About Us
Wide Variety of Courses
Whether you want to hold in-person seminars for new staff or hold online training sessions, we have you covered. We can work with your and your staff on-site or virtually to ensure the best learning environment for your animal control team.
We also offer our education and training courses based in Corpus Christi, TX and San Antonio, TX.
Highly Qualified Educators
We know that learning is easier when you have an excellent teacher. Our team of educators have decades of experience in all types of shelters. Our instructors are passionate about the subjects they teach and bring this enthusiasm into their seminars and courses.
Shelter Consultation
Whether you're looking for technical training, a best practice seminar, or a management course, we can help. All of our courses are customizable for your needs to make sure you leave with relevant skills.
Instructors
Melissa Draper, DVM
Dr. Draper is a graduate of Louisiana Tech University in Animal Science and a 1993 graduate of Louisiana State University-School of Veterinary Medicine. She is currently a candidate for her Master's Degree at the University of Florida in Veterinary Forensic Sciences. Dr. Draper was a 2013 recipient of the Eslinger Shelter Medicine Fellowship. She began working for a no-kill, non-profit agency, as a shelter veterinarian in 2000 and has worked in Animal Control since 2007. Her experiences in shelter medicine include: Rabies control, community engagement and live release increase, high-volume, high-quality surgery, shelter medicine, animal cruelty/forensics, and pain management. She frequently trains interns in pre-veterinary medicine, technologists/technicians, and veterinary school students. She is married to James, an Animal Control Officer. Together, they co-founded The ACT, an educational training program for Animal Control Officers. They own a chihuahua, Pinky Pig, and the best cat in the world, Fluffaluffagus.
Jacy Elrod
Jacy has a lifetime of experience working with animals. She grew up in Texas and began her career working in Laredo as a veterinary technician. In 1998 she moved to San Antonio and began working for the Animal Defense League, a non-profit, no-kill animal shelter. Jacy was the clinic operations manager for more than 8 years before making her way to the City of San Antonio’s municipal facility to help revamp their sheltering program there. While performing the duties of a veterinary technician, she instituted vaccination protocols and helped start an isolation ward before being promoted to Shelter Manager. During her years as Shelter Manager, she ran the live release program, the foster program, the spay-neuter mobile unit, supervised shelter staff and ran the operations of two different shelters. An expanded kennel project took her back to the Animal Defense League for a few years before she was tapped to stand up and run Bexar County’s first ever animal control facility in partnership with the City of Kirby. In its first year of operation, the Bexar County shelter achieved a 99% placement rate for healthy, adoptable pets.
James Espinoza
James is an Animal Control Officer with over 20 years of experience. He has worked in a variety of shelters ranging from large municipal shelters with an annual intake of 63,000 to smaller city shelters with himself and one other officer. He has performed the duties of Shelter Supervisor, Field Supervisor, Dangerous Dog investigator, Bites investigator, and has implemented standards of care as an Animal Control Officer. This experience gives him a wide variety of knowledge to help those in different size shelters.