Jon Gary reflects on a 27-year career in animal welfare, sharing how leadership, resilience, and investing in people have helped transform one of the nation’s largest municipal shelter systems.
For generations, animal welfare has focused on one primary goal: rescue the animals that need help.
And while rescue will always remain essential, many of today’s most innovative organizations are asking an important question:
What if we could prevent the crisis before it ever begins?
Instead of waiting until a family has no choice but to surrender a beloved pet, prevention-focused organizations work upstream. They help people find pet-friendly housing, provide emergency veterinary care, stock pet food pantries, and connect struggling families with resources before financial hardship turns into heartbreak.
It’s a simple shift in thinking, but one with enormous consequences.
During her conversation on the Top Dog Podcast, Christy Schilling, Executive Director and Co-Founder of BetterTogether Forever, shared why the future of animal welfare isn’t just about rescuing more animals. It’s about making sure fewer animals need rescuing in the first place.
When people surrender a pet to a shelter, it’s easy to assume they simply gave up.
The reality is usually far more complicated.
Many families have already exhausted every option they know. They’ve searched for affordable veterinary care. They’ve struggled to find pet-friendly housing. They’ve borrowed money, skipped meals to buy pet food, and spent weeks trying to solve a problem they never expected to face.
By the time they arrive at a shelter, they’re often carrying guilt, fear, and heartbreak.
Christy has built BetterTogether Forever around one belief:
Most people don’t want to surrender their pets. They simply run out of options.
That’s why her organization exists.
Rather than replacing shelters, BetterTogether Forever fills the gap before families reach that point. The organization connects pet owners with food assistance, veterinary care, emotional support animal assessments, temporary foster options, and housing resources designed to preserve the human-animal bond.
Sometimes all a family needs is one phone call.
One referral.
One person willing to say, “Let’s see what we can do.”
One of the greatest challenges facing pet owners today isn’t behavior.
It isn’t training.
It isn’t even veterinary care.
It’s housing.
Across many communities, finding affordable housing that accepts pets has become increasingly difficult. Breed restrictions, weight limits, pet deposits, and strict landlord policies force many families into impossible decisions.
Keep your home.
Or keep your pet.
No one should have to choose between the two.
BetterTogether Forever works with pet owners throughout Los Angeles to help overcome these barriers. By assisting with emotional support animal assessments and connecting families to available resources, the organization helps many people remain housed without sacrificing the companionship that often provides emotional stability during life’s hardest moments.
When people stay housed, pets stay housed too.
And shelters avoid becoming overwhelmed by animals who never needed to lose their families in the first place.
One of the most surprising insights Christy shared is that her organization doesn’t always have to provide every solution themselves.
Often, their greatest contribution is simply knowing where help already exists.
Animal welfare can be confusing.
One organization offers free surgeries.
Another provides pet food.
A different nonprofit helps with transportation.
Another specializes in temporary foster care.
To professionals working in animal welfare, those resources may seem familiar.
To someone facing a crisis for the first time, they’re nearly impossible to navigate.
BetterTogether Forever acts as a bridge.
The team helps families understand what programs are available, complete applications, schedule appointments, and connect with partner organizations that can meet their specific needs.
Sometimes guidance is every bit as valuable as financial assistance.
As Christy explained, many people express overwhelming gratitude simply because someone answered the phone, listened without judgment, and helped them understand where to turn next.
One theme appears repeatedly throughout Christy’s work.
No organization can solve animal welfare alone.
Veterinary clinics donate discounted services.
Pet food manufacturers contribute supplies.
Other nonprofits provide specialized medical care.
Volunteers help transport animals.
Housing organizations work alongside pet support programs.
Every success depends on collaboration.
One story from the interview perfectly illustrates this philosophy.
An unhoused individual had finally secured permanent housing, but their dog needed to be spayed, vaccinated, and approved as an emotional support animal before moving in.
Within just two days, BetterTogether Forever coordinated veterinary partners, documentation, transportation, and resources that allowed the person and their dog to remain together.
No single organization accomplished that outcome.
The community did.
Animal welfare becomes far more effective when organizations focus less on who receives the credit and more on ensuring families receive the help they need.
Animal shelters often celebrate adoption numbers.
Rescues celebrate animals saved.
Those metrics matter.
But prevention organizations measure success differently.
How many pets stayed home?
How many families avoided surrender?
How many crises never became shelter intakes?
