The Top Dog Podcast

This October, during Dog Adoption Month, PEDIGREE Foundation and its Foster 50 partners will announce grant recipients receiving a share of $240,000 in collective grant funding to help expand foster opportunities for dogs in need.

In this episode of Top Dog Podcast, Deb Fair, Executive Director of PEDIGREE Foundation, shares how collaboration, data, and a willingness to ask “what if?” are helping drive meaningful change across animal welfare. She takes us behind the evolution of PEDIGREE Foundation and the Foster 50 initiative, which has grown from 9,000 new fosters in its first year to 19,000.

In this conversation, we discuss:

✔ The upcoming October announcement of Foster 50 grant recipients

✔ The $240,000 in collective grant funding supporting this year’s initiative

✔ How Foster 50 grew from 9,000 new fosters in its first year to 19,000

✔ Why fostering can transform outcomes for dogs in shelters

✔ How PEDIGREE Foundation evolved from traditional grantmaking to strategic collaboration

✔ The power of asking “what if?” when solving challenges

✔ Why progress is more important than perfection

✔ How data can reveal opportunities for greater impact

✔ The importance of sharing knowledge and best practices across animal welfare

✔ Why shelters and rescues can become community resources

✔ Deb’s journey from public relations and automotive communications to animal welfare

✔ Her vision for leaving some good in the world

Deb’s approach is a reminder that meaningful change doesn’t require perfection. Sometimes it starts with asking “what if?”, making a small shift, and bringing the right people together to create something bigger.

Learn more about tools supporting animal welfare organizations:

https://doobert.com/

Subscribe for more conversations with leaders shaping the future of animal welfare.

What does it take to stay in animal welfare for nearly 30 years? For Britney Tennant, it means embracing change, building strong teams, and refusing to let a “no” be the end of the road.

In this episode of Top Dog Podcast, Britney Tennant, CEO of Cheyenne Animal Shelter, shares her journey from rescuing kittens as a child to becoming a leader in Wyoming’s animal welfare community. She reflects on founding Black Dog Animal Rescue, the evolution of animal sheltering, and what she has learned about leading people while continuing to advocate for animals.

In this conversation, we discuss:

✔ Britney’s nearly 30-year journey in animal welfare

✔ Founding Black Dog Animal Rescue and building an all-volunteer organization

✔ How animal welfare has evolved over the past three decades

✔ The unique challenges facing animal shelters in Wyoming

✔ Why saying “yes” can open unexpected doors

✔ The importance of resilience when change takes time

✔ How Britney shifted her leadership focus from animals to the people supporting them

✔ Building strong teams and helping people become their best selves

✔ Advice for young people who are still searching for their path

✔ Britney’s vision for cultivating the next generation of animal welfare leaders

After decades in the field, Britney’s perspective is a reminder that meaningful change rarely happens overnight. It takes persistence, adaptability, strong relationships, and people willing to keep opening doors when the first ones close.

Learn more about tools supporting animal welfare organizations:

https://doobert.com/

Subscribe for more conversations with leaders shaping the future of animal welfare.

What happens when people are forced to choose between a safe place to live and the animal they love?

In this episode of Top Dog Podcast, we sit down with Christine Kim, Founder and Executive Director of My Dog Is My Home, a national nonprofit working to increase access to shelter and housing for people experiencing homelessness with pets.

What began as a storytelling exhibition grew into a national organization focused on changing policies, practices, and perceptions around homelessness and the human-animal bond. Christine shares how listening to people with lived experience became the organization's North Star and how partnerships can help communities create more pet-inclusive services.

In this conversation, we discuss:

✔ Why people experiencing homelessness should not have to choose between housing and their pets

✔ How storytelling can change hearts, minds, and policies

✔ Building pet-inclusive practices within homeless services

✔ The importance of centering people with lived experience

✔ Creating partnerships and sharing resources across organizations

✔ How research can help establish better pet-inclusive practices

✔ Leading with values, flexibility, and trust

✔ Building an organization designed to outlive its founder

Christine's story is a powerful reminder that the human-animal bond doesn't disappear during a housing crisis. For many people, their pets are a source of stability, companionship, and support when they need it most.

Learn more about tools supporting animal welfare organizations:

https://doobert.com/

Subscribe for more conversations with leaders shaping the future of animal welfare.

