Hello,
I work for a non-profit that travels to shelters/rescues/sanctuaries to teach them how to perform assessments off leash, to gain a true read on the dog's behavior - as assessments on leash or through a barrier can give you an inaccurate/unclear read on dog-dog sociability for better or worse. We meet dogs on occasion who are completely non-reactive through a barrier or on-leash, who ended up being completely offensive, at times trying to do serious harm to non-threatening/ideal social helper dogs, once given access. A good predator doesn't warn its prey by yelling and screaming that they're coming for them. They're often calm and stoic, waiting for their opportunity to aggress. Overwhelmingly, we also come across many shelter dogs who display reactivity, primarily stemming from fear, frustration, and anxiety, which understandably causes people to hesitate to give them off-leash access to other dogs. We use muzzles commonly, and provide efficient techniques on muzzling, and other ways to reduce risk, when needed before allowing off-leash access.
We're also not the only "game in town", although our team is well-established and have been doing this work for over a decade with shelter dogs. If our techniques are not preferred for your organization, there are a couple other orgs/trainers doing similar off-leash assessments, to help you get a true picture of a dog's sociability, by gaining access to other dogs where they can communicate naturally with their own species. Thinking about freeze, fight, or flight, dogs may feel pushed to fight or create distance seeking behaviors, i.e. reactivity when they don't have the option to move away freely from dogs they're overwhelmed by/fearful of. Our organization believes firmly that we should not be making calls on dogs, restricting their options to go to rescue/foster/adoption, or even worse making euthanasia calls, based solely on leash or barrier assessments. I know barrier/leash assessments used to be much more of the standard, as they make humans feel more in control, and are an effort to minimize risk. However, we focus on the dog's experience, the way dogs communicate with each other, and how they naturally behave without leashes/barriers/nervous humans muddying the picture.
I also saw Dr. Segurson recently had a wonderful webinar featuring Laurie Lawless and Trish McMillan, focusing on safety protocols breaking up dog fights, to minimize risk/damage to dogs and humans when scuffles break out. Their webinar aligns wonderfully with our organization's protocols. The more we all learn and progress, the more we can support our doggies in getting the best opportunities to get out of the stressful shelter environment.
Wishing y'all the best!
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Melody Perry
Shelter Programming Coordinator
Dogs Playing for Life
NM
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Original Message:
Sent: 03-12-2026 07:04 AM
From: Anonymous Member
Subject: Dog Testing
This message was posted by a user wishing to remain anonymous
Hello! I am a volunteer at both a local city shelter and a foster based rescue and have some questions about how people dog test for dog friendlness. Our local shelter has been determining dog status and making ET decisions based on passing or failing a leashed dog test. They walk the dogs next to each other for a second and then let them meet nose to nose. Our rescue does it differently with a dog trainer and lots of repeat exposure and off leash. I am curious how other shelters or rescues dog test their fosters in a way that sets them up for success? Do you repeat it after a failed attempt or is it a one and done test? Thank you in advance!
#Behavior,TrainingandEnrichment
#EducationandTraining
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