The DART© Animal Shelter Training builds on decades of work and the best practices of major animal welfare groups.
Our training has gone through many iterations. For a brief history of DART please follow this link...
We are no longer training individuals who - when they return to their communities - will find themselves isolated. We are training a cohort that can maintain its skills and deploy together, gaining valuable hands-on experience. Our purpose is to help build disaster resilient communities by educating our communities about Pet Emergency Preparedness and by training local, community groups and local leaders to set up a professional emergency animal shelter in rresponse to a disaster or an emergency.
The only thing we cannot provide on a local level is the opportunity to have meaningful practice. That was found by aligning Lamorinda DART with Noah's Wish, an organization that specializes in animal sheltering during disasters. We deploy with Noah's Wish to practice our skills in real disasters. There are many groups that provide training, few round it off with multiple deployment opportunities per year.
The most recent evolution of the DART concept is that of advanced human rescue skills. DART members have trained with the American Red Cross and many of them have become American Red Cross Disaster Services volunteers - fully equipped to assist both humans and animals during disasters. Our members can easily set up human evacuation shelters, provide first aid and CPR to people, AND set up animal evacuation shelters and provide first aid and CPR to animals. DART is unique in the sense that it stands ready to Save The Whole Family.
The DART training is rigorous and takes 20 hours to complete. Upon completion participants can set up and manage most aspects of an emergency animal shelter.