What do you do when a cat is smarter than every trap you've tried?

In this episode of Top Dog Podcast, we sit down with Natascha Scott, President of 9 Lives Cat Rescue of Oxford in Mississippi. A plant molecular biologist by day, Natascha has spent nearly 20 years rescuing cats, developing creative solutions for difficult cases, and helping address cat overpopulation in her community.

What started as volunteering to help cats on a college campus eventually became a lifelong commitment to rescue. Today, 9 Lives Cat Rescue helps approximately 50 to 200 cats each year, with an entirely volunteer-based team.

In this conversation, we discuss:

✔ Natascha's unexpected journey from science to cat rescue

✔ Creative approaches to trapping difficult and trap-savvy cats

✔ Using technology like cameras and drones in animal rescue

✔ The challenges of finding and helping free-roaming cats

✔ Why affordable spay/neuter is critical to preventing overpopulation

✔ Building a volunteer-powered rescue through community support

✔ The emotional highs and lows of difficult rescue cases

✔ Why creativity and persistence can make all the difference

Natascha's story shows that animal welfare doesn't always require a traditional background. Sometimes, it takes curiosity, persistence, and a willingness to invent a new solution when the usual approach doesn't work.

Learn more about tools supporting animal welfare organizations at https://doobert.com/

Subscribe for more conversations with leaders shaping the future of animal welfare.

What happens when a communications professional turns a passion for community cats into a career in animal welfare leadership?

In this episode of Top Dog Podcast, we sit down with Daniel Roselle, Executive Director of the Humane Society of Ventura County. Daniel shares his unconventional path into animal welfare, from trapping cats in a Honolulu office park to leading major changes in animal welfare programs and eventually taking on executive leadership in Ventura County.

His journey is a powerful example of how bringing outside experience, curiosity, and a willingness to challenge the status quo can create meaningful change for animals and communities.

In this conversation, we discuss:

✔ Daniel's unconventional path into animal welfare leadership

✔ How community cats sparked a deeper commitment to animal welfare

✔ Shifting resources from euthanasia toward spay/neuter

✔ Building partnerships between cat caregivers and communities

✔ Using communications and government relations to drive change

✔ Why animal welfare leaders need to think beyond traditional systems

✔ Making an impact at scale while staying connected to individual animals

Daniel shares why meaningful change requires more than passion. It takes curiosity, persistence, and the courage to rethink how things have always been done.

Learn more about tools supporting animal welfare organizations at https://doobert.com/

Subscribe for more conversations with leaders shaping the future of animal welfare.

What happens to exotic animals when their owners can no longer care for them?

In this episode of Top Dog Podcast, we sit down with Brittany Vanderstine, Director of Wild Exotics Animal Refuge, a New Jersey nonprofit dedicated to rescuing and providing lifelong care for exotic animals.

Brittany shares how her experience in animal welfare led her to recognize a major gap in rescue: while large exotic animals often have established sanctuaries, smaller exotic pets such as reptiles, birds, and mammals can have very limited options when they are surrendered, abandoned, or no longer wanted.

In this conversation, we discuss:

✔ The overlooked challenges facing exotic animal rescue

✔ Why exotic pets are often surrendered when owners are unprepared for their needs

✔ Building a refuge for animals with nowhere else to go

✔ The importance of education before someone adopts an exotic pet

✔ Caring for animals with complex and specialized needs

✔ The realities of running a nonprofit animal refuge

✔ How rescue organizations can prevent exotic pet abandonment

Brittany's story highlights an important lesson for animal welfare leaders: sometimes the biggest opportunities for impact are found in the gaps that others aren't addressing.

Learn more about tools supporting animal welfare organizations:

https://doobert.com/

Subscribe for more conversations with leaders shaping the future of animal welfare.

What happens when foster homes become the heart of a rescue organization?

In this episode of Top Dog Podcast, we sit down with Melanie Hallas Kirsch, Foster Home Coordinator, Pre-Adoption Supplies Coordinator, and Board Member at Doberman Assistance, Rescue & Education (DAR&E).

Melanie shares her journey from adopting her first Doberman to becoming deeply involved in rescue, fostering, and helping families prepare for successful adoptions. She offers a behind-the-scenes look at what it takes to support foster families and give rescued Dobermans the time and care they need to thrive.

