Animal Welfare Professionals

Behavior Evaluations: What do you do Instead?

Hi all! There's been a lot of discussion over the past few years about the questionable validity and repeatability of the formal behavior evaluations that so many of us (myself included!) stuck to for so long.

With that in mind, I am looking to see what everyone is doing nowadays? For those of you who have moved away from formally evaluating every single dog....

• What do staff/volunteers do in terms of observing and recording behavior characteristics?
• What do staff/volunteers do for shelter-wide enrichment?
• If you still do perform some behavior evaluations, how do you decide which dogs to evaluate?
• How has this affected length of stay? Behavior problems post adoption?

Thanks for your input!!

We start out with the assumption that dogs coming into the shelter are just homeless dogs and are probably fine. That's really the key.

My job as the "dog care coordinator" is basically to compile data. Upon surrendering a dog, owners are asked very straightforward questions: "How often does your dog meet other dogs?" "How does your dog feel about strangers?" "Anything else I should know about what kind of home your dog is looking for?" Those three questions are open-ended enough to spark a great conversation about the dog, and generally give us all of the data that we need.

When a dog comes in as a stray, we just have to go based on what we observe while they are in the shelter. Can kennel staff safely move the dog? Do we feel comfortable sending the dog out for a walk with a volunteer? Do I feel comfortable dropping the dog in someone's office and walking away? How do staff and volunteers describe the dog's personality?

We do dog introductions with every single dog that comes through the doors. That is the closest we get to a formal "evaluation." Can I walk this dog out in suburbia without any drama? Does this dog need more socialization? Most importantly, does this dog have solvable problems with other dogs?

Once the dog is with us, our evaluations are just looking to answer the question, "What sort of home is this dog looking for?" Are we looking for an active home? A quiet and boring home? We handle their medical needs immediately to rule out any potential medical causes for behaviors. We give them a bath to discover any touch sensitivities and to bond with them. We have them spend time in an office with a volunteer or staff member. Every step of the way, we just ask whoever is interacting with the dog, "How is he/she doing?"

As far as recording data, someone in the dog behavior department enters a brief summary of any noteworthy behavior notes in a memo in the dog's Petpoint record. This way, we can translate the subjective experiences of volunteers into objective behavior notes.

To actually answer your questions:

Enrichment: We send dogs for a daily walk with volunteers. If the dog needs basic obedience training, staff or volunteers will work on that while the dog is on the adoption floor. Dogs spend time in offices, in play yards, or following kennel staff around as they organize the kitchen. We try to get dogs together in play groups as much as is safe and appropriate.

Our only formal behavior evaluations are when we note something concerning. If a dog is leash reactive, we need to block out some formal evaluation time to determine if it is real intent to cause harm or if it is just fear that can be addressed, managed and/or solved. If a dog cannot be moved out of the kennel in the morning by kennel staff because they do not feel safe moving the dog, we will spend some time working with the dog to see what is going on. (At our shelter, this behavior modification and evaluation work is done only by a certified dog trainer.)

Our average length of stay is around 10 days. Our goal is to get every animal a home, and keeping them in the shelter for evaluation processes does not help reach that goal. We send everyone home with our dog trainers' contact information, and encourage them to reach out with any behavior concerns. Roughly 11% of adoptions require a follow-up training appointment at the shelter. I can't put a number on the amount of e-mails and phonecalls that we make, but it's at a very reasonable level. The recent adoption of the Maddie's Pet Assistant app has further reduced the time that we spend answering the same questions about transitioning a dog into their new home. 

I hope I've begun to answer your question! It's a great conversation that I would love to discuss with other shelters that have done away with outdated and invalidated evaluations as well.

Devan, this is super helpful! Thank you so much for the detailed reply; I really appreciate it!

One more question Devan: Do you have any written docs/protocols associated with your system? If possible, I'd love to see them. Thanks!

We don't have anything set in stone at the moment. I do however have a rough draft of a process outline that I'm happy to send via e-mail. It's still in the very early stages of development, but might provide some context. Anyone interested is welcome to e-mail me at Devan@PetalumaAnimalShelter.org.