Last year alone, BetterTogether Forever responded to thousands of requests for assistance, distributed more than $145,000 worth of pet food and supplies, and helped over 1,200 pets receive veterinary care. Behind every number is a family that may have remained together because someone intervened before circumstances became irreversible.
Those victories rarely make headlines.
Yet they may represent some of the most meaningful successes in animal welfare.
The best rescue story is often the one that never required rescue at all.
Like many nonprofit leaders, Christy spends her days hearing heartbreaking stories.
Families facing eviction.
Senior pets needing emergency medical care.
People grieving impossible decisions.
The emotional weight can become overwhelming.
So how does she keep her team motivated?
By celebrating every victory.
Some are extraordinary, like helping an unhoused individual move into permanent housing with their dog.
Others are quiet moments that rarely receive public attention, like helping an elderly owner afford humane end-of-life care for a beloved companion instead of forcing them to navigate the shelter system alone.
Every success reminds the team why their work matters.
Those stories become fuel during difficult days.
Because in animal welfare, hope often grows one family at a time.
Whether you’re a volunteer, foster, transporter, shelter professional, or nonprofit leader, Christy’s story offers an important reminder.
The future of animal welfare isn’t only about responding to emergencies.
It’s about preventing them.
Every bag of pet food distributed.
Every veterinary voucher.
Every housing resource.
Every phone call answered.
Every family supported before surrender becomes necessary.
These aren’t small acts.
They’re investments in stronger communities and healthier human-animal bonds.
When we help people keep the pets they already love, everyone benefits.
The families.
The shelters.
And most importantly, the animals.
Want to hear Christy Schilling’s inspiring conversation about prevention, pet retention, and building stronger communities for people and their pets?
Watch on YouTube:
If you’re passionate about helping animals, join the Doobert community where volunteers, fosters, transporters, and animal organizations work together to save lives every day.
Visit Doobert.com to get involved, volunteer, foster, or transport animals in need.
And don’t forget to subscribe to the Top Dog Podcast on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts so you never miss an episode.
Animal shelters exist to save animals.
But the most effective shelters understand something much bigger.
If you truly want to help more animals, you have to start by helping the people who love them.
That philosophy has transformed Harbor Humane Society in West Michigan from a traditional shelter into a community-centered organization that focuses on prevention as much as adoption. During her conversation on the Top Dog Podcast, Megan Winters, Director of Shelter Operations, shared how supporting pet owners, investing in staff, and meeting communities where they are has created better outcomes for everyone involved.
It’s a reminder that the future of animal welfare isn’t about building bigger shelters. It’s about building stronger relationships.
For decades, many organizations measured success by one number: intake.
The more animals a shelter could house, the more successful it appeared.
Today, many leaders are asking a different question.
How many animals never needed to enter the shelter in the first place?
Harbor Humane Society still cares for thousands of animals every year, but Megan explained that much of their growth has come from investing in programs that prevent unnecessary shelter admissions. Their Return-to-Field program helps community cats by spaying or neutering, vaccinating, ear-tipping, and safely returning healthy cats to their neighborhoods, allowing the shelter to focus resources on animals that truly need intervention.
That same philosophy extends to owned pets.
Rather than automatically accepting every surrender, the first question staff ask is simple:
“Is there anything we can do to help you keep your pet?”
Sometimes the answer is affordable veterinary care.
Sometimes it’s behavior support.
Sometimes it’s access to pet food or temporary assistance.
Keeping a family together often helps two lives at once—the pet’s and the person’s.
One of the strongest themes throughout Megan’s interview was the importance of replacing judgment with education.
Many shelters unintentionally create barriers by expecting every pet owner to already know what “good ownership” looks like.
But not everyone grows up with access to veterinary care, training resources, or accurate information.
That doesn’t make them bad pet owners.
It means they need support.
Megan believes shelters should become trusted community resources instead of gatekeepers.
Instead of asking whether someone deserves help, organizations should ask how they can provide it.
That philosophy has shaped Harbor Humane Society’s community programs, including low-cost vaccine clinics, affordable spay and neuter surgeries, pet food assistance, intake diversion services, and partnerships with organizations supporting people experiencing homelessness.
Every program serves the same purpose:
Remove barriers before they become crises.
Because when communities feel supported instead of judged, they’re much more likely to seek help early.
One statement from Megan perfectly captures the organization’s philosophy:
The human-animal bond should be accessible to everyone.
Too often, financial hardship becomes the reason families lose beloved pets.
Sometimes it’s an unexpected surgery.
Sometimes it’s temporary unemployment.
Sometimes it’s simply not knowing where to turn.
