Shelter Education Program

Empowering shelter organizations with expert advice and knowledge

Each year, over three million dogs enter animal shelters in the United States – a truly startling statistic.

These dogs are surrendered or abandoned for a variety of factors. Family circumstances can change – a new baby, a move out-of-town, or a different work schedule. Alternatively, the dog may have behavioral issues that require careful management and consistent training. Some owners may believe the dog is ‘beyond help’. At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, dogs were being acquired during lockdowns to keep people company during stay-at-home orders; when life returned to normal, and families returned to work and school, owners found that they could no longer make the time to adequately care for their dog. Dogs were abandoned or surrendered, becoming another addition to the statistics.

Irrespective of the many reasons behind surrendering dogs, the constant flow of animals in, out, and back into shelters puts an enormous strain on overworked staff in shelter environments. The dedicated teams who manage shelters on a day-to-day basis are constantly firefighting, at the brink of becoming overwhelmed with the sheer quantity of dogs entering their facilities.

Shelter staff realize that every dog is man’s best friend, and deserves a chance at living a happy and fulfilled life. Likewise, at Highland Canine Training, we recognize that every person who works in an animal shelter faces an almost impossible task to juggle the day-to-day responsibilities to manage the shelter successfully.

Our work with ICAS

Understanding the strain placed on shelter staff in a post-pandemic world, in 2023, Highland Canine embarked on a partnership with the Iredell County Animal Shelter (ICAS). Our mission was simple – to use our expertise and donate our time to work with dogs who struggle to be adopted out for behavioral reasons.

Our aim was to work with dogs exhibiting behavioral problems and make them easier to be placed with a suitable family, therefore helping to reduce the constant churn of dogs being surrendered back to the shelter they had been adopted from. At the same time, our team also educated shelter staff on best practices for handling techniques and managing problematic behaviors. This knowledge helped the shelter team when recommending dogs to potential families.

Our partnership with Highland Canine Training has proven to be immensely beneficial for our animal shelter. The students from Highland Canine visit us weekly, dedicating their time and expertise to teach our dogs essential obedience and leash skills. This improves the dogs' behavior and makes them more appealing to potential adopters, boosting their chances of finding forever homes.

In addition to training, the Highland Canine team provides valuable consultations on specific behavioral challenges our dogs may experience in the shelter environment. Together, we troubleshoot these challenges, implementing strategies that help enrich the dogs' lives, ensuring they stay healthy and happy while they wait for their new families.

One of the highlights of our partnership is the post-adoption training they offer for dogs that have been with us for extended periods. This training supports new owners in properly acclimating their pets to the new home environment, setting them up for success while reducing the chances of them needing to return to the shelter.

We also love how their Shelter Education Program has become a key part of our onboarding for new team members. This program introduces our staff to proper animal handling and care techniques, ensuring that all team members are well-prepared to provide the best possible environment for our animals. The impact of our partnership is nothing short of amazing, greatly enhancing the well-being of our shelter dogs and leaving a lasting, positive impact on both the animals and our team. We wholeheartedly give this program and partnership a 10/10 for being truly fantastic!

Christina Lowe

Assistant Director, Iredell County Animal Services

Our educational modules for shelter staff

At Highland Canine, we understand how difficult it can be to work in a shelter setting. In fact, several of our own team members have firsthand experience of what it means to work in a shelter, and many have contributed to developing educational materials that are invaluable to those working in these environments.

We recognized the need to give shelters as much help as we could to break the cycle of surrendered or abandoned animals. The educational materials available below are specifically designed for shelter staff. These modules cover information on the language of dogs, how to correctly introduce families to pets, enrichment ideas, and more.

We believe that the success we have seen with our local shelter, ICAS, can be replicated in shelters across the nation – and beyond. We therefore encourage you to watch these videos, ask questions if you require more information, and share these with other members of your shelter team to empower them with knowledge that will truly make a difference to their lives – and the lives of the dogs they work with.