Member Teleseminars

We've had teleseminars with a lot of amazing people who are doing great things for animals. Here's a description of some of our recent teleseminars. The recordings are available to Golden Paw Insider members for download at their convenience.

Volunteers Run Amok: Barbara Bouchet, MEd talks about what to do when "Volunteers Run Amok." Although volunteers can be the lifeblood of an organization, "problem volunteers" can make your life miserable. Barbara is a licensed counselor, with degrees in Psychology, Sociology, and Educational Psychology and discusses how to recognize problems and deal with them before they get out of control.

Meet Your Match: Dr. Emily Weiss, Ph.D. CAAB, ASPCA Director of Shelter Behavior Programs talks about the Meet Your Match program. The Feline-ality and Canine-ality programs are designed to increase adoptions and reduce returns with assessment tools that help match up the right cat or dog with the right owner.

Grant Readiness: Lorna McLeod, the author of the Grant Readiness Workbook and an upcoming book called the Grant Readiness Guide: A Guide for Nonprofits to Heighten the Success of Your Organization talks about (not surprisingly) what you need to do before you start applying for grants.

HSUS Shelter Programs: Kim Intino, CAWA, Director of Animal Sheltering Issues at the The Humane Society of the United States talks about some of the many programs HSUS has available to help rescues and shelters. A lot of them don't cost anything or very little!

Surviving and Thriving: Faith Maloney, one of the founders of Best Friends Animal Society gives us tips for avoiding burnout and compassion fatigue based on her 20+ years working with animals and experiencing the growth of Best Friends from a small 25-person operation to the large organization it is today.

Five Keys to Writing a Successful Grant Proposal: Grant-writer Ron Flavin who has helped clients raise more than $50 million in grants explains the five keys to writing a successful grant proposal." His particular area of expertise is working with organizations that may have difficulty getting funded for one reason or another. So if you've ever thought "I could never get a grant," listen in; maybe you CAN!

"Win-Win" Fundraising Partnerships: Roy MacNaughton explains how you can set up joint ventures with businesses in your area to raise more funds for your organization. He'll also talk about how you can create and implement a marketing plan using his "Underground Umbrella System" techniques, which help you remember the steps you need to follow to create a plan that works. Roy's creativity and 30-years of business and marketing experience really shine through, so this teleseminar is like a mini Marketing 101

Setting Up a Medical Fund: Jennifer Webb is the Founder and Executive Director of the Shakespeare Animal Fund (SAF). She will talk about how you can set up a veterinary medical fund similar to the SAF. The Shakespeare Animal Fund is a non-profit charity that was founded in memory of a cocker spaniel named Shakespeare who died after a costly illness. The Shakespeare Animal Fund helps pets and people in need. Often people will actually do without their own medicine or food to care for their animal's veterinary medical needs. The Shakespeare Animal Fund has a crisis hot line and they partner with local veterinarians to help the animals. Although the group is new (since January 2004), since the beginning of 2008 they have paid out more than $100,000 to vets. Their goal is to make sure no animal is suffering.

Understanding Feline Behavior: Pam Johnson-Bennet, Certified Animal Behavior Consultant and the author of Psycho Kitty: Tips for Solving Your Cat's "Crazy" Behavior and several other cat books talks about some common feline behavior problems. As wel all know, cats are often relinquished to shelters and rescue groups because of behavior problems and Pam offers solutions to common issues, such as litter box problems, scratching, and redirection aggression. She focuses on solving problems by trying to understand what is going on from the cat's point of view, so owners can take positive steps toward change.

How Shelters Can Respond to the Special Needs of Cats: Becky Robinson, the President and co-founder of Alley Cat Allies will be talking about feral cats and how we can work together to educate communities on the best practices for outdoor cats. With Trap-Neuter-Return, cats are humanely trapped, taken to a veterinarian for spay or neuter, vaccinated for rabies, eartipped and returned to their colony where volunteers provide food, water, and shelter. With understanding of best practices for feral cats and Trap-Neuter-Return, we can offer more feline-friendly shelter practices and help others understand the benefits of more humane policies regarding ferals.

Solving Canine Behavior Problems and Reducing Returns: Dog training expert Jennifer McCarthy talks about how you can educate adopters about difficult behavior problems, such as aggression, barking, digging and more. She discusses her philosophy on canine behavior and why sometimes it really is necessary and important to say "no." Her methods emphasize consistency and leadership, which reduce problems with both human and canine members of the household.

