Behavior Team Enrichment Specialist

Description

Santa Fe Animal Shelter is Northern New Mexico's largest open admission shelter.  We take in more than three thousand animals a year and the Behavior Team helps them transition into the shelter and keeps them as happy as we can while in the shelter's care.  One of the best ways we can make our residents happy is by getting them out of the kennel.  We call this enrichment, which improves their mood and ability to manage stress.  This in turn helps us find them new homes through the adoptions program.  If you want to spend your summer working with dogs, walking and hanging out with dogs and cats while learning more about animal behavior we would love to have you join us.

This position is a temporary hire, helping us manage the surge in our population that comes in the summer and will run through about the start of the school year, but the exact start and end dates will be set with the ideal candidate.

Behavior Team Enrichment Specialists are responsible for supporting and maintaining the physical and psychological well-being of the animals in the custody and care of the Santa Fe Animal Shelter. With the goal of providing exceptional humane care for our animals, a Behavior Team Enrichment Specialist is responsible for performing the following duties but not limited to: walking dogs of all sizes and strengths, performing behavior assessments on cats and dogs, and implementing enrichment plans and recording behavior observations as directed by the Behavior Team Manager. In addition, this role involves representing the shelter and Behavior department in a professional manner with internal and external customers.  

Requirements

Education and/or Work Experience Requirements: 

• High school diploma 
• A background in animal behavior, handling and sheltering experience is not expected but is of benefit
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills, including ability to effectively communicate with internal and external customers/staff/patrons
• Excellent computer proficiency 
• Experience and reasonable proficiency using Microsoft office, Word, Excel, Gmail, google docs or other similar word processing programs.
• Ability to work independently and to carry out assignments to completion within parameters of instructions given, prescribed routines, and standard accepted practices

Physical Requirements/Critical Demands: 

• Ability to safely and successfully perform the essential job functions consistent with the ADA, FMLA and other federal, state and local standards, including meeting qualitative and/or quantitative productivity standards. 
• Ability to maintain regular, punctual attendance
• Ability to follow directions and training instructions
• Ability and willingness to work with cats, dogs, rabbits, and other species.
• Ability to safely handle a wide variety of sizes & breeds of dogs with a range of strengths, temperaments, energy and training levels
• Good physical health with the ability to lift a minimum of 50 pounds
• Ability to be on feet, walking for hours at a time; the Behavior Team spends most of the day standing or walking with occasional periods of sitting. 
• This position relies on teamwork and effective communication between team members. 
• This position endures frequent interruptions and requires a great deal of flexibility in assignment of job duties.  
• Good vision and hearing is required
• Must be able to talk, listen and speak clearly on telephone
• Manual dexterity is required for handling and examining animals as well as for entering data into the current computer system software 
• Ability to handle exposure to large numbers of potentially dangerous, fast-moving animals
• Ability to handle less than ideal working conditions such as poor ventilation, heat, cold, sudden temperature changes, sometimes wet quarters, noise, as well as animal odors and dander are common.
• Ability to handle the elements, the Behavior Team is outside the majority of the day regardless of weather conditions.
• Ability to work weekends and holidays
• An understanding that SFAS is a managed admissions facility and the euthanasia and cremation of animals are regular functions of the shelter.