Susan Houser
The Future of Sheltering
What will animal shelters look like in the years ahead – in 2030, 2040, 2050? What functions will they serve in their communities? These...
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Susan Houser
Apr 24, 20187 min read
The Culture of Adoption
Many communities in the United States have a high intake of animals at the local shelter. The consulting service Humane Network recently...
Susan Houser
Apr 10, 201811 min read
“How Can I Reform the Shelter in My City?”
I get this question frequently on social media, and there is no short answer, so I decided to write a blog on the topic. As a preliminary...
Susan Houser
Jan 1, 20186 min read
January 1, 2018
This blog takes a look at the big trends in No Kill in 2017, but first I want to say a word about sheltering in 2018. We’ve made...
Susan Houser
Dec 18, 20176 min read
The Future of Sheltering
This is the fifth and final blog in my series on the professionalization of the animal shelter, and it covers an important part of...
Susan Houser
Nov 29, 20179 min read
On the Same Page
In the last few years, the idea that traditional shelters are fundamentally at odds with No Kill shelters has been evaporating....
Susan Houser
Oct 11, 20179 min read
Creating A Safety Net for Pets
An animal shelter is more than just the sum of its internal programs. It’s also a public institution that has an interlocking...
Susan Houser
Oct 1, 201710 min read
The Professionalization of Animal Sheltering, Part 1: Inventory Management
In the last few years several new programs have become central to the professionalization of animal sheltering. One theme common to those...
Susan Houser
Sep 29, 20173 min read
The Professionalization of Animal Sheltering: Introduction to Series
In recent years the animal-shelter industry has made giant strides in professionalizing its operations. This blog post is an introduction...
Susan Houser
Sep 18, 20173 min read
Know Your LOS
Length of Stay (LOS) is the amount of time that an animal spends in a shelter between impoundment and disposition. It is a particularly...
Susan Houser
Sep 5, 20173 min read
A Window of Opportunity to Make Houston No Kill
Harris County and the city of Houston have five major intake shelters. In 2005, a city task force reported that annual intake at the five...
Susan Houser
Aug 15, 20173 min read
How “Clear the Shelters” Got Started
It was the summer of 2014, and Corey Price had a problem. She had recently taken over as manager of Irving Animal Services (IAS), in the...
Susan Houser
Jul 10, 20176 min read
American Pets Alive Conference, Now Better Than Ever
Back in 2010, the city of Austin started making national news as its animal shelter neared the goal of reaching a 90%+ live release rate....
Susan Houser
Jun 17, 20174 min read
Anderson County’s No Kill Transition
Anderson County, South Carolina, is in the western part of the state, bordering Greenville County. It is located on the I-85 corridor...
Susan Houser
Jan 1, 20176 min read
2016 — A Banner Year for No Kill
Many of the general retrospectives on 2016 that have appeared in the media in the last few days have branded the year as a disaster. It’s...
Susan Houser
Oct 8, 20166 min read
What is the Most Effective No Kill Technique?
Most industries pay attention to where they were in the past and where they are now. Changes over time in the parameters that are...
Susan Houser
Oct 8, 20165 min read
No Kill — Can Cities Get There Without Help?
This is Part II in a three-part series on how the unique legal status of domestic pets affects the infrastructure of No Kill. Here is a...
Susan Houser
Aug 31, 20168 min read
The BCG Report on Dallas Animal Services – A Watershed Moment for No Kill?
The Boston Consulting Group (BCG) is a prestigious, full-service consulting firm with international reach. The city of Dallas, TX, hired...
Susan Houser
Aug 12, 20163 min read
No Kill Mentoring
Have you noticed that No Kill communities tend to occur in clusters? Take Austin, which achieved a 90%+ live release rate in 2011....
Susan Houser
Jul 5, 20162 min read
Clear The Shelters
The Clear the Shelters adoption event is coming up on July 23, 2016. Last year, in its first year as a nationwide event, almost 20,000...
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