Working Together and Establishing Coalitions: Holly Sizemore of No More Homeless Pets Utah discusses the challenges and rewards of bringing together groups with often differing goals and agendas. Holly's background includes working in many different animal welfare arenas ranging from very small grassroots to large-scale public/private partnership efforts. She has seen a tremendous shift in the way local governments and shelters react to trap-neuter-release (TNR) in Utah, and has secured over $200,000 from a number of municipalities in order to fund TNR.

Low-Cost Ways to Increase the Visibility of Your Organization: Mary Kurek talks about how rescues and humane groups can use online visibility techniques to boost marketing success. For more than 30 years, Mary has helped people create the kind of visibility that results in meeting significant (and often public) goals. She has worked as a government press staff member and has been involved in gubernatorial and Senate campaigns, along with being a Chamber of Commerce Executive Director.

Accomplish More with Your Staff Training: Joan Mayer, CPDT, talks about how to provide practical training for shelter staff and volunteers geared towards increasing the adoptability of shelter animals, decreasing their return rate, and ultimately reducing the number of dogs relinquished in the first place. Joan is the founder of The Inquisitive Canine (http://inquisitivecanine.com/) where her love-of-dog training approach focuses on the importance of understanding canine behavior and teaching dogs through techniques that reward and motivate.

Easy Ways to Decrease Stress in Shelter Dogs: Krista Cantrell (www.kristacantrell.com) explains how to reduce canine stress, which is key in getting dogs to relax, respond, and accept new people and places. In just five minutes a day you can relieve tension, improve health, stimulate thinking, decrease behavior problems (without force or stress), and create a happy dog. Changing a dog's behavior by effectively using your voice, hands, and attitude can create calming behavior signals that take the frustration out of shelter dog training. Krista share stories, practical examples, and exercises during this informative interview.

Working Together: How to Coordinate the Efforts of Multiple Groups Responding to a Tragedy or Disaster:  Disasters -- whether man made or natural -- can occur at any time, in any place. American Humane's Red Star Animal Emergency Services helps communities prepare for disasters before they strike. Once they occur, American Humane's Animal Emergency Services is on the scene to assess animal needs, care for injured animals, reunite animals with their families, ensure animal shelters are co-located with human shelters, and distribute pet food and supplies. Most recently, Red Star Animal Emergency services were deployed to North Dakota to help animals affected by flooding in the Fargo area. Making sure animal needs are met is why it's vital for groups to work together. American Humane's Marie Wheatley and Debrah Schnackenberg share advice, examples, and information about how "animal people" can work together to respond effectively when disaster strikes.

Capitalize on the Take Your Dog to Work Day Campaign to Boost Pet Adoptions This Summer
Beth Stultz, the Marketing Specialist at Pet Sitters International (PSI) will talk about how you can tie into Take Your Dog To Work Day campaign. First celebrated in 1999, this annual event celebrates the great companions dogs make and encourages their adoption from local shelters, rescue groups and humane societies. This event encourages employers to experience the value of pets in their workplace for this one special day to promote pet adoptions. This year Take your Dog to Work Day is June 26 and the theme is “Secondhand Dogs” Offer First Rate LOVE. Learn how easy it is to work with businesses to promote adoptions and the human-animal bond!

Increasing the Adoptability of Shelter Pets
Certified Animal Behavior consultant and author Darlene Arden discusses a number of easy ways you can help make your shelter pets more adoptable. She will explain how you can train your volunteers and staff so everyone is on board to help make life better for companion animals while they are in a shelter environment.

Get Puppy Mills & Pet Shops Out of Your Neighborhood: Anyone who works at a shelter or rescue finds out quickly when there's a puppy mill or sleazy pet store in the area. But what can you do? Deborah Howard from the Companion Animal Protection Society (CAPS) talks about grassroots efforts you can take when you have a puppy mill or a pet store selling puppy mill puppies in your neighborhood. Since 1992, CAPS has worked with animal welfare groups and the public to investigate pet shops and puppy mills to get them shut down.

Tips and Tricks for Using Petfinder.com: Betsy Saul the co-founder of Petfinder.com talks about how you can use Petfinder more effectively to adopt more animals. Petfinder receives 5 million unique visitors every month and accounts for 65% of all options in the US and Canada. For 1/4 of the shelter and rescue group members of Petfinder.com, the site is responsible for 80-100% of their adoptions. Betsy offers some great ideas for getting more exposure for your animals!