That would be great!! I'll shoot you an email now....

Great question! We are currently exploring our options in this arena, too. We currently use the SAFER, but are looking at creating our own protocol to ensure safety without being stuck to an assessment that isn't effective. We don't have a new system yet, but thanks for asking the question here! It's great to know what others are doing.

Such an awesome and important question! I will echo a lot of what Devan discussed, and give the caveat that I'm no longer involved in the daily operations of a shelter, but when I was (and what I still advocate for when consulting with shelters): 

1. If it is an owner turn in, take detailed interview notes-don't leave anything out and rather than asking "how is your dog with other dogs" ask "has your dog ever had an argument with other dogs"-if yes-find out the circumstances and how often this occurred. 

If it is a stray, but found by a member of the public, do a similar interview to the owner surrender interview-frequently they really got to know the dog in the time they had him too!

If the dog is picked up by animal control, take notes regarding the intake process-was the dog easily caught and handled? Was he found with other dogs/animals?

2. Take notes during intake examination and vaccines-this is important handling information!

3. Upon emancipation or isolation completion-take the dog to play groups! (also what we did for enrichment) This helps judge a dog's ability to be with other dogs in the shelter, responsiveness to handling, stimulus control, etc. 

4. Take ongoing notes during feeding, cleaning, etc. Note and flag concerning behaviors and changing behaviors

Then, an awesome adoption counseling program-inform, inform, inform! We only tell people what we know-so "this dog has enjoyed meeting dogs in play groups here" rather than "this is a dog park dog!" as an example.

Collaboration between departments is absolutely critical-communication and support each other through this! 

Emily -- thanks so much for your detailed reply, as well. This is very helpful. I particularly like they way you state facts rather than make inferences (i.e. "has done well in play groups" rather than "will be good at the dog park." Very helpful!

Thank you. I really appreciate everyone's input. 

Our shelter has struggled with this as well. We use petpoint memos to record behavioral observations and concerning behavior. We have both "symptoms" (any staff) and "diagnoses" (vet only) conditions that can be used to flag behaviors for further evaluation (for example, a staff member can add "stressed" as a symptom condition, and put it on review when I am in the next day. I can then add "Situational anxiety" as a diagnosis, put the animal on meds if needed, and put it on review to recheck in 3 days to see how the meds are working. Shelter-wide enrichment includes daily walks/playyard activities by staff for animals on stray and court hold, and daily interaction, walks, and field trips by volunteers for animals that are up for adoption. We do a thorough behavioral eval (used to be Match Up 2 but is now some strange conglomeration of tests...) for all large dogs, most medium dogs, and some small dogs. All dogs are "tested" with other animals. We used to have play groups but had a major staff turnover and that has fallen by the wayside. In my opinion, playgroups are one of the best ways of assessing a dog's personality and overall behavior. We had less behavior problems post adoption when we were using Match-Up 2 by the book, in my opinion. I hope that helps.

Thanks for this important and very timely question.  I don't work daily in one shelter but consult with many, with a highly variable level of resource and expertise available.  I don't know that we have a concrete answer to your question, but I think we are all at least moving to realize that these formal assessments are not black and white, the results are not static, and should not be used alone to make outcome decisions.  I've worked with groups using SAFER, Assess A Pet, and variations of others that they have self-created.  I try to get them to think about what they think they are actually measuring with each subtest and how the information collected during that is helpful to them.  If it isn't helpful or they realize they are measuring something completely different than what they initially thought, then that might not be the best use of time and resources.  Some groups have stopped testing, some have modified their protocols and others continue to use a standardized formal assessment.  It is all about knowing what your organization needs to know when, and recognizing the limitations, right?  This only tells us what this pet is doing right here right now.  I'm in the process of working out a standardized way to collect objective behavior information on pets entering shelters by just documenting what they do while we interact with them in the ways we do everyday to care for them.  I want to know whether this is giving us the same information we think we are measuring with these formal assessments and whether this information is useful for placement and in a home.   

What has been suggested below with recording concerns, assessing the pet medically and emotionally, putting a plan in place and following up with it is the key, regardless of what formal or informal tool you are using to collect information about the pet.  