Rather than allowing those situations to end in surrender, Harbor Humane Society works to preserve the relationship whenever possible.
In some cases, they’ll even waive reclaim fees if an owner agrees to have their pet spayed or neutered, creating healthier outcomes for both the family and the broader community.
These aren’t giveaways.
They’re investments.
Because every pet who remains safely at home frees valuable shelter space for another animal facing an emergency.
Helping people and helping animals aren’t competing priorities.
They’re the same mission.
While much of the conversation focused on community programs, Megan also highlighted something that often receives less attention:
The people doing the work.
Animal welfare professionals experience compassion fatigue at remarkably high rates.
They witness cruelty cases, medical emergencies, behavioral challenges, difficult euthanasia decisions, and heartbreaking owner surrenders on a regular basis.
Ignoring those emotional realities doesn’t make them disappear.
Megan believes organizations must intentionally support their teams long before burnout becomes unavoidable.
That starts with honest conversations.
New employees shouldn’t be told the job is all puppies and kittens.
They deserve realistic expectations, healthy coping strategies, and leaders willing to walk beside them during difficult moments.
By investing in staff, organizations create stronger advocates, healthier workplace cultures, and ultimately better care for animals.
As Megan puts it, supporting the people who support the animals is one of the most important investments any organization can make.
One practice at Harbor Humane Society stands out as an example of thoughtful leadership.
Every week, the organization holds a “Pathway Meeting” where leadership reviews every animal’s progress, discusses next steps, and openly communicates difficult decisions, including euthanasia when necessary.
Nothing is hidden.
Every decision is explained.
Every team member understands the reasoning behind it.
That transparency creates trust.
Instead of leaving employees to wonder why difficult choices were made, they become part of the learning process.
The organization also maintains a memorial book where staff can write messages, memories, and reflections about animals that have passed away.
Each paw print serves as a reminder that every life mattered, even if it was only part of the shelter’s story for a short time.
Those small rituals reinforce something important.
Compassion should never become routine.
Perhaps one of the most valuable leadership lessons Megan shared had nothing to do with shelters specifically.
It applies to every nonprofit organization.
After particularly difficult situations, it’s easy to create policies based on emotion.
One traumatic experience can tempt leaders to implement restrictive rules that affect everyone moving forward.
Megan encourages leaders to pause before reacting.
Is this policy solving a widespread issue?
Or is it simply a response to one painful exception?
She reminds her team not to let rare situations become permanent rules.
Instead, they focus on creating policies grounded in their mission rather than their frustrations.
That mindset protects both people and animals from unintended consequences.
Every volunteer, foster, transporter, shelter employee, and nonprofit leader eventually faces difficult moments.
It’s easy to become discouraged by the challenges.
It’s harder—but far more impactful—to continue choosing compassion.
Supporting animals will always remain the heart of this work.
But supporting the people who love them, care for them, and advocate for them is what makes lasting change possible.
When organizations remove barriers instead of creating them, communities become stronger.
Families stay together.
Shelters become trusted partners.
And ultimately, more animals receive the futures they deserve.
Want to hear Megan Winters share how Harbor Humane Society is redefining community-focused animal welfare?
Watch on YouTube:
If you’re passionate about helping animals, join the Doobert community where volunteers, fosters, transporters, and animal organizations work together to save lives every day.
Visit Doobert.com to get involved, volunteer, foster, or transport animals in need.
And don’t forget to subscribe to the Top Dog Podcast on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts so you never miss an episode.
Jane Tomsich shares how modern animal welfare is shifting from simply sheltering animals to empowering communities, preserving the human-animal bond, and creating innovative programs that keep pets where they belong.
Christy Schilling shares how Better Together Forever is helping families overcome housing, financial, and medical barriers so they can keep the pets they love and avoid unnecessary shelter surrenders.
Learn why empathy is one of the most valuable leadership skills in animal welfare and how building trust with people helps create better outcomes for pets and communities.
Megan Winters shares how Harbor Humane Society transformed its approach to animal welfare by focusing on community support, reducing barriers to pet ownership, and helping people keep the pets they love.
Discover why education may be the most powerful tool in animal welfare and how teaching future leaders can create lasting change for animals, people, and the planet.
Discover how thoughtful leadership, innovative shelter design, and seeing potential instead of perfection can help animal welfare organizations save more lives.
Caryn Fugatt shares how a volunteer dog-walking opportunity evolved into a leadership career in animal welfare, and why preserving the human-animal bond is at the heart of everything Pope Memorial Humane Society does.
