FEATURE | OBEDIENCE VS. STRESS RELIEF
Kiwi before on Nov. 17, 2017, with fearful expression.
Kiwi after on Dec. 13, 2017 with bright expression that helped her get noticed and adopted.
Hand targeting.
Starving dogs A couple of seriously starved puppies came into the shelter one day that had been abandoned by their owner when the owner moved. One had been so hungry, she had eaten plastic. These puppies understandably ate very fast, so I obtained some slow feeders for them. Our first priority was to meet their physiological needs, while helping them learn to eat more slowly. Once their basic nutritional needs were met, we began socializing the puppies to other dogs as well as people. They both gained weight and confidence and were adopted.
Using obstacles for physical and mental stimulation At one shelter where I volunteered, there was a homemade agility course. Linus, as he was named, came in starved and anxious. As he began to put on weight, he became increasingly enthusiastic about our training sessions. I taught him some basic obedience skills, and how to safely navigate the agility course. He was too weak at first to easily traverse even the shortest jumps, but with great care I used the course to help him develop strength, and in a matter of weeks he became an agility enthusiast, even showing off his skills to potential adopters! I had taught him“ on” and“ off” using the pause table, and this is what he showed off for his adopters.
Creativity is an asset when working with dogs in shelters. Linus was reluctant to lie down until I used an old chain link gate I found propped up in the back yard of the shelter to make a game of it. I propped the gate up against the pause table to create a sort of tunnel for Linus to crawl under. My idea was to teach him the feel of lying on his abdomen. I tossed treats through the chain link to coax him to crawl forward under the barrier. In no time, he was crawling enthusiastically through the makeshift tunnel. He loved that game and wanted to play it every time I went to the shelter. From this exercise, he learned to lie down on cue. He also got a bit of physical as well as mental exercise in the process.
Click and treat for quiet Dogs in shelters experience an overload of noxious stimuli, such as noise, while also experiencing sensory deprivation, such as human interaction and walks for sniffing. Shelter employees and volunteers, as well as the dogs, are subjected to the stress of a shelter environment, which includes the noise level. They may respond in ways that are less than ideal for dealing with the noise, further raising the stress level of all. One positive solution is the Through A Dog’ s Ear Shelter / Rescue program that provides free clinically tested classical piano music to animal advocacy groups such as animal shelters and dog rescues. The only cost is a $ 5 shipping fee.
At one of the shelters where I am currently volunteering, I have taught my young apprentice to click for quiet. This is a very simple skill that can be taught to volunteers and shelter staff. Just go down the row of kennels and click at each run if the dog is not barking. Follow each click with a treat and move to the next kennel. It doesn’ t take the dogs very long at all to figure out how this works. When I’ m working with a dog in the play yard adjacent to the kennels, I stop periodically to give the dog I’ m working with a break, and walk down the row of kennels, clicking and then treating for quiet at each run before moving to the next dog.
Though conditioning quiet behavior with a click and treat is desirable, Protopopova & Wynne( 2015) were able to demonstrate that response-independent treat delivery in which an auditory stimulus( bell ringing) was paired with food, can increase undesired behavior, such as pacing, staying at the back of the kennel, leaning on the kennel walls, and barking. This means that shelter staff and volunteers can easily implement this simple technique for modifying behavior in the shelter environment to help dogs become more adoptable.
Conclusion Dogs in shelters are subjected to constant stress due to their unnatural confinement, social isolation, a lack of exercise and
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