Promote Your Organization with Social Media: Jessica Stout of AnimalAdvocating.com talks about how you can use social media and networking sites like Facebook and Twitter to promote your organization. Jessica shares creative ways you can craft social media strategies to achieve goals such as increasing adoptions, getting donations, and promoting your events. She also offers advice for working with volunteers and setting up a social media policies that avoid long-term problems.

Proven Integrated Fundraising Techniques: Kimberly Sanberg, Director of Online Strategy at Ignitus shows you how to integrate traditional direct mail with online media like email and Facebook so your rescue can reach your fundraising goals and create an engaged community of passionate supporters. It’s not as hard as you think!

How tu Run Your Rescue Like a Business: Leigh Siegfried, CPDT & Behavior Consultant from Opportunity Barks talks about many aspects of business side of rescue, including marketing, advertising, and setting policies. She discusses a number of simple things you can do to increase the professionalism of your organization and improve your reputation in the community.

How to Fight Burnout in Yourself and Your Volunteers: Sheila Webster Boneham, PhD the author of Rescue Matters: How to Find, Foster, and Rehome Companion Animals discusses ways you can recognize and deal with burnout. The issue of burnout is one we all see and can be difficult to handle. Sheila offers helpful advice based on her years working with canine breed rescue programs.

Pet First Aid: Denise Fleck talks about everything from how to check vitals, knowing where the nearest Animal ER is, muzzling and restraint, and what to do about choking, poisoning, heat stroke, bleeding injuries and more. Denise describes herself as "the professor of Animal Care 101 wrapped up in a Dog Mom suit." This information-packed call can help you save lives in an emergency.

Use the Power of PR to Make Your Rescue Stand Out from the Pack: Trey Burley explains how to get noticed when there is a lot of "noise" vying for people's attention. Learn what you can do to distinguish your rescue from others, what the media REALLY wants, tips for increasing your visibility, what to do when you get bad PR, and what to do if people in your organization don't have experience speaking on camera or on tape.

Increasing Adoptions: Bonney Brown, the Executive Director of the Nevada Humane Society shares the creative approaches she and her team at NHS have used to increase adoptions 53% in one year. In 2009, thanks to innovative programs and their commitment to saving lives, the humane society is enjoying a 93% save rate for dogs and a 95% save rate for cats. In 2009, they adopted 9,184 animals, which is an increase of 6% (549 animals). Learn how to get more people in the door, find ways to make their adoption experience more fun, and make it easy for them to fall in love with your animals.

Reading Dogs: Joel Silverman explains how to "read" dogs based on the information in his book, What Color Is Your Dog? which offers techniques to recognize and then enhance dog behavior based on the dog's personality. First you build a great relationship with your dog and then train the dog based on his temperament. A dog may be one of five "colors" ranging from shy (blue) to yellow (mellow) to highly strung (red). As a trainer, you move the dog through training practices individualized for each type of dog to inevitably reach the middle (yellow) level.

Pet Trusts: Jean-Pierre Ruiz explains how people can provide for their pets when they are gone (i.e., how to set up a pet trust). The question "What will happen to my pet after I die?" comes up a lot, particularly if you adopt to seniors frequently. Jean-Pierre explains how people can ensure that their pets receive suitable care after they die. Learn more about how you can help lower admissions because an owner has died. If more people plan for their pets, fewer animals will end up at your shelter or rescue!

Set Up a Training Programs for Adopters at Your Shelter or Rescue: Steven Appelbaum from Animal Behavior College explains how you can set up training classes for your adopters. We talk about why training is important, how to find a good trainer, and things you need to think about in setting up your own program.  Steven also discusses how a training class can be a win-win for both your rescue and the trainer.

Publicity Secrets for Nonprofits: Sandra Beckwith explains how non-profit organizations like yours can get more publicity to increase awareness, adoptions, and donations. If you've ever struggled to get the word out about a fundraising event, you'll appreciate the wisdom Sandra shares about working with members of the press. Sandra Beckwith is the author of Publicity for Nonprofits: Generating Media Exposure that Leads to Awareness, Growth and Contributions.

Creating Sustainable Fundraising in Economically Challenging Times: The founder of Benevon and the author of the Raising More Money series, Beyond the Ask Event, Missionizing Your Special Events, and The Joy of Fundraising Terry Axelrod explains the Benevon model of sustainable fundraising, which focuses on contributions from individuals. The model is a continuous cycle that flows from point of entry, to follow up, to asking for money, then to donors introducing others to your organization. By developing relationships with individual supporters, you can enjoy more stability and embark on plans knowing you'll have the means to realize your long-term vision.