Considerable efforts have been made to improve the outcomes for dogs arriving to animal shelters, resulting in substantial increases in the number of dogs adopted and returned to their owners as well as reductions in euthanasia. Over this time, the role of the animal shelter has changed as well, from one of temporary holding to longer lengths of stay as animals with more complex behavioral and medical needs are placed. Thus, we must also evolve the care that we provide to these dogs to adequately meet their welfare needs.
This session will discuss how we can best assess welfare and promising measures found across the scientific literature that can help us better understand dogs’ experiences in the shelter. With these measures in mind, the presenter will describe recent research investigating the effects of housing and social interaction on shelter dog welfare. By identifying meaningful welfare measures, interventions intended to improve the lives of shelter-living dogs can be tested and, when impactful, implemented in animal shelters.
- Identify stressors in the shelter environment that may compromise canine welfare.
- Describe the difficulties inherent in measuring welfare.
- Explain the different physiological, cognitive, behavioral, and health measures that can be used to measure canine welfare in the shelter.
- Summarize how housing and interactions with other dogs may affect shelter dog welfare.
- Develop a plan about how you could measure the welfare of dogs in your animal shelter.
CEUs: PPAB 1, CCPDT (pending), IAABC (pending), KPA (pending)
About Your Presenter
Lisa Gunter Ph.D MA CBCC-KA is the Maddie’s Fund Research Fellow at Arizona State University in the Department of Psychology and conducts her research in the Canine Science Collaboratory. She currently leads the Maddie’s Fund Nationwide Fostering Study. The goal of Dr. Gunter’s research is to better the lives of dogs and, to this aim, she has investigated the breed labeling of shelter dogs, their breed heritage, post-adoption interventions focused on owner retention, various types of fostering, enrichment, and behavioral indicators of welfare for kenneled dogs. She has published her research in scientific journals, presented her findings at numerous conferences, and received national and international media attention for her work.
Prior to her graduate school, she worked as a behavior consultant and trainer in San Francisco where she taught group classes and consulted with owners experiencing issues of fear, anxiety, and aggression with their dogs. Her interest in canine behavior began in 2002 as an animal shelter volunteer, training dogs in basic skills and assisting in shelter dog playgroups. That interest grew into a career where she managed the behavior programs of several shelters throughout the West. During graduate school, Dr. Gunter co-founded Wagfield Academy, an online dog training and behavior resource for owners, and the Institute for Shelter Dogs with Dr. Erica Feuerbacher, where they combine the latest in shelter research with the current best practices in workshops and consultations for staff and volunteers.
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