The Unicorn Foster Squad was created by Brittany Fleming in August of 2019. The program was designed to assist with successfully adopting out the most challenging dogs at Gateway Pet Guardians (GPG) . These dogs were large breed dogs with documented behavior quirks and were called Unicorns. The initial pilot helped reduce the dogs' length of stay by more than half and, as of 2022, the program has
since helped reduce the total length of stay at GPG by over 70%. Each of these dogs would have been euthanized in most shelters, but with strategic programing Ms. Fleming helped create a proven data-driven program that helps "Unicorns." Fleming helped create and teach the Unicorn Foster Squad Implementation Bootcamp, which helped teach over 40 rescues across the country the same best practices that helped make the original Unicorn program a success. And as of 2022, Save the Unicorns was created to bring the teachings in person (and virtual) to organizations across the world.
