying Working Dog Potential," featuring renowned dog behavior consultant Maria DeLeon. Discover how to recognize traits in your shelter dogs that align with successful working dog careers, opening new doors for placements and life-changing opportunities.
Tom Candy, a renowned expert in canine behavior and training, and I will be talking about: "Top Down Solutions for Addressing Kennel Stress and Arousal" We’ll tackle the challenges of managing stress and excitement in kennel environments. This session is designed for shelter leadership, dog professionals, and kennel staff, who are eager to create a calm space for their canine companions.
Understanding emotion in context – Learn how stress, fear, and positive emotions show up differently in shelter environments A framework for clarity – Explore a multi-dimensional model for assessing canine emotion and how it applies to real shelter scenarios Welfare-focused decision-making – Discover how emotional assessments can help staff support dogs more effectively — from intake to adoption
Power of mentorship – Discover how personalized support can help you grow your behavior program, gain confidence in your decision-making, and prevent staff burnout. Playgroups as behavior tools – Learn how well-run playgroups can improve social skills, lower kennel stress, and offer invaluable behavioral insights. Improving adoptability – Understand how play-based observations can shape adoption matches and enhance each dog’s path to a permanent home. Practical takeaways for any shelter – G
We will look at how Laurie's Pathways at Intake program has dramatically improved the lives of the animals in their care while streamlining shelter processes. Christen will dive into the key strategies, challenges, and successes that have made this transformation possible, offering practical insights for shelters and rescues of all sizes.
Join me and special guest Jessica Wheatcraft for an exclusive webinar: Unlabeling Reactivity in the Animal Shelter Environment. We’ll dig deep into what’s really behind reactivity in shelter animals and how we can move beyond the labels to create better outcomes for the dogs and cats in our care. 🐾
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The webinar emphasized that aggression in shelter dogs is a contextual, emotion-driven behavior, most often fear-based, but sometimes rooted in frustration, rather than a fixed trait. Key strategies included reducing stress, observing behavior, managing distance, intensity, and duration, and using classical conditioning and differential reinforcement. Safe handling, environmental management, and assessing dogs outside kennels were highlighted as critical to welfare and prognosis.
In this candid, experience-rich conversation, Laurie Lawless and Sue Sternberg explored the evolution of shelter dog behavior work — from the early, often arbitrary practices of the 1980s to today’s need for welfare-driven, evidence-informed decision making.
This session explored the unique needs, vulnerabilities, and care considerations for senior dogs entering shelter environments, including intake protocols, environment design, behavioral considerations, quality-of-life monitoring, senior-to-senior adoption programs, and medical/behavioral intersections.
Are you looking to prevent burnout, support your staff’s emotional well-being, and build a more sustainable shelter culture? Join us for a powerful new webinar, "Compassion Fatigue in Animal Shelters," featuring Marla Andrews of Humane Hearts and hosted by Laurie Lawless of Shelter Behavior Integrations.
In this webinar, Laurie Lawless and Mik Moeller, a shelter implementation expert, explored various enrichment activities and strategies for shelter animals, including sensory stimulation, clicker training, and creative solutions to overcome time constraints and physical limitations in kennels. Mik's innovative discussion includes importance of community involvement, volunteer engagement, and the gradual implementation of enrichment programs to improve the well-being of shelter animals.
In this session, Emily and Laurie will unpack the role of post-adoption support as a powerful tool for improving behavior outcomes, preventing unnecessary returns, and helping adopted dogs (and their families) thrive.
Topics include: - Setting the foundation: Learn what puppies really need in their early weeks and how shelters can meet those needs, even in busy environments - Development on a dime: Explore creative, low-resource strategies for hitting key developmental benchmarks - Welfare wins: Discover how small adjustments in care and handling can make a big difference in puppy outcomes