Managing Animals

Staff & Admin Only

Adding and editing animals requires Staff or Admin role. All users can view animal profiles.

Animal management is how staff and admins add, edit, and organize animals in Heelr. This includes setting handling levels, uploading photos, and maintaining notes that keep everyone safe and informed.

Overview

Staff and admins can:

• Add new dogs, cats, or other animals to the system
• Upload photos so volunteers can easily identify animals
• Set handling levels to control who can interact with each dog
• Update handling and medical notes with safety protocols and health information
• Manage animal status (active, medical hold, behavior hold, adopted, etc.)
• Import animals via CSV (admin only)

Volunteers can view animals appropriate to their permission level but cannot edit information.

Multi-Species Support

Heelr supports three species types:

Species	Dashboard	Activity Logging	Behavior Intelligence
Dog	Full	Walk, Playgroup, Training, Enrichment, Kennel, Incident	Full (trends, exit behaviors, recommendations)
Cat	Basic	Interaction, Enrichment, Observation	Not available
Other	Basic	Interaction, Enrichment, Observation	Not available

Dogs are the primary species with full behavioral intelligence. Cats and Other species are supported for identity, lifecycle, dashboard visibility, and basic activity logging.

Permissions

Role	What You Can Do
Admin	Full access -- add, edit, delete animals; upload photos; import CSV; edit all notes
Staff	Add/edit animals; upload photos; edit all notes; cannot delete or import
Volunteer	View Level 1 dogs only; cannot edit. SH Certified volunteers can also view Special Handling dogs

Handling Levels (Dogs Only)

Every dog is assigned a handling level that determines who can interact with them. This is the primary safety mechanism in Heelr.

Level	Badge Color	Who Can Handle	Description
Level 1	Green	All users	Standard dogs that any volunteer can handle
Special Handling	Blue	SH Certified Volunteers, Staff, Admin	Dogs requiring trained volunteer handling (e.g., orange vest dogs)
Staff Only	Orange	Staff, Admin	Dogs with behavioral challenges requiring staff expertise
Isolation	Red	Staff, Admin	Dogs in isolation requiring restricted access
PPE	Purple	Staff, Admin	Dogs requiring personal protective equipment for handling

When a dog is set to Isolation, it forces a staff-only handling gate regardless of other settings.

note

Cats and Other species do not have handling levels. They are visible to all users.

Dashboard View

On the dashboard, animals appear as cards in a responsive grid sorted by longest wait time. Each dog card shows:

• Circular photo (or placeholder icon) with handling level color ring
• Dog name
• Time since last activity (e.g., "2h ago")
• Handling level badge with color coding
• Handling flags (if any)

Staff and admin see an "Add" button on the dashboard to create new entries, with species-specific labels.

Dog Detail Page

Tapping a dog card opens the detail page, which shows:

• Large photo (or placeholder)
• Edit button (visible to staff/admin)
• Basic Info -- Name, breed, age, sex, weight, color
• Shelter Info -- Kennel number, intake date, handling level, status
• Handling Notes -- Safety and behavior instructions (staff/admin only)
• Medical Notes -- Health and medical information (staff/admin only)
• Behavior Profile -- Adoption matching traits:
  • Good with dogs, kids, men (Yes / No / Unknown)
  • Energy level (Low / Medium / High)
• Handling Flags -- Operational dispatch flags:
  • Reactive, Escape Risk, Resource Guarding, PPE, Needs Care
• Wellness Indicator -- Visual indicator of recent welfare activity frequency
• Behavior Support -- Active/inactive status with plan details (staff/admin only, see Behavior Support)
• Recent Activities -- Activity timeline with behavior trends and exit frequency charts
• "Responds Well To" -- Activity recommendations based on historical exit behavior data
• Log Activity button

Cat & Other Detail Pages

Detail pages for cats and other species show a simplified view:

• Basic info (name, breed, age, sex, color)
• Shelter info (kennel, intake date, status)
• Notes (staff/admin only)
• Recent activities
• No behavior profile, handling flags, behavior support, or intelligence features

Adding an Animal

Staff and admin can add a new animal by tapping the "Add" button on the dashboard. The form includes:

Required:

• Name
• Species (Dog, Cat, or Other -- selected via the dashboard tab)

Optional:

• Breed
• Age (years)
• Sex (Male, Female, Unknown)
• Weight (lbs)
• Color
• Kennel number
• Intake date
• Handling level (dogs only, defaults to Level 1)
• Handling notes (dogs only)
• Medical notes

CSV Import (Admin Only)

Admins can bulk-import animals from a CSV file with Shelterluv header mapping:

1. Navigate to the import page
2. Select the species (Dog or Cat)
3. Upload a CSV file
4. Map CSV columns to Heelr fields
5. Review and confirm the import

Editing an Animal

From the detail page, staff and admin can tap "Edit" to modify any information. The edit form includes all the same fields as the add form, plus:

• Photo upload section with preview
• Photo removal if a photo exists

Note fields are conditionally shown based on your role -- handling notes and medical notes require staff or admin access.

Photo Upload

Staff and admin can upload a photo for each animal:

• Accepted formats: JPEG, PNG, WebP
• Maximum file size: 5 MB
• Crop: Photos are cropped to a 5:2 aspect ratio
• One photo per animal -- Uploading a new photo replaces the old one

Photos help volunteers quickly identify animals in the shelter.

Dog Lifecycle

Dogs can be set to various statuses to reflect their current situation:

• Active -- Currently in the shelter and on the dashboard
• Medical Hold -- Temporarily unavailable due to medical treatment
• Behavior Hold -- Temporarily unavailable due to behavioral assessment
• Adopted -- Removed from the dashboard (preserved in history)
• Transferred -- Moved to another facility
• Deceased / Euthanized -- Terminal status

Dogs in foster are hidden from the dashboard but remain in the system.

All status changes are logged in the audit trail.