I look forward to continue following this discussion!

Sara

What a great topic, lots of helpful suggestions and comments here!  I just wanted to echo Dr. Bennett's points - behavior evaluations make work for some organizations but they need to be used with an understanding of their strengths and weaknesses, their contributions and limitations.  We used to think they were a "test" with a right or wrong answer, pass or fail.  Maybe we needed them to be like that, given that we were making life and death decisions.  Now we know a lot more about them and how they are used in actual practice -- and we have come to realize that they are not a test, they are not black and white, so the results should not be used as the sole determinant of adoptability.  I worry that in some cases we are throwing the baby out with the bath water - behavior evaluations may not be the test and golden predictor of behavior that we wanted but when done well and used appropriately, they can still tell us a lot of important info about a dog and where that dog is at the moment.  That said, they are not going to be a good fit for all organizations.  Many organizations might use that time better to capture and review other types of behavioral data.  Like Dr. Bennett said, it's important for organizations to critically evaluate whatever they are using to collect data about and assess behavior, to be sure the tools and techniques used are doing what they are supposed to be doing, to be sure there are reasonable expectations for what is gathered and learned and how to appropriately use that information. And this should be done regularly.  Behavior evaluations are just one tool in the toolbox, which may fit for some orgs and not for others.

I wrote up a new protocol for our shelter. While it is specific to my shelter, I'll put it here in case it could be useful for someone else: 

Attachment(s)

dog-behavior-protocol_Animal Allies HS.pdf   38 KB 1 version

Hi Keri: For some reason, I didn't see this until just now. Amazing!! Thank you so much for the protocol. This is VERY helpful!

I will reference this by stating that while I am not a lawyer, I did teach OSHA compliance and was a Region 9 Federal  OSHA Compliance Trainer for 17 years.    I taught many years about the fines that OSHA gives and why,  about in Arizona, that then it could be criminal from the company, their supervisors, (criminal fines possible jail time if it can be shown, they know about the danger,)  and then civil court (which is brought by the families, fines and jail times)

Understand too, that whether you have all volunteers or paid staff. Federal OSHA requires that all businesses have a safety plan for their employees.  1910.2 makes it clear that OSHA doesn't care whether they are paid or not.  An "employee" legal definition, is anyone doing the business of the Business (paraphrased).  Also understand that there are degrees - which is where the concept of "risk management"enters.  so when you remove "employees" from risk, having the dogs that are not yet behavior determined from a identified risk (bites/scratches/disease/ even barking with hearing loss), removed from any space volunteers/employees could have access/contact  would be rated a very safe practice.  If the "volunteers/employees " chose to got into the space and put them self at risk, the company would not be blames.(An additional plus would be to put this rule in writing which the volunteers/employees would sign that they have read, if they passed a test showing they had to answer a question showing the UNDERSTOOD the safety protocol, that would give a plus, if there was a supervisor that kept control of the area, that would be a ++, if there was a sign put up warning people to not enter, that ould be a +++ and so you see that these are added protections, just like taking vit C, an antibiotic, a honey lemon drink..... for pneumonia, are multiple approaches.

When there is a standardized form to follow, this protects the employee and agency.

When there is a formal training system of knowledge and skills, this is a plus.

When there is protective equipment like bite gloves,  protective pants ...this is plus, plus.

When there are reporting procedures for everyone and review/mitigation (accident prevention) this is plus plus plus and what I mean by this is NOT the order I list these steps in, but the amount of additional Risk management the company gets credit for to the point (at least in Arizona) lawyers, will lawyers have actual said  to the person bitten, "sorry, you don't have much of a case". Especially when OSHA inspects and sees that all reasonable safety protocols were followed and doe not issue a fine that you have to pay or fight, (lawyer fees)

I just wanted to pint out a very critical reason, why businesses need to have these protocols and practices in place.  

