Did you end your day feeling itchy after dealing with ringworm cats?  Did you check yourself for ticks after handling a hit-by-car deer?  Did you make sure you washed your hands before lunch after spending the morning cleaning litter boxes?  Animal Control Officers, shelter technicians, and anyone with daily animal handling duties are at an increased risk of exposure to various forms of bacteria, protozoa, viruses and fungi.  This class is designed to be an introduction to all the various zoonotic illnesses animal welfare workers are exposed to on a day-to-day basis, what to look for, and personal protection.  Some of the illnesses to be covered include Tularemia, Toxoplasmosis, Cryptosporidiosis, Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, Lyme Disease, Chagas and Cryptococcosis.

The goal of this class is to prepare officers for interaction with the media and to nourish a positive relationship with their community. Animal Welfare is typically an emotional and occasionally sensational issue which frequently appears in news media.  Properly navigating social media and maintaining professionalism during interviews are skills needed by today's ACO's.​

In the community of animal welfare professionals, we all share a desire for the public to know more about what we do and what resources are available to them.  Our goal with this workshop is to focus on improving communication with the public as wells procedures through teaching classes and workshops in the community. This workshop includes tips on developing classes on urban wildlife, new pet ownership, offender programs, children's programs and Parks and Recreation services.  We will also address how to deal with the fear of public speaking.  As the populations of humans and animals increase, being able to reach out and educate as many people as possible is crucial to making our jobs easier and can also improve the quality of life for animals in our area.

Training new Animal Control Officers can be a daunting task as our field continues to develop and evolve, yet there remains a lack of consistency with training protocol. This class will focus on developing a uniform, yet customizable training guideline which can fit within most all departments and agencies. The training guideline follows a basic four week FTO program which will cover all the needed basic information for anyone beginning with an agency. The objective in this class will be techniques on how to teach to different learning types, how to focus on what is important when working within a strict timeline, and the customizable timeline itself. At the completion of the class, a USB drive will be provided to each attendee, which will be pre-loaded with forms to take back to individual agencies to create ACO FTO programs.​

Difficult exchanges with the public can often cause great amounts of stress to ACO's/Humane Investigators, affect job satisfaction and even impact salaries through poor evaluations. This workshop will provide an overview of difficult personality types and how to navigate conflict with them. Understanding that most people are not deliberately toxic by nature, but rather have different motivations, can help solve problems in field communications. Identifying the role of emotions (both the speaker and the listener) can impact the outcome of an interaction. Successful communications will improve community relationships and can even have a positive impact on animal welfare through improved field compliance.

This class will focus on the important role the shelter plays in the cruelty investigation. We will review record keeping, evidentiary procedures, laws, medical decisions and housing. Students will gain a better understanding of when to contact an ACO and when to call in a veterinarian. This course will cover the laws regarding privacy, specifically what can go on social media, when rescues can be called in, and when to allow information to be released to the media. With this knowledge, both ACO and shelter staff will be able to successfully work together during the cruelty investigation process. With better handling of the evidence as well as improved case continuity, agencies will be better prepared to successfully to present these cases in court, improving the lives of animals in the community.

This workshop will discuss TX Health and Safety Code 822, Subchapter D. We will review the proper procedures when working a dangerous dog investigation, compliance inspections, and paperwork. In addition, we will review Subchapter A to understand the difference in these subchapters and when to use each of them.

This is a demonstration of Pet CPR only. 3 types of CPR will be demonstrated for the attendees and a question and answer portion will follow to cover any CPR or First Aid related questions attendees may have.