Many shelters have successfully evacuated their animals into community homes during this pandemic; now it’s time to keep them there. The work of the animal shelter should have at its very core foster care management, now done remotely: you likely need to be devoting increased staff and services to this population. How to get your people and your systems up to speed? Here is the best online training we found for shelter staff, kitten fosters, and dog fosters to create a sustainable and best practice approach to using foster homes as your new shelter.
Get organized! Training for shelter staff about foster program management:
- Foster Care Management (Maddie’s® University, Maddie’s Fund) https://www.maddiesuniversity.org/Catalog/…7
- Foster Care Resources (Maddie’s Fund) https://www.maddiesfund.org/foster-care-resources.htm#program-basics Foster program resources that will help you start and expand your foster program by recruiting more caregivers, increasing efficiency.
- Foster Care Webinars (Petfinder) https://pro.petfinder.com/foster-home-webinars/ A webinar series on expectations, behavior and training of foster pets.
- Foster Programs: Animal Selection & Family Recruitment (webinar from ASPCAPRO) https://www.aspcapro.org/webinar/201703-1/animal-selection-family-recruitment
- Customizable Guides for Cat & Dog Foster Homes (ASPCAPRO) https://www.aspcapro.org/resource/saving-lives-foster-care/customizable-guides-cat-dog-foster-homes
- Creating an Online Orientation for Animal Foster Care Volunteers (ASPCAPR0) https://resources.bestfriends.org/article/creating-online-orientation-animal-foster-care-volunteers
- Foster Programs Training Playbook (Best Friends) https://network.bestfriends.org/lifesaving-library/operational-playbooks/foster-programs-training-playbook
- Chew on This (Maddie’s Fund newsletter: March 31, 2020) https://chewonthis.maddiesfund.org/2020/03/more-pets-are-in-foster-homes-than-ever-before-now-what/#.XpW79bCBOBg.email
- Introducing the Adopters Welcome Approach: Finding, Engaging and Supporting More Adopters (webinar from The Humane Society of the United States) https://www.animalsheltering.org/trainings/introducing-adopters-welcome-approach-finding-engaging-and-supporting-more-adopters:
Prepare fosters for kitten mountain! Training for kitten foster parents:
- Kitten Care (Kitten Lady) https://www.kittenlady.org/kitten-care Kitten Lady provides educational media, training resources, and instructional workshops that help individuals and animal shelters learn how to save the lives of kittens. From preparing for your foster kitten to bottle feeding and routine care, learn everything you need to know to be a hero for the tiniest felines.
- Bottle Feeding Kittens (video) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nS25qbRzIFw
- Humane Feline Handling (webinar from ASPCAPRO) https://www.aspcapro.org/webinar/20130409/humane-feline-handling-101
- Feline Communication (webinar from ASPCAPRO) https://www.aspcapro.org/webinar/20130402/feline-communication Learn what cats are saying with their eyes, ears, whiskers and tails, their weight shifts and body postures. Discover how you can use your own body language to show cats that you are a friend, not a foe.
- Giving Vaccines (5 min. video) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p0chXa8LHFY
Get training– people! Training for dog foster parents:
- Human Body Language and Effects on Dog Behavior (webinar from ASPCAPRO) https://www.aspcapro.org/webinar/20120426/human-body-language-and-dog-behavior
- Canine Behavior (webinar from ASPCAPro) https://www.aspcapro.org/webinar/2018-11-13-120000/assessing-canine-behavior-shelter-how-collect-objective-info
- Dog Enrichment (webinar from ASPCAPro) https://www.aspcapro.org/webinar/20130129/enrichment-shelter-dogs
- Kongs- this one is funny (7 min video) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LwZI1isnvPQ