You see, I would guess that of the over 500 "non-profit rescues" in the Valley of the Sun Arizona (23 communities +3 reservations) probably a good 85% do not have a safety/disaster plan or even understand about OSHA. Since 1972 Arizona had a very business friendly OSHA until they got slammed by the feds for the wrong focus,, (not giving enough fines). Since about 2005 when we had a MASSIVE Arizona OSHA regime change, Arizona OSHA has gotten alot more...strident about the fines and following up with criminal charges (opening space for civil charges).

I am watching very closely what happens with a volunteer death at a Phoenix doggie resort that opened their doors to struggling rescues, last month.   There is something in OSHA called the "Multi employer citation"  where OSHA says - "I dont care WHO was suppose to be responsible - we are holding you all RESPONSIBLE AND SOME OF YOU MAY BE UNDER MORE THEN ONE CATEGORY! "

OSHA's Multi Employer Instruction letter

We (Arizona/California) are having a multi state disaster drill in May.  About 400,000 Californians are going to "evacuate" to Az from the big earthquake.  If you would like to get in the OSHA webinars and other mettings up can join our Meetup at:

https://www.meetup.com/Animal-Emergency-Response-Arizona/ for activities that will go from March to October 2018.

I hope this adds to the motivation to put these practices in place!

HI CJ,

Really interesting to think about it from your perspective!  So... from a safety standpoint, having protocols, procedures and safety measures in place are a good thing.  But on the other side of the coin, I would think that OSHA would be against performing a test that puts the user at risk, and yet is not scientifically validated as accurate.  Meaning... you'r doing an evaluation that puts you at risk but isn't providing you with highly useful information.

As an example, the fake hand is a great safety tool. But dogs react differently to a fake hand than to a real hand (which has been demonstrated via research).

So, for a middle ground, what about having protocols and safety measures in place around dog and cat handling in general, and evaluate pets via the course of natural interactions... and teach about safety during those interactions?

Thoughts? @Sara Bennett, care to comment? I think its really interesting to think about it from an OSHA standpoint.    

GREAT points. 

OSHA is absolutely black and white.  The General duty clause says (paraphrased)    YOU WILL KEEP YOUR EMPLOYEES SAFE WHILE DOING WORK.

For them, it someone gets hurt, they will come to make sure you were doing enough. (Criteria not discussed here)..  You see, when they come out, you MUST let them in.  (I hope everyone knows that) , Then they will hold a briefing with your safety/supervisory staff, Give you a list of documentation they want to see.  Then go to look at the site of injury, then  interview your witnesses --- ALONE.  YOU will not be able to hear what your staff has to say.   If your staff has a grudge or misstates something, you )leadership) will not be able to defend or correct.  They then review the documentation you have of training, written procedures/protocols, records of other injures and accident prevention. They then leave, and they have up to 6 months to do the citation, during which they are consulting with their supervisions and the gov for possible criminal prosecution. if the write the citation, one it comes to you, you have 2 weeks to fight it or pay it (which generally takes lawyers of you fight) either way, it costs alot of money that no one here has!

Remember that I on only taking about the law and OSHA's position.  What I did for all those years, was translate the lawyer speak that OSHA law is written in, into terms that everyday people or people who spoke English as a second language, could understand.

At the beginning of every class, I would start by explaining this example. 

Picture a BIKE.

Now for years this is how it would turn out.  3/4 of the students wold picture a bicycle, slightly lese then  1/3 would see a motorcycle.   I would generally have an odd one that would pick a tricycle, I as the instructor would pick something different like  a exercise bike.

I would say - ok who is right?  Bicycles (workers)?   Motorcycles (Supervisors) or how about the exercise bike (your instructor who decides if you pass or not <vbg>, or the business who pays you?

So you can see that the more you standardize, document, train, and record, the more ammo you have to show OSHA you did everything possible.  You want them to leave your building FEELING you did everything possible.

All they care about, is the safety of the employee and no matter what we talk about they had been be safe. OSHA wants to see engineering, administration, and more controls

So referring to a bite, start with the hand stick, WEARING bit gloves, then handle the dog with bite gloves and pants with other protocols.  I agree a bite stick doesn't do anything EXCEPT as a first step to showing a dog doesn't bite, then the supervisor/trainer periodically checks that the  employee (volunteer) is keeping face away from dog, and other safety procedure and protocols.. Signs the inspection form and files it away.

