Animal Welfare Professionals

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Hello knowledge hive,

The shelter where I volunteer is going to implement a two-hour quiet time during the day for dogs, in an effort to lessen the amount of arousal and subsequent noise. This will only mean that the dogs will not get walked.  There is on average anywhere from 90-120 (sometimes more). The shelter will remain open and other activities will still continue such as kennel or med staff coming through, people walking by and dogs being pulled for a meet-and-greet with a potential adopter. It will mean that fewer dogs get out for walks because the window to do so will be smaller. My worry is that it could increase anxiety w/o the outdoor time. The kennels are pretty small and when capacity is tight, dogs have to be half-kenneled.

Have any of your shelters implemented a 'quiet time' policy? What has worked and/or not worked? What considerations need to go into this to make it be effective in achieving what it is trying to achieve?  Thank you!

#Behavior,TrainingandEnrichment

I share your feelings. Happily, the shelter I volunteer with does not enforce a designated quiet time. Our building is shut down, locked up, lights out from 17:00 to 07:00 every day. All staff and volunteers leave for the day. And, sometimes on holidays and weekends it locks down much earlier. A lot of the dogs are not getting out of kennel more than 10 minutes a day at a minimum of 2 times a day, and that's just for a potty break and doesn't include any enrichment. We don't have enough visitors and potential adopters passing through to really create distress for the dogs. l I know this topic has support on both sides, and I've seen one research article that supports it, although; it wasn't strong enough to convince me. I can't understand how more isolation is helpful for the dogs?? I've also visited a rehabilitation center for fearful dogs that does a shut down for one hour. They call it Zen time. I could live with that, if required to. I hope to read more on this topic here.

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Robert Lucas
Retired/Volunteer
APS of Durham
NC
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Hello! We implement a "zen time" which is 1 hour (1-2pm) for dogs and (3-4pm) for cats. We have it so only certain personnel can come in. We can pull dogs for behavior or medical reasons and visits but that's it. No walks, much cleaning, enrichment and we put on calming music. I will say in the times I've walked in during that time, it is very quiet in the kennels. As I'm on the behavior team, if it's not imperative in that moment, I will wait until zen time is over. 

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Nicole Marine
Behavior Technician
HSPPR
CO
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There's some research that supports implementation of a mid-day "quiet time" in a shelter to allow dogs to rest and have a break from the stress of shelter traffic. Of course, there's also research showing the benefits of dog play groups, dog walks, and other activities that can't be done during a quiet time. I think the question is really whether the benefits outweighs the costs, and that will vary.

The most important consideration when implementing any change like this is to evaluate results and adapt as needed. The shelter may have metrics they're trying to improve - noise levels, length-of-stay, bite incidents. Hopefully they have a system for collecting feedback and making adjustments. That may be weekly staff meetings or something else. If you have any observations you think would be helpful for them to consider as things move forward, pass them along to the appropriate staff person. 

Ideally, a shelter would have the capacity to track how each dog is doing behaviorally and make adjustments as needed: increase walks and play groups for a frustrated dog, move a more overwhelmed dog to a quieter kennel and provide more quiet time, move dogs out to foster where needed and possible. That doesn't apply for many shelters; they may need to take more broad approaches based on what they believe will help the majority of the population. 

I think it's worth seeing how this plays out. The results may surprise you. And if it goes the other way and the dogs end up more stressed and frustrated, shelter leadership will most likely see that and adjust course. The fact that they are making major operational adjustments to reduce shelter stress indicates that they are invested in helping the dogs feel better. They have almost certainly put a great deal of thought into this decision, balancing the same concerns you have. 

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Karen Green, CAWA
Consultant
Ask Karen Green
askkarengreen@gmail.com
askkarengreen.com
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Hello!

I want to share a positive quiet time experience. My shelter started implementing a "quiet hour" from 10-11am at the start of this year. We've been able to fit it into the morning schedule so it does not significantly impact potential out of kennel time. Our morning schedule is as follows:

7am-8am: all dogs get walked

8am-9:30: all kennels cleaned

9:30am-10am: all dogs fed

10-11am: quiet hour. Limit staff/volunteers walking through dog kennels. No dogs being taken out of kennels during this hour

11am: open for adoptions

When I do walk through the kennels during quiet hour, most dogs are sleeping and the rooms are very quiet and chill. We scheduled quiet hour to specifically be after the loud and stressful morning cleaning and after each dog has had a potty break and had their breakfast. It's also scheduled to not impact adoptions. We've noticed that the kennel rooms are overall much calmer when we open to the public and the dogs "present themselves" better to the public once they've had a break from the high stress morning operations.  Walks, meet and greets, and play groups resume once quiet hour is over

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Jeannie Lambert
Animal Care Manager
Humane Society of Utah
UT
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We've considered doing this in the past but never implemented it. We don't take potential adopters into our dog kennels partly because the dogs don't show well there. I think a lot depends on the size and structure of your kennel building. Ours is a large metal building with high ceilings. Most kennels are 16ft. long with center dividers. I find the noise very annoying in general. I'm not sure a quiet time could work although things do slow down during the heat of the summer days. It would also be impacted by the time it takes to clean which of course is dependent on the number of dogs vs number of kennel aides. Volunteers are encouraged to wait until kennels are cleaned before arriving to work with the dogs but during high heat periods that requirement is relaxed. I think it's a lovely idea but not practical for every situation.

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Janet Ferguson
Volunteer coordinator
Pals Haven
CA
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Original Message:
Sent: 06-05-2026 10:32 AM
From: Jeannie Lambert
Subject: Quiet time in the shelter - does it work?

Hello!

I want to share a positive quiet time experience. My shelter started implementing a "quiet hour" from 10-11am at the start of this year. We've been able to fit it into the morning schedule so it does not significantly impact potential out of kennel time. Our morning schedule is as follows:

7am-8am: all dogs get walked

8am-9:30: all kennels cleaned

9:30am-10am: all dogs fed

10-11am: quiet hour. Limit staff/volunteers walking through dog kennels. No dogs being taken out of kennels during this hour

11am: open for adoptions

When I do walk through the kennels during quiet hour, most dogs are sleeping and the rooms are very quiet and chill. We scheduled quiet hour to specifically be after the loud and stressful morning cleaning and after each dog has had a potty break and had their breakfast. It's also scheduled to not impact adoptions. We've noticed that the kennel rooms are overall much calmer when we open to the public and the dogs "present themselves" better to the public once they've had a break from the high stress morning operations.  Walks, meet and greets, and play groups resume once quiet hour is over

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Jeannie Lambert
Animal Care Manager
Humane Society of Utah
UT
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