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Time, Space and Choices: Improving Welfare for Shelter Cats with Dr. Zazie Todd’s Purr

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by K. Holden Svirsky “Cats are jewels,” I told my family after visiting Cat Town in Oakland, California. I felt lit up, like something magical had happened in the hour I’d spent there, kneeling on the floor in the open-space “cat zone,” and later peeking into the special studios of the adoption center. I was eager to see what I’d learned from reading Purr: The Science of Making Your Cat Happy by Zazie Todd, PhD, come to life and practice. While chatting with Cat Town’s program manager, Dilara Göksel Parry, CCBC,… Continued

Scent Work Works for Shelter Dogs

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Using scent work as part of enrichment programs in shelters can improve both welfare and adoption rates for dogs by Rachel Lane You’ve probably heard people say that when you adopt a shelter dog, you adopt problems and bring home headaches—or another version of the same sentiment. I have heard this far too often, and it always makes me sad. Yes, it is true that sometimes dogs in shelters do display behaviors that adopters label as undesirable, but there are also lots of amazing animals waiting for their forever homes.… Continued

Fun Canine Nose Work in the Shelter

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Congratulations to Kristin Laurene! This post won runner up in the 2022 Canine Scent Writing Competition. It is definitely not a news flash to any dog owner that a dog’s sense of smell is its strongest. It is also not surprising to hear about dogs stuck in shelter environments getting bored and unwanted behaviors developing, or further strengthening, due to lack of regular mental stimulation. However, pets in shelter and rescue environments are not the only pets who experience lack of mental stimulation. Three professional detection-dog trainers and handlers realized… Continued

Exotic Animals and Shelter Awareness

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By Lara Joseph   As animal trainers and behavior consultants, our work can appear very appealing to pet owners and those who work with and take care of animals. What we demonstrate in our training is a very important tool we can use to educate the public about how our work is done, its impact on behavior and mental stimulation, and responsibility in animal care. Being an animal trainer and understanding applied behavior analysis, using it, and showing others how to use it is very important to me. My intention… Continued

BARKS Podcast with Dr. Marina Bayeva: How You Can Help the Fundraiser for Ukrainian Animal Shelters

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The Pet Professional Guild (PPG) is supporting an important fundraiser for six animal shelters in Ukraine. In this podcast, we meet the fundraiser creator, Dr. Marina Bayeva, as well as supporting veterinarian Dr. Paula Klek and PPG’s Shelter & Rescue Division Chair K. Holden Svirsky. Find out all about how the funds raised are being used and hear inspiring stories about the animals left behind in Ukraine who are benefiting from your generous support.   Listen to the Podcast with Dr. Marina on your choice of platforms. Or just stay… Continued

Meet the People Behind the Fundraiser for Ukrainian Animal Shelters

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Quick Links: Donate to help animals survive the war in Ukraine. BARKS podcast with Dr. Marina Bayeva: Hear updates on the use of funding and the animals benefiting from your generous support.   Lifelong animal welfare advocate, Dr. Marina Bayeva, began a grassroots campaign to help animals survive the war in Ukraine. On May 4, the Pet Professional Guild (PPG) streamed an informative and inspiring live discussion with Dr. Bayeva, veterinarian Dr. Paula Klek, and members of PPG’s Shelter & Rescue committee. Meet the the people behind the campaign and… Continued

The Many Benefits of Fostering Shelter/Rescue Pets

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Fostering animals gives them a break from the stressful environment that they encounter while in the shelter.     BENEFITS FOR THE ANIMALS AND SHELTERS If you foster an animal, they will have the ability to get away from the continuous noise caused by the other animals there. Even one or two nights in a home has been shown to reduce the stress hormone known as cortisol. The pets will also get the much needed and important human interaction that they wouldn’t receive as often when staying in the shelter. Some… Continued

Thinking Outside the Shelter

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By Melissa Taylor  Like many shelters, my shelter, Friends For Life Animal Shelter in Houston, Texas, relies heavily on volunteers to meet the needs of program animals. In 2019, our volunteers donated 21,046 hours – enough to replace 10 full-time employees. Every day, these generous individuals spend shifts walking dogs, playing with cats, and cleaning kennels, but they also devote much of their time to behavior-related duties. Behavioral services for companion animals can be so resource intensive that shelter administrators may consider in-house behavior programs to be a luxury rather… Continued

Thinking Outside the Shelter

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Behavioral services for companion animals can be so resource intensive that shelter administrators may consider in-house behavior programs to be a luxury rather than a necessity. When shelter leadership does take a chance on starting up a behavior department, minimal funding is often allocated. Our shelter was no exception: Friends For Life’s (FFL) behavior program started out as a department of one. Unsurprisingly, FFL had more behavior cases than one person could handle. The ability of the department to function effectively came to depend on the support of skilled volunteers.… Continued

An Open Letter to Animal Shelters and Rescues

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By the Pet Professional Guild Geek Week 2021 “For the Love of Rescue”: Supporting Shelter and Rescue Continued Professional Development A day does not go by where we, the Pet Professional Guild (PPG) do not see and recognize all the hard work and emotional investment that you and your team put into rescuing, housing, and rehabilitating thousands of pets in need. Often this work is completed on strained budgets over many hours, utilizing hundreds of unskilled volunteers. Given the constraints many rescue organizations find themselves facing, the results and achievements… Continued

Playgroups for Shelter Dogs

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Barrier frustration is a common phenomenon…The barrier prevents the dog from accessing other dogs for normal social rituals, resulting in emotions of frustration that wouldn’t be present if the barrier were not present. Barrier-frustrated dogs often play well with other dogs off-leash. This behavior occurs frequently in many shelters where dogs have limited access to other dogs. Even professionals cannot typically eyeball whether aggressive behavior seen when dogs meet through a fence or when on leashes is “true” aggression or simply frustration. They look the same. Unfortunately, this results in… Continued

From Shelter Dog to Service Dog

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Much of the debate surrounding service animals in public spaces has to do with how well-behaved the animal is and whether the animal is experiencing an undue level of stress. While many behaviors can be trained, some natural ability and inclination for the task expected of them is also required. For example, a 10-lb Chihuahua would not be expected to pull a wheelchair; and a dog uninterested in environmental noises could find it challenging to rouse from a deep sleep to alert a hearing-impaired or deaf person. Read article . 

