Help Your Community's Animals Stay in Their Homes

Want your shelter animals to get adopted faster and stay in their new homes?

Want the owned animals in your town to stay with their families?

Then check out the Virtual Pet Behaviorist (VPB), the ASPCA Animal Behavior Center's interactive online behavior library. Developed and maintained by a team of experienced behaviorists and trainers, the Virtual Pet Behaviorist offers a wealth of knowledge that will be useful to shelter staff, volunteers, and the pet parents in your community.

The site provides over 150 easy-to-access, downloadable articles on training, behavior modification, enrichment, and husbandry for dogs, cats, and horses. You'll find detailed information about a range of topics, including:

• Destructive chewing and scratching
• Excessive barking and meowing
• Fear and anxiety
• Housetraining puppies and dogs
• Interpreting cat and dog body language
• Litter box issues
• Teaching tricks and obedience skills

Boost Adoption Rates

Use the VPB library resources to train your staff and volunteers how to:

• Conduct effective, reward-based obedience training for resident dogs and cats
• Understand animal behavior, body language, and husbandry
• Create enrichment programs for shelter and foster animals

Reduce Return Rates

Be the messenger of expert advice! Download VPB library articles to create handouts for the public:

• Prepare new adopters for success by creating informative "starter packages" on how to socialize young pets, prevent common pet behavior problems, and meet pets' physical and mental needs for exercise and enrichment
• Send information about management and behavior modification home with animals who have known behavior problems — like food guarding, separation anxiety, fear of strangers, and handling sensitivity
• Distribute ready-made handouts for obedience classes offered by your shelter
• Provide useful re-homing or behavior modification information for pet parents whose animals you can't accept

Subaru used the VPB to create these handouts for their customers who have outdoor adventures with their pets.

Expand Your Behavior Department With a Link and a Click!

The Virtual Pet Behaviorist will allow your staff and volunteers to quickly access the information they need when responding to behavior helpline calls or emails. By sending staff and adopters to the Virtual Pet Behaviorist, you'll save time and energy and feel confident that you're providing reliable, scientifically based information to your community.

We've made it easy for you to add a link to the VPB from your site. Have your web site administrator place the code below into a web page to display the Virtual Pet Behaviorist link banners.

<a href="http://www.aspcabehavior.org/?utm_source=vpbbannerh&utm_medium=web&utm_campaign=vpbbannerh" mce_href="http://www.aspcabehavior.org/?utm_source=vpbbannerh&utm_medium=web&utm_campaign=vpbbannerh"><img alt="ASPCA Virtual Pet Behaviorist" src="assets/images/vpb-horizontal.jpg" mce_src="assets/images/vpb-horizontal.jpg" border="0" /></a>	<a href="http://www.aspcabehavior.org/?utm_source=vpbbannerh&utm_medium=web&utm_campaign=vpbbannerh" mce_href="http://www.aspcabehavior.org/?utm_source=vpbbannerh&utm_medium=web&utm_campaign=vpbbannerh"><img alt="ASPCA Virtual Pet Behaviorist" src="assets/images/vpb-horizontal.jpg" mce_src="assets/images/vpb-horizontal.jpg" border="0" /></a>