The Best Friends Podcast Episode 68
June 17th, 2021
One of the most at-risk populations in animal shelters is large dogs. In communities big and small, urban and rural, big dogs struggle to make it out alive most often due to behavioral issues.
Whether they came into the shelter with those behaviors or not, time in a shelter environment is stressful. Stress can lead to undesirable behaviors; undesirable behaviors mean longer stays in the shelter, and more time in the shelter can lead to more stress.
This week we look at one organization's unique and creative foster program designed to rally the community to help save these "behavior dogs." It's an idea so good that they were awarded a Rachael Ray Save Them All Grant through the Best Friends Network and are now teaching others around the country how to assemble their own "unicorn squad."
Click here to check out all the episodes from the podcast.
Resources from this episode- Gateway Pet Guardians: Unicorn Foster Program
- Proven Lifesaving Strategies for Big Dogs Training Playbook
- Enrichment on a Dime (webinar)
- Enrichment for shelter dogs
- Dog enrichment
- Kennel enrichment
- Dogs Playing for Life manual
- Additional marketing tips
- Grants for Animal Rescue to Save More Lives: The Rachael Ray Save Them All Grants
Guest this week
Brittany Fleming
adoption and foster manager, Gateway Pet Guardians
Brittany Fleming is the adoption and foster manager for Gateway Pet Guardians. She has been with the organization since 2015.
Animal rescue is her passion and behavior dogs are her specialty. Seeing dogs progress from shy, scared or aggressive to confident, happy and social means everything to her and it's why she loves to give every animal a chance, no matter how they act on intake. She also oversees the placement of animals in foster homes.
Episode Transcript