To answer your third paragraph, you have to be able to show that the dog is not a risk.  OSHA would argue, all dogs can bite, all cats can scratch, how do you protect your employee from that, period.

One thing we could do as an industry, can do, is to adopt standardized safe protocols and practices like the agency ANSI does. they set standards that OSHA recognizes and in fact even refers to them in the law. Like safety gasses, standards fill a quarter inch 8.5x11 .  Rather then quoting what ANSI says OSHA says by reference ANSI Z-87...  So basically OSHA says, if it meets ANSI standards, it is good enough for OSHA!   https://www.ansi.org/

Hope this clarifies.

So that is what I did  

So interesting! I'm very familiar with OSHA, but its super complicated. Cos there is no way to definitively keep people safe from animals who can be unpredictable. As a veterinary behaviorist, the only dog who is not a risk is a dead dog. The dog's history (if we know it, and in many cases we don't) is much more valuable to me than a stressful, not-real-world, one time test.  So so thought provoking. Thanks for the discussion.   

I think we need to go with what multiple people have suggested in terms of having good training for reading, evaluating and responding to body language/behavior, and a standardized plan in terms of what to evaluate and when.

Sheila

This is way I was paid good money for 17 years, to translate OSHA laws on to english, from lawyer talk that they are written in, <vbg>.  

Now remember that OSHA laws are not just about identifying the hazards and putting engineering, administrative and safe work practices in.   It is also recognizes that once danger is present. what to do.  I will also say that the law starts with the employee  has to get himself safe - NOT run into danger!

We had a situation last spring, where a veterinary clinic personnel, went onto a fire that in their office to resccue their client's dogs. The employee were safe and went INTO danger.  I dont know the status of that because of the fact of the duration of time to show up in the public records of citation.  (OSHA has six months  to issue the fines, then the company has two weeks to respond, then there is dialog with the AZ Industrial Commission. and that is where the lawyers come in if the company has decided to fight the fine..)

I know that in reality, there probably isnt one person on this whole board that would not try to rescue those dogs.

But please understand, that if you did so, you just put your agency at risk for huge fines and the supervisor at risk for jail time, (in Arizona- each state is different).  If we do a webinar, I will show you where a Arizona company fought the courts for 5 years, paid millions in fines, jail time for supervisions and management, and millions to the families through civil court. <in addition to the lawyer fees for 5 years>.

Sheila, those comments are a great start. 

Multiple assessment that are documented have more weight then a one time test.  Many rescues using the same protocol have greater weight the one business. And LASTLY remember that assessment is only part of what OSHA is looking for.  OSHA understands many jobs can become dangerous for the employee when equipment or employees make a mistake or wrong judgment call,  so it is what the Employee DOES when danger is present that OSHA judges as well.  Remember that animals, according to the law, are just property.  OSHA doesn't care about property.  ONLY the safety of the employees is the consideration fpr the laws in OSHA Compliance.

Again, a consideration needs to be given ,which state you live in, to determine how fast your attention to this OSHA discussion needs to be.  I used to joke that the state of Louisiana could barely spell safety, much less enforce it 10 years ago. Nevada OSHA on the other hand, got caught taking bribes and triggered a 50 state audit, results of which turned Arizona from a "business friendly" OSHA into an compliance aggressive OSHA.

Oh I started an OSHA thread in the Laws and regulation group. where I can go into details more then about this one topic, today.

This is indeed a different perspective than perhaps a lot of us have thought about it.  
I don't know much about OSHA other than the very brief little quizzes I've had to take when joining a new practice, so much of this is a bit greek to me. 

My question is:  If we know behavior assessments are not predictive, but we can potentially gain some information regarding risk to staff/ volunteers while the pet is in shelter, would this help or harm from OSHA perspective?

For example, if a dog showed aggression aggression during play and a volunteer took it out, and got injured:  
If we didn't test, and didn't know, therefore had no specific precautions put in place is that better or worse in OSHA's eyes than if we had tested, recognized that this might be a problem and limited the people to appropriate skill level and specific games, but the person still got hurt?