In this conversation, we discuss:

✔ Why foster homes are essential to rescue

✔ Preparing families for successful adoptions

✔ Supporting foster families through the challenges of rescue

✔ Understanding the unique needs of Dobermans

✔ The importance of setting animals and adopters up for success

✔ How volunteers can find their place in animal welfare

Learn more about tools supporting animal welfare organizations:

https://doobert.com/

Subscribe for more conversations with leaders shaping the future of animal welfare.

What if the best way to save more animals is to prevent them from ever entering a shelter?

In this episode of Top Dog Podcast, we sit down with Aldwin Roman, Senior VP and COO of the Charleston Animal Society, South Carolina's largest animal organization and shelter. Aldwin shares his unexpected journey from studying political science and wanting to advocate for people to starting as a kennel technician and eventually becoming a senior leader in animal welfare.

With Charleston Animal Society taking in roughly 15,000 animals each year, Aldwin has seen firsthand how the industry is shifting from reactive sheltering toward prevention, access to care, and community-based solutions.

In this conversation, we discuss:

✔ How Aldwin went from kennel tech to senior animal welfare leadership

✔ Why animal welfare is ultimately human welfare through animals

✔ Shifting from reactive sheltering to proactive community support

✔ Expanding access to spay/neuter and veterinary care

✔ Why prevention can have a greater impact than sheltering alone

✔ Leading frontline teams through support rather than micromanagement

✔ The importance of patience, humility, and lifelong learning in leadership

✔ How leaders can step back and focus on the bigger picture

Aldwin's story offers a powerful lesson for animal welfare leaders: real community change takes patience, perspective, and a willingness to look beyond the shelter walls.

Learn more about tools supporting animal welfare organizations:

https://doobert.com/

Subscribe for more conversations with leaders shaping the future of animal welfare.

What happens when an animal shelter stops thinking like a shelter and starts becoming a community resource?

In this episode of Top Dog Podcast, we sit down with Carrie Ridgway, Executive Director of the Mary S. Roberts Pet Adoption Center in Riverside, California. After joining the organization in 2008 to help with a capital campaign, Carrie worked her way through the organization before becoming Executive Director in 2015.

Today, she leads an organization that has grown from five employees into a comprehensive animal welfare resource center with a high-volume spay/neuter clinic, thrift store, adoption programs, and community services.

In this conversation, we discuss:

✔ Transforming a traditional shelter into a community resource center

✔ Leading with compassion while making difficult decisions

✔ Why shelters need to find reasons to say yes

✔ Building stronger relationships with surrendering pet owners

✔ Keeping teams engaged in a high-stress, compassion-filled industry

✔ The importance of staying open-minded and embracing change

✔ Learning from failure and having the courage to try new things

✔ Why animal welfare leaders must care about both people and animals

Carrie shares a powerful perspective on leadership, reminding us that being a great leader isn't about having everything figured out. It's about staying flexible, giving yourself grace, and continuing to become better.

Learn more about tools supporting animal welfare organizations:

https://doobert.com/

Subscribe for more conversations with leaders shaping the future of animal welfare.

What if animal welfare organizations could create more impact by supporting the shelters already doing the work?

In this episode of Top Dog Podcast, we sit down with Bill Crowe, Executive Director of the Pet Care Foundation, an animal advocacy organization supporting shelters and communities across Los Angeles.

For more than two decades, Bill has developed programs that help animals become more adoptable, connect them with families, and prevent animals from entering shelters in the first place. From televised adoption campaigns and large-scale shelter adoption events to grooming, free spay/neuter clinics, and wellness programs, his approach focuses on identifying gaps and building practical solutions around them.

In this conversation, we discuss:

✔ Why animal welfare needs more organizations supporting existing shelters

✔ Turning adoption events into high-impact community programs

✔ How grooming can dramatically improve an animal's adoption chances

✔ Expanding access to free spay/neuter and wellness care

✔ Why prevention and education are essential to reducing shelter intake

✔ How social media has transformed animal adoption

✔ What leaders can learn by listening to their communities

Bill's story is a powerful reminder that leadership isn't always about building another organization. Sometimes, it's about finding where the biggest gaps are and helping the organizations already doing the work fill them.

Learn more about tools supporting animal welfare organizations:

https://doobert.com/

Subscribe for more conversations with leaders shaping the future of animal welfare.