Maddie’s Fund Stories

Tanner the man lying next to Tanner the dog

How a Baltimore shelter saved a scared dog named Tanner

The Best Friends embed program supported Baltimore Animal Rescue and Care Shelter (BARCS) in finding new ways to save more pets in their care.
A plan for every animal
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Baby Girl the white dog, smiling with tongue out, lying in green grass

Texas animal shelter’s total turnaround

Year-long embed program with Best Friends is over, and today the city shelter in Brownsville is saving so many more pets than ever before.
Read about their progress
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Jakie Hernandez with another person doing population rounds at a shelter

A well-rounded approach to saving more dogs and cats

Best Friends is working with shelters on new ways to monitor the animals in their care and get pets out of shelters and into homes faster.
Pets are heading to homes faster
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Person at eye level with an orange tabby cat

New programs help save more dogs and cats in Nebraska

Best Friends and Nebraska Humane Society are working together on programs and strategies at the shelter that have had a profound impact on lifesaving.
They now hope to be a guiding light to other organizations
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Best Friends marketing intern Jazmin Aguilar holding a dog wearing a pink Adopt Me bandanna

Intern makes lasting impact for Brownsville pets

Through her shelter marketing internship with Best Friends, Jazmin is helping homeless pets, raising awareness, and setting herself up for future success.
Residents encouraged to get involved
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Person bending down to kiss Pluto the puppy

Tennessee animal shelter’s rapid turnaround

Rhea County Animal Shelter’s save rate hit the no-kill threshold four months in a row, enabling a Best Friends embed assignment to end three months early.
Embed program offers a solid foundation
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Person holding a large black dog with upright ears

A community unites for the good of its pets and people

With support from Best Friends, the city of Roswell, New Mexico, is reviewing how it manages animal services by making changes to send more animals home.
Embed program making a difference
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Two people outside wearing protective gear doing a medical procedure with a tube and swqb

Helping animal shelter staff handle disease outbreaks

Best Friends’ national shelter medicine team guides animal welfare organizations through infectious disease outbreaks to save more lives.
Animals' lives saved
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The six people of the surgical team for the Brownsville spay-neuter-a-thon around a surgical table with a sedated black cat

Pet spay-neuter-a-thon erases backlog in Brownsville

A dedicated group of veterinarians and vet techs, organized by Best Friends, banded together over 10 days to spay or neuter more than 350 dogs and cats.
Read how they did it
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Baby Girl the white dog, smiling with tongue out, lying in green grass

Faces of No-Kill: Baby Girl in Brownsville, Texas

Best Friends’ embed program supports a Texas shelter in treating dogs for heartworms.
Embed program saves lives
Best Friends Magazine
Two people drying a small puppy with a towel

Amazing progress at Brownsville animal shelter

With guidance from Best Friends, a Texas shelter dramatically increased the number of pets saved in six months, despite a midstream distemper outbreak.
Read how things have improved
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Mojo the dog in the lap of one of his adopters

How a Tennessee animal shelter is saving more pets

Rhea County Animal Shelter is making strides toward no-kill as part of Best Friends’ national shelter embed program.
See how small changes are making a big affect
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Taylor Hill with Kiba the dog in her lap

Playgroups at Arkansas shelter let a shy dog shine

Kiba was standoffish around people, but around other dogs she proved she’s a social butterfly ready to put her best side on display.
Proof that initial dog labels can be flawed
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Smiling person looking at a cat they're holding in animal shelter setting

Q&A: Best Friends national shelter embed program

Michelle Logan answers questions about a one-of-a-kind program that places Best Friends staff in animal shelters to support them reaching no-kill.
See how it supports shelter staff and animals
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Smiling person scratching the chin of a brown and white dog

The new face of animal services in Fresno

Best Friends embed program assists Fresno Humane Animal Services in setting up a city animal services program.
See how the animals and people benefit
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