Perseverance in Animal Services

Perseverance in Animal Services 

By Meaghan Colville, Shelter Director, Cincinnati Animal CARE (Best Friends Executive Leadership Certification Graduate, Cohort 2)

Don’t have time to read? Listen to the recording here:

When I sat down to write my last blog in June, I was very stressed. I was discouraged, frustrated and overwhelmed. Things have not been easy for a long time in animal services and my team was being pushed by a flurry of compounding challenges in recent years. We are still being pushed and I am still feeling overwhelmed, and at times, frustrated but I’m no longer feeling discouraged.

I came into animal services at a time when a lot of the transformational work had already been done. Momentum was moving heavily in the direction of “no-kill” and I was the grateful benefactor of learning skills, tricks, and tips from those before me. When Covid came along, the culmination of fundamental industry changes and the application of new lifesaving strategies resulted in incredible community engagement, and in turn, animals were saved. At the shelter I was working in, we had empty kennels. The plan was working and sustainability felt inevitable. 

Four years later, Cincinnati Animal CARE, like many shelters across the country, is struggling. We have seen a significant increase in dog population being driven by an increased need for intake and a decreased adoption engagement. After several years of steady progress and upward trends for many of us in the profession, it has been startling and humbling to realize that what we were doing – what we were trained to do – was simply not working the way it used to. 

I didn’t notice it at first but like a slow drip, several challenges have come to a head. Before we knew it, we were “full” and left feeling incredulous. What just happened? Frustration and probably some entitlement (you mean I have change what I’m doing?) gave way to a defeatist mindset.

Like I often do in my life, I had to go through it. I had to sit with it and feel the emotions that come from an intense and important profession and the feelings that come from adversity. From those quiet moments came a new feeling: resolve. We have no other choice but to push forward because we can’t go back. These challenges we are facing are just the nudge (or hard kick to the butt) we needed to be inspired to continue to grow. Adversity is an opportunity. So we got to work. 

Over the last month, our team in Cincinnati has been laser-focused on finding solutions to the dog population issues and the many issues caused by our population. To do this, we had to determine what the real problems are. It is easy to make assumptions and make decisions based on feelings, but in order to find solutions we had to use data to understand what we were finding solutions for. With a 330% increase to our canine in-care population, we made a plan to stop the bleeding and then begin moving in a more sustainable direction. 

Over the last month or so we implemented the following:

We Began Highlighting our Best Dogs

Typically, we have given the spotlight to those dogs most “at-risk” and prioritized them in front of potential adopters. However, we noticed that although we might help one at-risk dog, we were missing the chance to move more dogs on a larger scale. By showcasing and prioritizing our easier to adopt dogs, we are able to get them out of the shelter more quickly, opening up space, time and resources for the other dogs.

We Ran Promotions

I realize this is not a new idea and fortunately we were already in the midst of an adoption event (thank you BISSELL Pet Foundation!) but our planned $15 adoptions were dropped to fee-waived for one week. This generated buzz and media attention that increased our foot traffic. We were able to see over 80 animals go home in just one week, with nearly 50 in just the last 3 days of our fee-waived event. 

We Engaged the Media

I realize that this is also not a new concept but it worked. In order to get the word out about our need for fosters and adopters, we reached out to our local media with data. By the midpoint of July, we were on pace to take in 100 more dogs than we had ever taken in in any previous July since assuming operations of our county shelter. This statistic single-handedly drew the attention of the media and our community. July was on pace to be devastating and through transparent communication, our media responded. Last week alone, myself and our Community Engagement Coordinator handled multiple news inquiries every single day. 

We Overhauled our “Lifesaving Meeting” Process

Like other animal service organizations we have a team that meets weekly to implement intervention for struggling dogs or determine end of life decisions as needed. Following an audit of our process, we realized that we were a) not intervening quickly enough, b) falling behind as we chased the next dog not doing well in the shelter rather than getting ahead of them before they struggled and c) not efficient in our process which was resulting in a backlog of dogs on-site. This backlog was producing compounding effects that were resulting in even more declining behavior and even more potential end of life decisions due to behavior we could not address or solve for. 

We now have a new process in place that includes: daily check-ins with dog program and behavior staff to enhance communication and priorities, a new spreadsheet system that contains the most relevant information and is far more efficient, and much needed clarity around the types of behaviors we can tolerate and we can work with. In an organization dedicated to lifesaving, it can be very difficult to know when it’s time to make an end of life decision. By tightening up this process and getting everyone on the same page, we are now able to make decisions more swiftly (note: not carelessly) to ensure no dog is sitting in a kennel longer than they need to be and in turn, keep our population moving. 

We Overhauled our Cleaning Process

Our facilities are the number one challenge our team faces. One of our buildings was built in 1962 as “the pound” and the other one is a large warehouse full of Tractor Supply pens wrapped in blue tarp. Cleaning well and cleaning efficiently are exceptionally difficult for our team, resulting in delayed care for the dogs, a poor experience for customers, and high turnover of staff. All of these things combined were resulting in multiple “quality of life” end of life recommendations being made each week by our team. Something had to change. 

In reviewing our process, we completely changed the layout of the Tractor Supply pens, purchased additional kenneling and industrial equipment to help with cleaning, and set new expectations around the care of the dogs throughout the day. Our cleaning is now getting done almost 3 hours sooner and although that space is still very stressful for the dogs, we are able to get them out more and work with them because we aren’t cleaning all day. 

We Partnered with the Sheriff

I’ll admit this wasn’t our idea and I have to give a shout out to the Hamilton County Sheriff for approaching us. In hearing about our challenges, our county Sheriff’s department has offered and now implemented a plan to purchase microchip scanners and kennels for 8 of their stations and hold found dogs for 6-8 hours while trying to get them home before bringing them to our shelter. This support and offer of collaboration from the Sheriff has been huge not only in practice but in morale. Knowing that even one less dog might be coming in has been a real boost for our team and of course, when dogs are actually diverted, it makes a world of difference as well. 

What’s Next?

These strategies have not solved our problems but they are making an impact and I believe that with consistency and fine-tuning, they’ll continue to influence positive outcomes. We still have more dogs in care than we are comfortable with but we are actively working at it every day.

As a profession, is in a tremendous period that threatens our forward progress. This moment calls for perseverance, reflection, and a resolute mindset. We must be committed to carving a new path, embracing new ideas, and aligning as trailblazers in this next season of animal sheltering. 

The brilliant minds that pushed animal services forward over the last several decades will continue to push us, but the torch has also been passed to a new generation. During my time in animal services, I was given the tools and the vision by those before me. Now, it’s our turn to solve the problems of the day. Adversity affords us the opportunity to change the discourse, change the status quo, and change lives for the countless animals and people who are counting on us. 

I believe that we will come out of this difficult period better off than we were. All the forward progress we have seen to this point is craving ingenuity and fresh ideas to move us into the next chapter of our story. If Covid has taught us anything, it’s that the world is changing and this group of animal services professionals must stand ready to respond like the people who came before us.