Animal Care Job Skills Task Cards | Kennels, Feeding + Dog Walking

Animal care shows up on a lot of interest inventories. The real work is cleaning kennels, following feeding charts, closing every latch, and reading an animal that is scared. This set shows students that side of the job, with the words, the steps, and the rules shelters and kennels expect.

This set covers animal care work at a shelter, boarding kennel, or grooming shop: kennels, feeding charts, walks, litter boxes, and baths, plus bite and disease safety. General soft skills are in my Soft Skills Scenario Cards.

What's included:

• Teacher page with three support levels and a 2-week plan

• Job snapshot: jobs, a typical shift, and what supervisors look for

• 16 vocabulary cards and a vocabulary match

• 5 task sequence cards (clean a dog kennel, feed the animals, walk a dog, clean a litter box, bathe a dog) plus a blank card

• Put-it-in-order worksheets for all 5 tasks

• 8 safety rules and a 10-item safe or unsafe sort with "do this instead"

• 12 procedure cards (what is the rule here?) and a procedure planner

• On-the-job checklist for student and supervisor ratings, with an IEP data note

• Answer key and blank cards to write your own

How I use it:

I start with the job snapshot and the vocabulary cards. Then I model each task card and have students practice while a partner reads the steps. A stuffed dog, a leash, and a printed kennel card make the walking and feeding cards easy to act out. The procedure cards work best a few at a time as a warm-up or with role-play. Before a job site visit, students set goals on the checklist, and the supervisor or job coach rates the same skills afterward.

How this set is different from my other job skills resources: my Soft Skills Scenario Cards cover general "what would you do" moments that happen at any job, and my Task Analysis Data Sheets break down everyday routines with data sheets. This set is only about one workplace: its words, its tasks, and its rules. None of the scenario cards or routines are repeated here.

Part of the Job Site Task Card Series: one set per workplace, all in the same layout, so you can mix sites across your caseload and students already know how the cards work when they move to a new site.

Pairs well with:

• Soft Skills Scenario Cards (the soft skills side of any job)

• Task Analysis Data Sheets (laundry and dish routines that shelter aides do every day)

• Following Directions Task Cards (1-, 2-, and 3-step directions)

• Work Schedules + Time Cards (weekend and holiday shifts)

Who it is for: high school special education, transition programs for ages 18 to 21, vocational and CTE classes, job coaches, and work-based learning teams. Grades 9th to 12th and adult transition.

What you download: one printable PDF, 13 pages, US Letter. Answer key included.

Job tasks and rules vary by employer. Use this to prepare students, and always follow the training and rules at the actual job site.

From the author of The Transition Map (Jeremy D. Gooch), available in paperback and Kindle.

Written by Jeremy D. Gooch, a teacher with 20+ years in education. All student names and stories are made up.