Humane Education is a vital part of the equation in engaging your community to care about your organization and mission. Did you just find you are now on the “front lines” of this community outreach opportunity? This 60-minute Webinar will help you motivate, create, and celebrate with confidence Humane Education in all its forms.

The presenters have been there before and are ready to share their Humane Education survival secrets, helping you be a success on your first night out in the wilderness of community presentations. Learn the basics of running an educational program: from cognitive development stages, community programming, to speaking tips, and creating your very own Lesson Plans.

Learn why stories are ideal for teaching values, how to select age- and content-appropriate stories, and how to develop discussion questions that promote humane decision-making. You'll gain practical ideas, tips and resources that can be implemented into any humane education lesson plan. Plus, you will also learn effective reading strategies and how to foster empathy and humane thinking through questioning techniques.

Review specific questioning techniques, or reciprocal teaching methods, that have been demonstrated to improve literacy. These methods; where you combine concrete, clarifying questions and open-ended, interpretative or affective questions; can enhance understanding, encourage critical thinking, promote empathy and delve deep into thoughts and feelings about animals. We will model and discuss reading and questioning techniques; and participants will practice these techniques and develop their own non-leading, open-ended questions that can be used in their professional work as humane educators.

Highlighting the RedRover Readers program and Humane Society University’s (HSU) Graduate Certificate in Humane Education and Certified Humane Education Specialist (CHES) programs. These resources can further develop your skills.

Learn about barriers which may impede character and humane education in low socio-economic areas, review important interpersonal and animal welfare issues in these communities and education, and learn best practices for working with underserved youth.

The Pets for Life Community Outreach Toolkit is a resource produced through a collaborative effort between PetSmart Charities® and The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS). 
This step-by-step manual will guide animal care service providers and other social welfare advocates through the development and implementation of a pioneering outreach program.

It’s estimated that tens of millions of feral and stray cats freely roam the streets of the United States and breed rapidly. What to do?! Trap-neuter-return (TNR) is the only method proven to be humane and effective in controlling free-roaming cat population growth. This webinar is intended for people with very little or no knowledge about feral cats and TNR.

Learn America’s history of discrimination against different groups of dogs, how our attitudes, not facts, created the crisis confronting “pit bull” dogs, and how a truer understanding of dogs can inspire us to break the cycle of discrimination once and for all.

Presentations from "Feline Forum: Practices and New Perspectives" presented by PetSmart Charities® in Chicago, Ill. Sept. 24 - 26, 2009. Presentations are categorized by workshop track.

This last section of the TNR toolkit takes a look at academic and empirical examples of successful community Trap-Neuter-Return programs. These examples may help persuade others in your community to support TNR as well as provide guidance for your own program.

In order to have impact, a TNR program must alter a substantial number of the free-roaming cats. This target number will dictate the spay-neuter needs of the program—a few hundred cats can be managed with private veterinarians whereas a higher target may require a dedicated clinic. This section reviews different models for spay-neuter and resources for recruiting private veterinarians.