I worry that this type of concern, particularly from a management standpoint, could push putting so many restrictions on dogs based on information we gather that it begins to impact their welfare negatively.  We can't play because he could get too rough.  We can't use treats in case he guards.  We can't walk him on the street because he might aggress to a child walking on the street.  

Am I overthinking this?

My thoughts for a Saturday morning...

Sara

Keri - How many dogs does your shelter intake on a daily basis? I like your protocol but it's unrealistic for my shelter which is very high volume with only one behavior staff (me!). 

We also use shelter buddy but don't currently utilize all of the behavior functions on there. 

Hi Casey! We typically take in 2-5 animals per day, so it definitely isn't high volume. It sounds like you, like us, would need to get people from multiple areas to contribute to keeping a record like this. Since all of the info is entered into the Behavior Assessment portion of Shelterbuddy, anyone can enter info or look at it. The part I think that would be challenging for you (I think) is collecting the individual dog surveys (which are filled out by kennel staff at our shelter) and entering them into Shelterbuddy. What does your shelter currently do for behavior assessments?

We have been using a paper evaluation with several items on it that we created internally which says how they are on leash, how they are with handling, food bowl, etc. The technicians circle either green, yellow, or red behaviors - think just like a stoplight. And then eventually those evals are scanned and sent to my email where we attach it to the individual animal's profile under the documents section. It has worked for us for several years however I just think it's a time suck for them and a waste of time. I would like to explore using shelter buddy more for the behavior information and for the surrendered animal intake information that our client team captures at the point of surrender.

I use the behavior assessment tab and just type in my own notes if a different assessment is requested - like if the techs had trouble working up an animal, if they noticed dog/dog behavior that was concerning, or if there was something observed that needed to be addressed. I know there's an option for a template so I want to explore that as well, just never have!

Currently in addition to that, our shelter has started doing the checkpoint evaluations meaning everyone who comes into contact with a dog is writing down how their interaction went - currently this is only for staff but we will incorporate volunteers soon, since we just are now starting this out. Staff write down if the dog ate, if they were interested in their enrichment item of the day, and if they noticed any behaviors or change in demeanor. 

Our shelter intakes maybe 10 dogs a day as owner surrender and then we also have cruelty cases and stray animal ambulance cases coming in as well. So there's no time to do a full assessment on everyone anyways, which sometimes is the case with our vet techs, which is why i want them to stop doing them all together anyways. But it takes a culture shift and a mentality of pushing animals through with the anticipation that we're going to try to adopt out everyone. And that's not where we're at yet unfortunately. 

I have worked in shelters that have used formally developed behavior evaluation programs and found they are:

More difficult to implement than initially thought;

Results are inconsistent between handlers;

Results can be unreliable since we are evaluating animals in a very stressful situation;

Making life/death decisions based on subjective interpretations of behavior;

May give shelter workers and the community a false sense of security when an animal "passes" whatever process is in place.

For these reasons, we don't use any formal process but rely on input from all staff who have contact with any given pet. We have a rounds team that makes final decisions based on total input. So far, that has worked pretty well for us.

We moved away from 'behavior evaluations' to 'observations' that are tied to staff, veterinarian, volunteer, etc. These are then evaluated periodically by a group that consists of one staff member from each section in the shelter. That group determines whether the track should be adoption, rescue, foster, or whatever. We don't preclude any from adoptions but make sure that there is full disclosure and that potential adopters acknowledge any issues we have identified and sign a hold-harmless agreement to verify we had discussed the issues we have observed. Since what happens in the shelter does not predict what will happen outside we are only strongly concerned with unprovoked aggression and severe bite history.

This is still evolving for us, but we think it is working better than what we did with more formal evaluations since there was too much inconsistency with the old way.

We obtain as much input from staff and volunteers as possible. We have a behavior sheet on each kennel for volunteers to make notes regarding behavior when the dog is being walked or is in training. Staff make notes in our database, chameleon. We have a rounds team comprised of three people, one person from the veterinary clinic, upper level manager, and a Lead Kennel Tech. They make decisions regarding euthanasia after taking into consideration the various input. If they are in strong disagreement, others are brought into the dialogue. So far, this seems to be working pretty well. Sometimes we do get "stuck" on one dog if there are diverging opinions.

