Help your community's dogs with separation anxiety - Ep 44

05/27/21 • 21 min

GUEST: Kelley Bollen is a Certified Animal Behavior Consultant with a master’s degree in Animal Behavior who has worked in the field of companion animal behavior for twenty years. Kelley is the Owner and Principal Consultant for Kelley Bollen Consulting – an animal behavior consulting business that works with animal shelters across the country on the design and implementation of comprehensive behavior programs to improve the welfare of the animals. She leads Humane Network’s Alive & Thriving animal behavior training program for shelter and clinic staff. And Kelley teaches a new Animal Shelter Behavior Management Certificate Course through the University of the Pacific.

MAIN QUESTION: How can shelters and rescue groups help people in their community with dogs who have separation anxiety issues?

TAKEAWAYS:

Actively reach out to the people in your community now (especially people who adopted a dog within the past year), with ideas to help them prepare their pets for when they return to work in an office in order to help prevent the development of separation anxiety.
If a dog can’t be content in one room while their person is in another, then there will likely be problems when the person is outside the home for extended periods.
Here are a few behavior tips to share with your community:
- Be low-key when you leave and when you return.
- Make your departure fun by hiding treats around the home and/or giving a Kong-type toy filled with mushy food, like canned pet food.
- Practice leaving and returning for increasing lengths of time, starting with 30 seconds, so the dog gets used to you going and coming back. Take the dog’s Kong when you return so the dog wants you to stay away longer.
- Leave a radio or TV on when you're gone to give the dog some company.
- Give the dog 10 to 15 minutes of aerobic exercise before leaving such as running up and down stairs or chasing a ball in the backyard.

LINKS:

Kelley Bollen Consulting
Video presentation on independence training for dogs by Kelley Bollen
Separation anxiety behavior tips by Kelley Bollen that organizations can print and give to adopters or people who contact them with concerns
Leadership recommendation: Sample fraud policy by the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners

MAIN QUESTION: How can shelters and rescue groups help people in their community with dogs who have separation anxiety issues?

TAKEAWAYS:

Actively reach out to the people in your community now (especially people who adopted a dog within the past year), with ideas to help them prepare their pets for when they return to work in an office in order to help prevent the development of separation anxiety.
If a dog can’t be content in one room while their person is in another, then there will likely be problems when the person is outside the home for extended periods.
Here are a few behavior tips to share with your community:
- Be low-key when you leave and when you return.
- Make your departure fun by hiding treats around the home and/or giving a Kong-type toy filled with mushy food, like canned pet food.
- Practice leaving and returning for increasing lengths of time, starting with 30 seconds, so the dog gets used to you going and coming back. Take the dog’s Kong when you return so the dog wants you to stay away longer.
- Leave a radio or TV on when you're gone to give the dog some company.
- Give the dog 10 to 15 minutes of aerobic exercise before leaving such as running up and down stairs or chasing a ball in the backyard.

LINKS:

Kelley Bollen Consulting
Video presentation on independence training for dogs by Kelley Bollen
Separation anxiety behavior tips by Kelley Bollen that organizations can print and give to adopters or people who contact them with concerns
Leadership recommendation: Sample fraud policy by the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners

Previous Episode

How to revive a stagnating animal nonprofit - Ep43

GUEST: Stacy LeBaron hosts a weekly podcast called the Community Cats Podcast where she interviews nationally and internationally renowned experts about cats and cat welfare. She also served for 16 years as president of the Merrimack River Feline Rescue Society, assisting more than 105,000 cats and kittens in and around Salisbury, Massachusetts. Stacy is a current member of the Shelter Medicine Committee at the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University, an adviser to the Massachusetts Animal Coalition (MAC), Vice President of the Board for PAWSitive Pantry in Vermont, and committee member for HubCats Chelsea. Stacy also facilitates two smaller coalitions in Massachusetts, the Boston Homeless Cats group and Merrimack Valley Partnership.

MAIN QUESTION: What steps do you recommend to revive an organization that has become stagnant or inactive?

TAKEAWAYS:

There are generally two ways to revive an organization: Reinvigorate the passion of existing people, or allow the organization to start a new life with new leadership or management. Stacy calls this latter “recycling the organization.”
Identify the key challenges or weaknesses of the organization, which can usually fit into four categories:
- Funding (lack of funding)
- People (often lack of energy due to hard work over many years)
- Vision (the lack of an inspiring vision or direction for the future)
- Scalability (Issues that hinder growth or desire to stay the same)
Figure out where you can make the biggest impact for the funding you have.
Consider doing an assessment of the needs in your community and what other organizations are already doing – look for an unmet need to focus on.
Consider merging with another organization.
And consider partnering with other organizations (even outside animal welfare) this could include sharing resources such as HR, bookkeeping, and marketing.

LINKS:

Community Cats Podcast
Community Cats Pyramid about how certain programs affect cat population numbers
Stacy LeBaron on Shelter Success Simplified podcast Ep12 about tech solutions and innovations for animal groups
Leadership recommendation: Steps for planning an animal shelter or clinic

Next Episode

Telemedicine and the future of animal sheltering - Ep 45

GUEST: Brandy Kuentzel is Senior Vice President and General Counsel at the San Francisco SPCA. Prior to joining the San Francisco SPCA, Brandy worked as a corporate attorney and emerged as winner of the 10th season of NBC’s reality competition series “The Apprentice.” And she earned a J.D. from the University of Chicago Law School.

MAIN QUESTIONS: What it is veterinary telemedicine and why should animal welfare groups have it on their radars?

TAKEAWAYS:

Veterinary telemedicine is when a veterinarian interacts with a patient remotely rather than hands-on, such as through a video connection or talking with the owner by phone.
Telemedicine can be an important part of community-based sheltering efforts that keep animals out of shelters and with their families by improving access to veterinary care.
Many animals would benefit from telemedicine including those who get overly stressed going to the vet; those in rural areas who must travel long distances; and those whose people have limited mobility, transportation challenges, logistical difficulties with childcare or work schedules.
Veterinary telemedicine is currently legal in only a few places, but a lawsuit currently going through the courts in California may set a national precedent.
A common criticism is that animals cannot speak for themselves, but there is a double-standard with human telemedicine that allows doctors to interact remotely with parents of infants and non-verbal patients. Opposition to telemedicine often assumes that veterinarians are incapable of telling whether an animal needs to be seen in person or can safely be diagnosed remotely.
Recent experiences with the pandemic have shown the benefits and successes of medical care accessed remotely.

LINKS: