Welcome

Animal shelters should have a commitment to every life in their care. Numerous shelters have left behind the old and disproved paradigm that there are too many pets and not enough homes. These shelters have made steps towards ensuring that every healthy or treatable homeless pet leaves the shelter alive and in good hands, employing programs that are part of the No Kill Equation. However, as shelters fine-tune the details of programs designed to avoid unnecessary killing and navigate new project ideas, it can be difficult to determine which steps make a positive difference and which don’t.

I decided to create Shelter Positive as a blog to foster discussion about effective sheltering and adoption practices. I don’t claim to know what works and what doesn’t, especially not in absolute terms, so I welcome and encourage any opinions to be shared respectfully in the comments. The most desirable course of action might be intuitive when it comes to certain topics (e.g. customer service), but other topics should hopefully inspire some brainstorming among shelter managers, employees, volunteers, fosters, and supporters that come across this blog. I am interested in covering the range of possibilities and in drawing from what individual shelters currently do to inform the discourse.

Shelters have a responsibility to each life in their care, and so we should give more thought to the actions and decisions at shelters and how effective they are in fulfilling this commitment. If you agree, welcome to Shelter Positive, and thank you for joining these discussions.