Dakin's Strong Presence at The Fed

Lauren Rubin addresses attendees at the 2025 New England Federation of Humane Societies.

Every spring, one of the animal welfare industry’s most significant conferences takes place as members and guests of the New England Federation of Humane Societies come together at a chosen location in New England. Last month, 16 team members from Dakin joined over 350 animal welfare professionals from across the six New England states at "The Fed.” The three-day conference was held at the Boston Marriott in Burlington, MA, and covered a wide range of animal welfare topics. The Fed offers a mix of basic knowledge for those just starting out, advanced knowledge for specialists, and progressive discussions that reflect the ever-changing nature of our industry.

Dakin’s Behavior Coordinator Lauren Rubin, whose focus is dog behavior, played a key role in The Fed this year. She was chosen to participate in an opening panel that discussed a collaborative program called MASS (of which Dakin is a member) that was formed in 2024. As the Dakin representative, Lauren joined other coalition members from the MSPCA and the Berkshire Humane Society, to talk about MASS’s progress, as well as the successes and challenges the program faces.

For the second year in a row, Lauren also led a presentation, this time about behavior regarding shelter dogs, and offered insight about how to navigate those behaviors, build adoptability criteria, and oversee training and enrichment strategies. The session began in a standard hotel conference room, but the overwhelming number of attendees forced event organizers to hastily move the session to a much larger ballroom to prevent a fire hazard and accommodate the crowd.

According to Lauren, her topic was “Something everyone needs to talk about. Our job as shelters is to ensure that safe dogs find great homes.” About the hurried relocation for the presentation, she laughed and stated, “Being a fire hazard was the greatest honor. I really want a sticker or a badge! But seriously, it was so great to see that so many people wanted to learn more and engage on this subject. There were great questions afterward, and I'm so happy that it was helpful for folks.”

We are very proud of Lauren and all our Dakin staff members who take the time to attend The Fed, and other significant conferences, each year. Both Executive Director Meg Talbert and Director of Development and Marketing Stacey Price serve on the board of directors for The Fed.

The animal welfare industry is always evolving, and Dakin is constantly seeking out and creating innovative solutions to a variety of issues like animal population, presenting programs and services that best serve our community, being apprised of best practices in every aspect of our work, and sharing or teaching of those practices to those alongside us. Thankfully, conferences like The Fed help us to succeed on all levels.