Info for Shelter Leaders
Shelter Care Specialist Certification Program for Your Team
Get your team certified to meet today's challenges.
Comprehensive Training for Comprehensive Care

Foundational Shelter Best Practices
The SCS certification program covers general best practices for shelter operations, focusing on enhancing the health, welfare, and management of shelter populations. This foundation is crucial for creating sustainable practices that improve overall shelter function, staff recruitment and retention, as well as animal welfare.

Medical Care in Shelters
Learners will receive training in essential medical care practices, empowering them to provide needed care and to assist medical staff with greater competency. For shelters without DVMs or RVTs (or with any resource limitations in this area), certified Shelter Care Specialists can play a crucial role in providing essential medical care and recognizing when specialized veterinary intervention is necessary. This training helps ensure that animals receive timely and appropriate care in any shelter setting.
The “Medical Focus” SCS option offers additional training in more advanced medical care and clinic operations.

Support for Shelter Veterinary Professionals
In facilities with veterinary staff, certified Shelter Care Specialists provide robust support, allowing DVMs and RVTs to concentrate on more complex medical procedures and decisions. This reduces professional burnout and turnover by ensuring veterinary staff have skilled team members to assist with routine and emergency care.

Behavioral Care for Animals in Shelters
Learners will also develop a stronger foundation in animal behavior, training, and enrichment strategies critical for maintaining the mental and physical health of shelter animals. The “Welfare Focus” option offers additional training in more advanced animal behavior, training and enrichment programming.

Addressing Systemic Access to Care Issues in Shelters
By expanding the skill set within shelters, our program tackles the systemic challenge of limited access to care in animal shelters —both medical and behavioral. This approach enhances the quality of care available in shelters, supporting overextended professionals and improving the welfare of shelter animals.

Population Management Principles and Practices
Learners in any SCS program will become familiar with basic concepts of population management and how they can actively play a crucial role in length of stay and positive outcomes. The “Welfare Focus” SCS will include additional, more in-depth training in these concepts.

Promoting Best Practices and Professional Development for Frontline Staff
The SCS certification advances professional opportunities for frontline shelter staff and raises the standard of care. By grounding non-veterinary staff in best practices and fundamental medical knowledge, the program improves outcomes for shelter animals and supports a collaborative care environment. This training will also provide professional development and career advancement opportunities for our valuable frontline shelter staff team members.
Each course in this program offers 10.0 continuing education (CE) units through CAWA and NACA.
Addressing Access to Care Challenges in Animal Shelters
The Koret Shelter Medicine Program and Maddie’s Fund recognize the profound Access to Care challenges faced by animal shelters across the nation. Limited resources, particularly the shortage of veterinarians (DVMs) and registered veterinary technicians (RVTs), can severely impact the ability of shelters to provide necessary medical and behavioral care. In many cases, shelters may be operating with limited or no licensed veterinary professionals on staff.
Assisting Shelters in Providing Foundational Training to All Team Members
With over two decades of experience collaborating with shelters across the nation, we understand the challenges many face in providing essential, foundational training for shelter team members. We’d like to help equip shelter teams with a thorough understanding of shelter operations and best practices as well as offer a platform for comprehensive training in crucial animal care duties, ensuring all staff members receive the skills and feedback necessary for their roles. Our goals are to not only enhance individual performance but also strengthen the overall effectiveness and professionalism of your shelter team, even amidst resource limitations.
Introducing the Shelter Care Specialist Certification
To bridge this gap, we are excited to introduce our new certification program aimed at elevating the expertise and readiness of shelter team members. Our Shelter Care Specialist (SCS) Certification Program is designed to address the challenges associated with access to care in shelters by empowering shelter staff with comprehensive training that extends to medical care, best practices in shelter operations, animal shelter population management, and behavior, training and enrichment for animals in shelters.
Flexible Learning that Works for You and Your Staff:
Expect your staff to spend 1-2 hours on coursework each week during each 6-week course. Students can learn where and when it's best for them, with engaging content available 24/7 once the course begins PLUS the program is mobile-friendly so they can learn on any device at any time.
The SCS Certification Program is Available at No Charge at this Time #ThanksToMaddie
Thanks to generous sponsorship of Maddie’s Fund for the Maddie’s Million Pet Challenge, there is no cost for the Shelter Care Specialist Certification Program at this time. We do anticipate continuing to offer scholarships for this program in the future.
Join Us!
Join us in transforming the landscape of animal shelter care. Through comprehensive education and professional development, we enhance the support structure for veterinary professionals and the standalone capabilities of shelters. Our program prepares shelter staff to manage not only the medical needs of animals but also their behavioral health, and implement and sustain best practices in shelter operations, ensuring a more sustainable future for the field.