PPG Summit 2020 Sessions: Please Don’t Stress Me-owt! Feline Stress and Stressors in the Shelter, the Veterinary Clinic, and the Home

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BARKS presents session details from PPG’s 2020 Summit and Workshops in Phoenix, Arizona Session Details: Presenter: Paula Garber Session Title: Please Don’t Stress Me-owt! Feline Stress and Stressors in the Shelter, the Veterinary Clinic, and the Home Session Type: Lecture (1 Hour) The emotional needs of cats are often not addressed as readily as their physical and health needs, typically because feline emotions are not easily recognized or understood. The impact of the physical and social environment on cats’ physical and behavioral health is significant and should not be underestimated. For… Continued

PPG Summit 2020 Sessions: Enrichment in the Shelter – Using Science to Guide Us to the Most Efficacious Practices

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BARKS presents session details from PPG’s 2020 Summit and Workshops in Phoenix, Arizona *Early bird discount available if you register before January 31, 2020! Session Details: Presenter: Dr. Lisa Gunter Session Title: Enrichment in the Shelter – Using Science to Guide Us to the Most Efficacious Practices Session Type: General Session Lecture (1.5 Hours) The use of behavioral interventions designed to improve the welfare of shelter dogs has become much more commonplace today, yet many such interventions have not been empirically tested. Within the literature, animal scientists have explored the use… Continued

PPG Summit 2020 Sessions: Building Stronger Teams for the Shelter

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BARKS presents session details from PPG’s 2020 Summit and Multi-Species Workshop Events in Phoenix, Arizona Session Details: Presenter: Sherry Woodard Session Title: Building Stronger Teams for the Shelter, Community, Rescue, Adoptions, Daily Care and Enrichment Session Type: Lecture (1.5 Hours) In the shelter environment, strong teams are important to expand every aspect of your work with animals and the community. A limited number of staff can only do so much. You can increase your effectiveness by creating teams composed of staff members, community partners and volunteers, so much more can… Continued

March 27, 2019: Newly Published Review Debates Reliability and Validity of Behavior Evaluations for Shelter Dogs

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The new paper, What is the Evidence for Reliability and Validity of Behavior Evaluations for Shelter Dogs? A prequel to “No Better than Flipping a Coin,” presents the following highlights:  Colloquial usage of scientific terms such as “validated” can be misleading. No shelter canine behavior evaluation meets accepted standards as being validated. Published error rates are too high to justify routine use in shelters. Behavior evaluations are heterogeneous and often not comparable with each other. A lack of face validity may explain the high error rate for behavior evaluations. The authors… Continued

From Shelter Dog to Service Dog

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By L. A. Bykowsky and Chere McCoy Six months ago Stella was at the HSVB waiting for that special someone to take her home and love her forever. It so happened that I went in one day looking for a super special dog to be my service dog. Stella and I took one look at each other and knew right away that we were meant to be a team – but there would be hurdles to cross first…I should explain that I am a United States Air Force veteran and my… Continued

September 10, 2018: New Study Discusses Genetic Breed Heritage Testing of Shelter Dogs

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Authors conclude that: “…when we consider the complexity of shelter dog breed heritage and the failure to identify multiple breeds based on visual identification coupled with our inability to predict how these breeds then interact within an individual dog, we believe that focusing resources on communicating the physical and behavioral characteristics of shelter dogs would best support adoption efforts.” Read study.  

“No-Kill” Shelters Are Not Enough

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An article I read recently in the New York Times (online) talked about a downside of a heavy emphasis on no-kill policies at shelters: By focusing on getting dogs and cats into new homes, the shelters might be neglecting the reasons many of those animals are in the shelter in the first place. Many people abandon their pets because they cannot afford to feed them or house them or provide needed veterinary care. I don’t for a minute think that that is the only reason animals end up in shelters, but… Continued

What’s Wrong With No Kill?

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by Pat Miller Those who know me know that I abhor the entire deceptive, unethical, abusive “no-kill” movement. When I first spoke out against no kill at conferences 20-plus years ago, I was greeted by a roomful of puzzled looks and verbal resistance. Today, I get wild applause. Our industry has come to understand how damaging the so-called no-kill movement actually is. Imagine a world where no dog is euthanized for homelessness: more homes than dogs; waiting lists at dog adoption sources; potential adopters anxiously awaiting the next available canine.… Continued

Easing My Dog’s Stress at the Veterinary Clinic

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Let’s start with a show of hands. Who enjoys going to the doctor or dentist’s office? Well, our pets probably feel the same way, so what can we do to help them? In 2016, Zazie Todd, Ph.D. wrote “Canine Stress in the Vet’s Waiting Room” and cited a study identifying the percentage of dogs who experienced stress while at a veterinary clinic. If a dog is not conditioned to enjoy visiting the clinic, it does not surprise me that the couple of visits per year when a dog is handled and restrained by… Continued

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