This course is designed for staff responsible for conducting Intake Exams, as well as those wishing to further their knowledge in this area. It will provide you with a well-rounded skill set and ability to perform Intake Exams for shelter animals, a key component in managing animal health in the shelter environment. This training is geared specifically to the procedures and protocols performed for the Intake Exam, including safe, low-stress animal handling.

This course will teach you specific and focused best practices you can use to provide for the behavioural needs of the animals in your care. You will leave with a comprehensive understanding of canine and feline body language, low-stress animal handling, and steps to evaluate your facility for environmental stressors. We will explain effective recognition of animal behaviour, as well as safe and professional animal handling skills including various methods of restraint to prevent staff injuries and reduce stress on animals. This course includes hands-on practice of equipment use, tricks of the trade, and live demonstrations.

The Infection Control and Zoonosis Workshop will enable you to create and maintain a healthy shelter environment for both animals and humans. Preventing and controlling infectious disease is an integral part of humane animal care. This audience participation and interactive workshop will tackle the basic principles of disease transmission and zoonotic diseases. We will review biosecurity precautions for staff and volunteers, cleaning and disinfection protocols and meeting Health and Safety Standards.

This course has been designed to be a resource for guiding frontline staff in how to deal with inquiries from the public about community cats and how we can better manage any of these cats that do end up in our centres. A portion of the course will cover topics such as how to determine between feral and frightened, how to best handle and house feral cats in your centre and how to best support our feral cat caretakers out there in the community. We will also go over Neighbourhood Cats’ TNR Handbook and best practices for managing a feral cat colony, including hands-on demonstrations on how to use different live traps.

If you are familiar with the MYM® Feline-ality™ & Canine- ality™ programs, but need a refresher to bring you up to speed, then this is the session for you! This two-day workshop will explore both MYM® Feline-ality™ & Canine- ality™ programs, offering an energizing agenda to bring you back up to speed on these research-based assessments of cat and dog behaviour. Participants will spring ahead in their MYM® knowledge, further promoting animal welfare, increased adoptions, and decreased returns.

Do you or your staff need a one-day focused review of all things “Safety”?
This full-day course curriculum will introduce several key aspects of Human Resources safety elements including WHMIS updates, WSIB, and safety incident reporting. The course emphasizes key components of working safely in the shelter environment, including Bio-security and zoonosis, sharps handling, and use of cleaning and disinfecting agents. The afternoon will provide hands-on safe animal handling techniques for real shelter situations. Guidance will also be provided for specific questions you may have regarding on the job safety and resolution of health and safety concerns.