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Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitchesFind Drivers →Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problemsFix Now →Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minuteDriver Scan →Best Friends Animal Society’s May 22, 2020, podcast episode describes American Pets Alive! leading a pilot of an Animal Social Services Model in 13 cities. The proposed approach treats help for people and pets as part of sheltering: it pairs urgent animal care with early reunification, foster placement, telehealth, and practical support intended to prevent avoidable surrender. The episode reports the pilot’s scope and practices, not measured results or a current list of participating cities.
What the episode says the model is designed to do
The model shifts some shelter work upstream: rather than treating intake as the default response to a pet-related problem, animal-services teams would also help caregivers access resources, keep pets when possible, or find another placement. Animals with urgent needs would still receive emergency medical care and short-term housing. The goal is to match each situation to an appropriate pathway quickly and reduce time spent in a shelter.
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The episode describes ten connected practices:
- Provide urgent care. Offer emergency medical treatment and short-term housing for animals with immediate needs.
- Make help easy to reach. Use remote channels such as text, phone, and web chat so people can contact services quickly.
- Involve volunteers broadly. Include volunteers in work across the organization, including field response and outreach.
- Offer telehealth. Make remote veterinary guidance available to caregivers considering surrender, foster caregivers, and people who find sick or injured animals.
- Plan outcomes early. Identify a likely pathway before or at intake, with the stated aim of reducing time in shelter.
- Use foster homes extensively. House most pets in foster care rather than kennels, with most foster pets adopted directly from their foster homes.
- Support caregivers. Help with housing, medical or behavioral needs, food, and supplies to make keeping a pet more feasible.
- Train staff as case managers. Have animal-services personnel help people retain pets, access resources, or arrange rehoming.
- Reunite loose pets without intake where possible. Seek to return roaming animals home directly rather than bringing them into a shelter when that can be avoided.
- Work with community partners. Coordinate with human social-services agencies, rescue groups, and other local organizations, recognizing people and pets as a family unit.
How the pieces fit together
These practices are meant to function as a connected service model, not as a list of isolated programs. Remote access and case management can connect a caregiver to food, housing help, or veterinary guidance before surrender becomes necessary. Field services and loose-pet reunification can help resolve some situations without shelter intake. Foster care and early outcome planning provide alternatives when an animal does need temporary placement, while emergency housing and medical care remain available for urgent cases.
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The central distinction is that keeping families together is treated as part of animal shelter work. That does not mean every pet can remain with its current caregiver: the model also includes rehoming and foster or shelter pathways when those are more appropriate.
#1 Best Overall
What the 13-city figure does—and does not—tell you
The episode describes a pilot involving 13 cities when it was published on May 22, 2020. Its page also notes that New York City later moved down to a tier-two community. Those details belong to the episode’s publication-period snapshot; they do not establish a current program roster.
Thirteen cities is a scope figure, not an outcome measure. The episode description presents the proposed practices but does not report a controlled evaluation, methods, comparative outcomes, or evidence that the pilot caused particular changes. It therefore cannot establish whether the model improved results, how much it changed shelter use, or how it compares with other approaches.
Rank #2
Who appears in the episode
The episode identifies Ellen Jefferson, DVM, as executive director of Austin Pets Alive! and American Pets Alive!, and Dr. Josh Fisher as director of animal services for Charlotte Mecklenburg Animal Care and Control. These are the roles given in the episode description; they should not be read as verification of either person’s current position.
How the later Human Animal Support Services episode relates
A January 28, 2021, Best Friends episode describes American Pets Alive! working with organizations across the country on a community-supported sheltering model called Human Animal Support Services. That later framing provides context for the broader direction of the work, but it does not establish the 2020 pilot’s results or the present-day status of the 13-city effort.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What to look for when assessing a sheltering model
The episode gives readers a useful set of questions for understanding a program, but not the data needed to answer them for this pilot. A meaningful assessment would distinguish the services offered from the outcomes achieved.
- Prevention and intake: What help is offered before surrender, and how often does it resolve the immediate problem?
- Access and response: Which contact channels are available, and how quickly do staff respond?
- Placement: How are foster homes and kennels used, and how often are animals adopted directly from foster care?
- Caregiver support: What housing, veterinary, behavioral, food, or supply assistance is actually available?
- Reunification and rehoming: How are found pets returned home, and what options exist when keeping a pet is not possible?
- Partnerships: Which community organizations participate, and what services do they provide?
- Measured outcomes: What happens to time in shelter, reunification, live outcomes, and family retention, and how are those results measured against a comparison?
The episode itself does not provide those comparative results. Its value is as a description of a proposed service design and its priorities, rather than proof of effectiveness.
Quick Recap
Best Value
Sources
- Best Friends Animal Society, “The Best Friends Podcast Ep. 13: American Pets Alive! Piloting Social Services Model of Sheltering” (May 22, 2020)
- Best Friends Animal Society, “The Best Friends Podcast Ep. 49: A new day for animal sheltering in the United States” (January 28, 2021)
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