Pawsitive Directions Behavior & Training, LLC

11/06/2026

Ask your local government what system they have in place for stray dogs and cats. Where can they be taken? Will they be refused if the shelter is full? Are they open admission or limited admission?

06/06/2026

Are you looking for a dock diving pal? Bonn already has her Novice title! Looking for a Scentowork pal? She is interested! A dog who has lived with other large dogs? Bonn has so many good qualities - she just needs to find her people. See details below:

02/06/2026

Messing around with someone's eye can be asking for trouble. Tips and tricks of administering prescribed eye drops or ointments, without a battle.

26/05/2026

" When a movement's main scoreboard is how many animals leave shelters alive, it creates a quiet permission to push animals out the door at almost any cost. The cost does not show up on the Best Friends dashboard when transferred animals later suffer neglect, disappear from oversight, or end up in dangerous conditions far from public view."
For those who are interested in, or have been following the Miranda's Rescue story, this is an excellent article.

Inside the investigation of a Best Friends network partner, Miranda’s Rescue in Humboldt County, and what it reveals about no‑kill metrics that reward animal movement more than animal protection.

19/05/2026

This article is important. Saving animal lives should not come at the expense of public safety. That includes other dogs. " Sending a dog with active aggression into a home is not rescue. It's negligence."

14/05/2026

Dwarfism in dogs is a genetic mutation that causes developmental changes like short legs, reduced body size, and over large heads.

09/05/2026

https://www.whole-dog-journal.com/health/when-to-spay-vs-neuter-your-dog/?sc=WIR20260508-Sub&st=email&MailingID=4204&utm_source=ActiveCampaign&utm_medium=email&utm_content=When%20to%20Spay%20vs%20%20Neuter%20Your%20Dog&utm_campaign=WIR20260508-Sub

Spay vs neuter can have long term implications for your dog's health. Hormones play a role in development and sterilization changes hormones.

05/05/2026

This is such important information. Those who work on the front lines of animal welfare need support - within themselves, among one another, and from the public.

The people who care for animals in shelters and rescues experience post-traumatic stress at rates five times higher than the general workforce — and yet, almost no research has looked at how to support them.

A new pilot study published in Human-Animal Interactions by Dr. Melissa Trevathan-Minnis and colleagues set out to change that. They evaluated a 10-week virtual support group designed specifically for animal shelter and rescue workers and volunteers — and the results are striking.

What they found:
🐾 Significant reductions in grief vulnerability, perceived stress, burnout, and secondary traumatic stress
🐾 Significant improvements in overall mental health
🐾 100% of participants said they would recommend the group to a colleague

But the qualitative findings are where it really lands. Participants described what the group gave them:

- A like-minded community across geographic lines
- Validation for grief that often goes unrecognized in this work
- Tools for boundary-setting and self-care
- A renewed connection to purpose
- Permission to step back without shame

The "caring-killing paradox," disenfranchised grief, moral stress — these aren't abstract concepts for shelter and rescue workers. They're daily realities, and they're driving high rates of turnover (around 28% nationally, compared to 3.3% in the general workforce).

This study offers something rare: an evidence-based, scalable, low-cost intervention model for a population that has been overlooked for too long.

📖 Read the open-access study:

Trevathan-Minnis, M., Morris, N., Johnson Binder, A., & Pelar, C. (2026). Assessing the impact of a support group on people who work and volunteer in animal rescues and shelters: A pilot study. Human-Animal Interactions, 14(1). https://doi.org/10.1079/hai.2026.0022

💬 If you work or volunteer in animal welfare — what kinds of support have meant the most to you?