Would you mind sharing your form?

At the Animal Rescue League of NH, we've moved away from evaluating every dog.

Though, they don't take that much time, it is overwhelming if you've just done a transport of several dogs and can extend their stay.

Our dog walking volunteers love to email updates to each other, so I've been added to their email chain and collect information with them that way. Staff report behavior information into me and/or make notes on our master dog-walking board to alert other staff and volunteers to different behavior quirks. It is time consuming, but I do make a point to spend time with all the dogs (we usually have anywhere from 6 to 30 dogs at a time) especially those with any potential behavior concerns.

As for shelter wide enrichment, every dog receives kongs in the middle of the day. Any food motivated dog, gets fed their meals in a slow feeder dish. We do have "play dates" for our dogs that enjoy the company of other pups. Our volunteers will set up scent work for some dogs, dogs get to hang out in offices, and we have a MUTT TREK program where dogs can go off site with volunteers just for some time away, and on occasion sleep over.

Typically, the only dogs that we may do behavior evaluations on are our "stray dogs". New Hampshire doesn't have a huge issue with dogs running stray with no one looking for them. It is very rare for a stray dog to not be claimed within 48 hours. Because it is rare for a dog not to be reclaimed it makes us second guess about why no one would be looking for this dog. So we will either do a MATCH UP II behavior eval on them, or they will spend multiple consecutive days in my office, to mirror "living with the dog."

The length of stay has definitely decreased, especially for our young "well-rounded" pups.

The behavior issues we are seeing post adoption are not necessarily behaviors that the evaluation would have caught.

We are fortunate to not have 100s of dogs at any given time, so we can have a pretty close relationship with all of them or at least there is one staff member or volunteer who knows a dog very well, which makes it easier to assess them without any formal evals.  

I have broached this subject with my boss after having attended the AmPA! conference this past month. I really really like the idea of getting away from a formal evaluation, which currently our vet techs do. In our conversation, I was told that our higher up leadership is probably not going to go for that (removing all intake behavior evaluations). I did mention doing the checkpoint evaluations in place of that, and we're currently discussing at least getting rid of the food bowl/assess-a-hand test entirely. 

It's my goal that we start implementing our checkpoint evaluations with all staff, managers, and volunteers so that we can eventually fully do away with vet-tech administered behavior evals. It's just so non-predictive and a waste of their time when they could be taking their time to work up the animal safely. 

We start with a kennel evaluation over five days while the animal is on stray hold.  Staff make notes daily as to how the animal acts in the kennel when approached and then outside of it.  If the animal is an owner surrender, we get a form from the owner with what history they can provide, including behavior issues seen in the home, goods and bads.  When the hold is up or in the case of an owner surrender, when the dog has enough time to acclimate, we have a behavior evaluation that is done.  We use that to inform staff and volunteers of anything that they should be concerned about while in our kennel environment.  We do not make a decision based on this evaluation of if the animal lives or dies.  We do use it to make some training plans for the dog, training collars, etc.  From that point, staff and volunteers make observations and that gets added to the information on the animal.  Frequently, behaviors like resource guarding have proven correct in the kennel environment and we note that. Some behaviors start popping up as an animal is with us longer, and those are noted.  With all of that, we inform potential adopters of our observations at the shelter and make recommendations and suggestions.  We also inform them that many behaviors could be shelter stress induced and they may never see that in the home, or see it to a lower degree.  We do not make any promises about behavior.  We look at the full range of observations dealing with staff/volunteers/visitors at the shelter, the behavior assessment, and then add in any notes from fosters if the animal does a short foster stint. We include as much information as we can to give us a more complete picture than a behavior evaluation could provide. Since we have adopted these methods, our dog bites to volunteers have dropped drastically. We are about 8 months in.  We believe it has increased our safety levels than previously when we went from interactions with staff/volunteers alone.