Best Friends Animal Society’s Best Friends Podcast episode 106, published March 31, 2022, explores how animal shelters can support one another through peer mentorship. It features Shelbi Waters of Souris Valley Animal Shelter in Minot, North Dakota, and Kasey Renteria of Ardmore Animal Shelter in Ardmore, Oklahoma. The episode is the second part of a two-episode discussion of the shelter collaborative program.
What Episode 106 covers
The episode presents the relationship between Waters and Renteria as an example of shelter leaders building a connection that could help save dogs and cats over time. Its summary describes a peer-based model in which shelters with lifesaving experience share expertise and support with shelters seeking it.
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The episode page does not specify what the two leaders did together or report outcomes for their particular partnership. It therefore offers a case story about the value of collaboration, not a documented account of specific interventions or measured results. Read the episode description.
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The preceding episode, published March 24, 2022, describes the matching concept: a shelter with a sustained record at the 90% save-rate benchmark is paired with a shelter still working toward it. The stated approach emphasizes strategic matching and judgment-free support around a shared lifesaving goal. The 90% figure is a program threshold, not a reported result for the Minot–Ardmore relationship. See the first episode in the discussion.
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Best Friends’ current program page calls the initiative the Prince and Paws Shelter Collaborative. According to the organization, it uses shelter data to match shelters that have achieved a 90% save rate with shelters working toward that threshold. Matched shelters review their data and develop programming plans and budgets, with peer mentors sharing experience and lifesaving practices. Best Friends says it provides seed grants, training, and coaching; grants may support staffing, medical or surgical expenses, supplies, and travel for shelter visits or conferences. Learn about the Prince and Paws Shelter Collaborative.
Who the current program is designed for
Potential mentors
Best Friends describes prospective mentors as shelters with sustainable lifesaving programs and the capacity to offer both on-site and continuing support.
Potential fellows
Potential fellows may have a save rate below 90% for dogs or cats and should be willing to make program changes. Best Friends says fellows should allow program visits and share shelter data monthly. The program page invites interested shelters to contact the team, but does not establish whether applications are currently open, how much capacity is available, or whether participation is limited geographically.
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Best Friends Animal Society reports that, “In the first year of the program, participating shelters saw a 40% increase in save rate and a 71% reduction in the number of dogs and cats killed, on average.” The current program page does not identify the calendar year or cohort meant by “the first year.” These are the organization’s reported average results for that cohort, not current results, a guarantee, or evidence of the outcome of the Waters–Renteria partnership.
What shelter leaders can take from the story
The episode’s central idea is that shelters can build useful peer relationships around shared lifesaving goals, even when they are not formal participants in a collaborative program. For a structured mentorship effort, the program description suggests practical questions for organizations to consider:
- Does the mentor have the capacity to provide both on-site and ongoing support?
- Are the organizations’ needs and experience a good fit?
- Can the fellow make operational changes and share data regularly?
- Are planning, funding, training, and coaching available to support the work?
- Are any reported outcomes tied to a clearly defined cohort and period?
These considerations follow the program’s stated design; the episode summary does not establish which of them applied to the Minot and Ardmore shelters.
Quick Recap
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