Our Mission Matters
Who We Are
The Unicorn Foster Squad was created in 2019 by Brittany Fleming as a structured, data driven approach to supporting the most behaviorally complex dogs in sheltering. The program was originally piloted with large breed dogs who had documented behavior needs—dogs often considered “unadoptable” in many systems. These dogs became known as “Unicorns.”
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The early results were significant. Length of stay for participating dogs was reduced by more than half, demonstrating that with the right framework, coaching, and support, high need dogs can succeed in foster homes and move successfully into adoptive placements. Over time, the program continued to evolve and became a proven model for improving outcomes for dogs who traditionally struggle the most.
In 2021, Brittany co created and taught the Unicorn Foster Squad Implementation Bootcamp, which introduced shelters and rescues across the country to the same practices that made the program successful. More than 40 organizations completed the training during its first year.
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For the past three years, Brittany has been teaching and implementing Unicorn programming nationwide through Save the Unicorns, providing both in person and virtual training to shelters, rescues, and municipalities. The program continues to be a leading model for supporting behaviorally complex dogs and increasing lifesaving rates in communities across the country.
What we teach
Transforming Ideas into Reality
I teach a workshop that helps shelters and rescues place their harder to place dogs while improving outcomes for every animal in your care. The training is hands on, practical, and customized to your organization.
During the workshop we talk about how to identify Unicorn candidates, reduce barriers in adoption and foster programs, and evaluate behavior in a way that supports clear decision making. We also look at simple workflow changes that make daily care easier for your staff and volunteers.
Your team will learn how to run safe playgroups, handle dogs confidently, support fosters, communicate with adopters, and build consistent systems that help long stay dogs move. We also work on marketing and photography so your dogs get seen and chosen faster.
The workshop gives your team tools they can start using right away and a structure you can maintain long after the training is over. It is a complete approach to supporting your most challenging dogs while improving flow for your entire population.
Services
A virtual service provides flexible, hour by hour training and behavior guidance for shelter team.
250 US dollars
Behavior and training support for shelter pets, foster families, and adopted animals in St Louis.
100 US dollars
Four day hands on training to increase staff skills and improve behavior practices for shelter pets.
6,000 US dollars
Brittany Fleming of Save the Unicorns was recommended to Bossier City Animal Control (BCAC) by our Best Friends Animal Society senior strategist and we were fortunate enough to be able to hire her using funds from our Rachael Ray Save Them All grant. We had no idea what to expect from Brittany or the Save the Unicorns program prior to her arrival but Brittany was friendly, easy-going, entertaining, and extremely knowledgeable. Brittany taught our staff about things like barrier aggression, adoption barriers, expanding and sustaining our foster program, and enrichment for our animals. She showed us how to identify and differentiate between types of aggression, allowing us to pass that knowledge on to potential adopters, and improving the success rate of our adoptions. She also focused on how removing adoption barriers would help BCAC achieve our goal of becoming No-Kill, as well as demonstrating how enrichment in the form of things like activities, lighting, smells, and play groups would make for more adoptable animals over-all. Brittany was extremely helpful and adapted her instruction to meet the specific needs of our shelter and staff. She obviously spent time preparing before she arrived at the shelter, was a tremendous resource while she was here, and has been proactively available for assistance and follow ups in the year and a half since our training. Thanks in part to Brittany and her program, BCAC achieved official No-Kill status through the Best Friends in June of 2025 and we have maintained our No-Kill status since that time. The staff at BCAC would happily recommend Brittany and the Save the Unicorns program to anyone looking for new and inventive ways to improve functionality and the lives of the animals in their shelter.
Sergeant April Hylbert, Bossier City Animal Control