Behavior Enrichment Should Be Part of the Comprehensive Animal Care Plan

The possibility of assessing the quality of the welfare that shelters provide for the dogs in their care is equally as important as assessing the population statistics of the shelter. Good health and well-being equally depend on meeting the mental well-being and the behavioral health of the animals. All animals but especially dogs have a wide variety of physical and mental needs to be healthy and happy. Providing for these needs as well as behavioral enrichment while in the shelter setting should be part of the overall animal care plan and should be evaluated. All animals should be housed in a setting that minimizes stress and encourages enrichment activities and socialization while minimizing the spread of disease. The goal of the shelter should be to adopt as many animals as possible and by providing quality welfare can increase the odds an animals is adopted and if adopted not returned to the shelter. I realize that animal welfare is not a one size-fits all for dogs. This would increase the difficulty in assessing the quality of welfare in a shelter. Some dogs need to be caged alone, while others would do better in pairs or in group housing. Exercise should be something that every dog should receive daily. Any animal that is experiencing mental fatigue should be evaluated and appropriately treated. In some cases, the animal could be moved into a foster home and in worse cases it might need to be euthanized if all other options have failed.

I feel overall this would be a positive change for re-evaluating a shelter atmosphere. In the long run a few dogs might be euthanized but the overall mental health of the majority of dogs would be preserved. As far as how the community views the shelter, I feel that this would be a positive move for the shelter. Having enrichments programs, especially those which would allow interactions between possible adopters and pets, would increase adoption rates. The more enrichment activities the happier and healthier the dogs will be and they will develop less compulsive behaviors for being confined without proper exercise. Community members always respond when we make a plea for treats and toys for our animals. They show up to walk dogs and for playtimes. I do see issues with shelter design and layout being a problem when trying to provide enrichment housing and activities for dogs. Some do not have exercise space available. When given the task shelter employees can be creative when identifying enrichment activities for dogs. They want to see animals safe, healthy and happy. I encourage my students to create enrichment activities for our cats. Some ideas work great and other totally flop but it always amazes me at their creativity. It is not uncommon to enter the classroom and four or five students will have cats in their lap or asleep inside the hoodies. We intake many cats labeled as feral but when given a little bit of time and socialization we find they are just scared and needed to get away from the loud shelter environment.