What does human-canine matchmaking actually look like inside a real animal shelter? Watch this episode on YouTube!

In this behind-the-scenes episode, Stacie King visits Burke County Animal Services in Morganton, North Carolina—the first shelter in the nation to pilot the Human-Canine Alliance app.

Director Kaitlin Settlemyre and Operations Manager Stella Adcock walk us through the before: a chaotic kennel walk where kids cried, dogs barked, and potential adopters left without a dog. Then the after: a matchmaking station, a dedicated kennel tech, and a process so intentional that not a single TH-CA match (20+) has been returned.

In this episode:

• Why Burke County closed their kennels to the public — and what happened next
• How human-canine matchmaking gets integrated into an existing shelter workflow
• The “AI” language problem and why they now say matchmaking instead
• What 1,000 dogs euthanized per day and a 20% return rate have to do with better matches
• The results after 90 days: six matches, zero returns

If you work in animal welfare, rescue, or fostering — or you’re simply curious about what the future of dog adoption looks like — this episode is for you.

Burke County Animal Services
📍 636 Kirksey Drive, Morganton, NC
📱 Follow them: @BurkeCountyAnimalServices on Facebook and Instagram

The Human–Canine Alliance is a patent-pending platform that matches people in need with rescue dogs in need using AI-powered compatibility matching and personalized training prescriptions to improve loneliness and isolation and reduce dog euthanasia.

🌐 Subscribe to The Alliance Insider: JOIN OUR PACK!

This throwback interview with Kassidy King—dog trainer, prison program leader, and rescue advocate—is one of our most popular episodes to date. Once you hear it, you'll understand why.

Kassidy's approach centers on connection over commands, communication over control, and meeting both the dog and the human where they are. She shares how her own dog, Lana, pushed her into training out of necessity—and became her greatest teacher. She talks about the difference between what we want our dogs to be and what they actually are, and why closing that gap changes everything.

She also takes us inside the Pawsitive Change Program—a Marley's Mutts initiative that brings rescue dogs into prison yards and trains incarcerated men to train them. What happens there is exactly what you'd expect when you put the human-canine bond to work on purpose.

This conversation is about dogs. But it's really about people—and what becomes possible when we stop blaming and start connecting.

The Human–Canine Alliance is a patent-pending platform that matches people in need with rescue dogs in need using AI-powered compatibility matching and personalized training prescriptions to improve loneliness and isolation and reduce dog euthanasia.

🌐 Subscribe to The Alliance Insider: JOIN OUR PACK!

Americans spend more on our pets than we spend on beer, the gym, and streaming video—combined. How does the same society justify killing animals due to lack of space...at a rate of nearly 1,000 dogs a day?

Why is it that a rescue animal not lucky enough to be chosen as a pet ends up with so few options that euthanasia becomes the default?

In this episode, Stacie breaks down more real numbers behind America's loneliness epidemic and the science connecting dog ownership to real, measurable outcomes, such as:

• Dog ownership is linked to a 33% lower risk of death after a heart attack for those living alone
• Dog owners are 40% less likely to develop dementia

And the economics don't add up either—40% of the $158 billion pet industry is sustained by adopted rescue animals, yet those same rescues see less than .5% of it.

Plus: an update on The Human-Canine Alliance's live NC pilots, first media coverage, and a real match story showing exactly how this could work in your community.

Join us in disrupting mental health and rescue with solutions that have real impact.

The Human-Canine Alliance in The Morganton Herald.

Resources used in this episode:

• Surgeon General's 2023 Loneliness Advisory (HHS)
• Suicide as 2nd leading cause of death, ages 10–34 (NIMH/CDC WISQARS):
• Dog ownership & survival after cardiac event, 33% (Mubanga et al., 2019, Circulation: CQO):
• Dog ownership & dementia risk (Taniguchi et al., 2023, Preventive Medicine Reports):
• U.S. pet industry (APPA)
• Dogs euthanized annually
• Animal welfare foundation funding (Animal Grantmakers, 2022)
• UK social prescribing outcomes
• Canada social prescribing pilot
• U.S. beer industry (Brewers Association):
• U.S. gym/fitness industry (IBISWorld via Sharp Sheets)
• U.S. streaming video (PwC 2025 Global E&M Outlook via Variety)

The Human–Canine Alliance is a patent-pending platform that matches people in need with rescue dogs in need using AI-powered compatibility matching and personalized training prescriptions to improve loneliness and isolation and reduce dog euthanasia.

🌐 Subscribe to The Alliance Insider: JOIN OUR PACK!