Why Empathy May Be the Most Underrated Leadership Skill in Animal Welfare
Why Empathy May Be the Most Underrated Leadership Skill in Animal Welfare
People often think strong leaders are the ones with all the answers.
They’re decisive. Confident. Able to make difficult decisions without hesitation.
In animal welfare, however, leadership often looks very different.
It means sitting with a family that’s about to surrender a beloved pet and helping them explore every possible alternative. It means supporting an exhausted team member after a heartbreaking case. It means listening before judging and remembering that every animal who enters a shelter has a human story attached to them.
Those moments don’t require toughness as much as they require empathy.
During her conversation on the Top Dog Podcast, Caryn Fugatt, Executive Director of Pope Memorial Humane Society – Cocheco Valley, shared how empathy has shaped her journey from volunteer dog walker to nonprofit leader. Along the way, she discovered that compassion isn’t something leaders should hide—it may be one of the greatest strengths they can bring to an organization.
Sometimes the Best Leaders Never Planned to Lead
When Caryn first walked through the doors of Pope Memorial Humane Society, she wasn’t searching for a leadership position.
She had recently moved to New Hampshire after working as an elementary school teacher and simply wanted to volunteer with an organization that aligned with her love for animals. Walking dogs seemed like the perfect way to meet people while giving back to the community.
She had no idea it would change the course of her career.
As weeks turned into months, volunteering became something much bigger than a weekend activity. Caryn found herself drawn not only to the animals but also to the mission behind the shelter. She accepted a position as a kennel technician, later became the foster care coordinator, moved into management, and eventually stepped into the role of executive director.
Looking back, she believes working nearly every position inside the organization gave her an invaluable perspective.
She understands the physical demands of animal care because she lived them. She understands the emotional challenges foster coordinators face because she experienced them herself. And she understands the importance of supporting employees because she remembers exactly what it felt like to stand in their shoes.
Leadership wasn’t something she chased.
It grew naturally through service.
Every Animal Story Begins With a Human Story
One of the most persistent misconceptions about animal welfare is that shelters exist only for animals.
Caryn sees it differently.
She believes every successful shelter must first become a trusted resource for people.
When someone walks through the shelter’s doors hoping to surrender a pet, the goal isn’t simply to complete paperwork. It’s to understand what led them there in the first place.
Is it financial hardship?
Housing challenges?
Behavior concerns?
Temporary illness?
Lack of access to affordable veterinary care?
Every situation deserves a conversation before it deserves a conclusion.
“Our mission is really to preserve that human-animal bond,” Caryn explains. Rather than viewing pet owners as failures, her team works to identify ways families can stay together whenever possible.
That philosophy has shaped the organization’s expanding community programs, including low-cost veterinary services, pet food assistance, training opportunities, and other resources designed to keep pets in loving homes.
After all, preventing a surrender is often the best possible outcome.
Trust Must Be Built Before People Need Help
One insight from Caryn’s interview feels especially relevant as shelters continue evolving into community resource centers.
People won’t ask for help from organizations they don’t trust.
If families fear they’ll be judged, criticized, or shamed for struggling, many won’t reach out until a crisis leaves them with no other choice.
That’s why Caryn wants Pope Memorial Humane Society to be known as more than an adoption center.
She wants it to be known as a place where people feel safe asking for help.
Whether someone needs pet food, affordable medical care, behavior support, or simply someone willing to listen, the organization strives to become a partner instead of a last resort.
Building that reputation takes time.
It requires transparency, consistency, and genuine compassion during every interaction.
But once trust exists, communities become far more willing to seek assistance early—often preventing situations from becoming emergencies in the first place.
Animal welfare doesn’t begin when an animal enters a shelter.
Sometimes it begins months earlier with one supportive conversation.
Strong Teams Need Space to Be Human
Compassion fatigue remains one of the greatest challenges facing animal welfare professionals.
Every day, shelter employees witness neglect, illness, abandonment, and heartbreaking decisions that most people never experience.
Ignoring those emotions doesn’t make them disappear.
Caryn believes healthy organizations acknowledge them openly.
When difficult days happen, her goal isn’t to pretend everything is fine. Instead, she encourages her team to recognize their emotions, support one another, and take the time they need to recover.
Sometimes that means stepping away for a few minutes.
Sometimes it means talking through a difficult case with coworkers.
Sometimes it simply means giving someone permission to cry.
At the same time, she believes it’s equally important to celebrate the victories.
Shelter work is filled with quiet successes that can easily be overshadowed by difficult cases—a senior dog finding a home, an injured stray recovering, a foster family saying yes, or a pet owner receiving the support needed to keep their companion.
Those moments deserve attention, too.
Without them, it’s easy to lose sight of why the work matters.
Empathy Is a Skill That Can Be Practiced
When staff members ask Caryn for advice about handling difficult situations, her guidance usually begins with a simple exercise.
Put yourself in the other person’s position.
Imagine you’re the family surrendering a beloved pet.
Imagine you’re the person embarrassed to ask for help.
Imagine you’re overwhelmed by circumstances no one else can see.
What would you need from the person sitting across the desk?
The answer is rarely judgment.
It’s understanding.
Empathy doesn’t mean agreeing with every decision someone has made.
It means recognizing that every person arrives carrying experiences we may know nothing about.
As Caryn reflected during the interview, approaching conversations with curiosity instead of assumptions allows organizations to provide better support for both people and animals.
In many ways, empathy isn’t simply an emotion.
It’s a professional skill.
And like every skill, it becomes stronger the more intentionally we practice it.
Leadership Is About Creating a Culture Others Want to Build
After becoming executive director, Caryn’s first priority wasn’t launching a major fundraising campaign or redesigning programs.
She focused on culture.
Rather than relying on one manager responsible for everything, she restructured leadership into a collaborative management team where department leaders solve problems together, support one another, and share responsibility.
Healthy disagreement became part of the process.
Honesty became an expectation.
Collaboration became a core value.
Those changes weren’t just about improving internal operations.
They were about creating an environment where employees felt supported enough to continue doing emotionally demanding work for years to come.
Strong cultures don’t happen by accident.
They happen because leaders intentionally create spaces where people feel respected, trusted, and empowered to contribute.
Animals benefit from that culture every single day.
What This Means for Dooberteers
Whether you’re walking dogs, fostering kittens, transporting animals, managing volunteers, or leading an entire organization, empathy remains one of the most valuable tools you can bring to animal welfare.
Animals need compassion.
People do too.
The stronger we become at listening without judgment, supporting families before crises develop, and caring for one another through difficult moments, the stronger our organizations become.
Leadership isn’t measured only by decisions.
Sometimes it’s measured by how people feel after they’ve spoken with you.
And those moments often leave the longest-lasting impact.
Listen to the Full Episode
Want to hear Caryn Fugatt’s inspiring leadership journey and learn more about building trust, strengthening communities, and leading with empathy?
Watch on YouTube:
Listen for the audio versions:
Visit Doobert.com to get involved, volunteer, foster, or transport animals in need.
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