Are there any animal shelter owners/workers here?

In case you didn't read this last time you asked the question.  This is a good article and it mentions what areas of study you might want to pursue, among other advice.

http://www.petfinder.com/how-to-help-pets/start-animal-shelter.html

I work in an animal shelter as the assistant manager in the adoptions department.  If you are looking to start up a shelter, I would think a degree in something to do with non profits (if that is what you are looking into) or business.  I don't know for sure though.  Our executive director now was a personal trainer for 25 years before he came to us, so who knows what you really need.  All I really know is what I do in adoptions and a bit about the other departments. 

Reading articles and maybe talking to a college class counselor may be helpful.

None at all.  I have to be good with people, know a bunch about dogs and cats, and be able to deal with difficult situations/people.  I have a masters in Elementary Education, but that has nothing to do with this job...except knowing how to deal with children.  ;)  Some of  our customers can be quite difficult.  There are a couple of other people there who have education degrees, but for the most part, people haven't had particular training.  Most of the animal care workers or kennel workers are just out of high school or are in school working toward a degree.  Our shelter consists of a medical department with 2 vets and a bunch of vet techs (they care for all of the shelter animals as well as clinic animals), adoptions, and animal care (they clean the cages, feed, do laundry, etc).  And then we also have the volunteer coordinator and the foster coordinator.  And finally, the administration people who do many things including behavior consulting, raising money, organizing fundraisers, etc.

You can see my shelter here at www.animalrescue.org and on facebook at www.facebook.com/arlwpa .  There you can see some of the staggering numbers of animals we take in yearly. 

Seeing what all goes into building a shelter is a little overwhelming, but watching it become something great is amazing.  My shelter has become even better in the two years since I started there and it continues to get better.  We are not a "no kill" shelter, but an Open Door Shelter.  That means we take in any animal, any time, for any reason.  For that reason, we do have to euthanize, but it also means we can help the most animals possible.  We only euthanize for behavioral or medical reasons.  In the summer months when the cat population is out of control we do have to euthanize sometimes when cats get upper respiratory infections and we run out of space in our sick rooms.  Unfortunately we cannot help them all.  We do work with a feral cat team and they get many of the ferals fixed, vaccinated, and back with their colonies.  As for the dogs, they are never euthanized for time or space reasons - usually only behavioral.  I have worked with a number of animals to make sure they make it to the adoption floor, whether it is a food aggression issue, or a need for a rescue.  We do a lot for as many of the animals as we can.

Based on what I've seen at the 2 rescues I've worked at, I'd say a business and/or marketing background would be really helpful. Ultimately, you need funding to run a shelter and I've watched one of the rescues I volunteered at struggle to make ends meet. The CEO has a heart of gold and quite a bit of experience working with animals but she does not have good business or financial planning skills. Ultimately, that may cause the collapse of the whole organization and it's pretty heartbreaking.

Lots of good input already posted here, but I wanted to second what Cathy posted about having a solid business and marketing background.  Until a shelter has the resources to hire staff (or retain reliable volunteers) who can handle the complexities of financial plans and budgets, finding fundraising and other revenue sources, etc., then the "founders" have to stay on top of such things 110%.  Like Cathy said, someone may have an incredible amount of skill working with animals, but that's not enough for "owning" or "running" a shelter.

Because you're young and have lots of time to build a strong foundation of skills and experiences, I'd suggest that you do as much work in existing shelter and rescue organizations as possible (whether it's as a paid staff member or a volunteer).  I've been a volunteer at my local humane society for several years, and the amount I've learned about animal welfare organizations is amazing . . . and I am STILL learning new things constantly.  And that's without ever doing any animal care volunteer work -- I support the staff with event planning, financial and fundraising issues, etc.  I'd have to volunteer even more hours to learn about hands-on animal care, and unfortunately my paying job limits my free time.   

Spending time helping "behind the scenes" on administrative tasks at a local shelter would give you a great deal of insight into the daily activities.  You might find a certain area of work within a shelter that you'd like to focus on with more education or more experience (it might be direct animal care activities, or maybe it would be community education efforts or customer service and communications, etc.).

It's great that you've identified something you're passionate about at such a young age.  Good luck!

 When I was your age I volunteered at the local HS. I was in charge of bathing and "graduated" to cleaning kennels. I did this each summer my sophomore and junior year. Mostly for my college application and I wanted to be a vet. Long story short, I couldn't deal emotionally. I cared way too much. Good luck!!!!!!!!!!!!!!