Maddie’s Insights: What Laboratory Studies May Tell Us About Stress in a Dog Shelter

Maddie's Insights are monthly webcasts with practical tips based on current research to help pets and people.

Join us on September 8, 2022 at 12pm PT for a presentation by Dr. Michael Hennessy, Professor of Psychology, Wright State University and Regina Willen, Founder & Director at HALO K9 Behavior. They will discuss how basic scientific research informs our understanding of the stress dogs undergo in a shelter environment. They will examine immediate effects of entry to a shelter as well as potential long-term consequences. How basic research findings suggest practicable means for reducing or preventing these outcomes will also be considered.

After the webcast, join us on Madde's Pet Forum to continue the discussion and exchange ideas: https://maddies.fund/MIwebcastStress

This webinar will be recorded and has been pre-approved for 1.0 Certified Animal Welfare Administrator continuing education credits by The Association for Animal Welfare Advancement and by the National Animal Care & Control Association.

This webcast is now available to watch on-demand in Maddie's University: https://university.maddiesfund.org/products/maddies-insights-what-laboratory-studies-may-tell-us-about-stress-in-a-dog-shelter

Presenters:
@Michael Hennessy, PhD, Professor of Psychology, Wright State University

Dr. Hennessy is a behavioral neuroscientist with interests in both basic laboratory research on stress and how this research can be applied to reduce the impact of stress on dogs in animal shelters. He is currently Professor of Psychology at Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio. He earned his PhD in experimental psychology at Northern Illinois University and then completed post-doctoral training and served as Research Associate in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University. He subsequently held the position of Research Psychologist at SRI International, and since coming to Wright State, has had stints as a visiting scholar at both the California National Primate Research Center at the University of California, Davis and the Department of Behavioral Biology at the University of Muenster in Muenster, Germany.

Dr. Hennessy’s basic research focuses primarily on how psychological stressors impact neural and hormonal systems, how social factors can enhance or reduce these stress responses, and the lasting impact of stress in early life on later neural and psychological function. His work with dogs is focused entirely on finding means of reducing the stress of shelter housing and its impact on behavior and adoption success.

Dr. Hennessy has served on the American Psychological Association’s Committee on Animal Research and Ethics, which he chaired in 2018. He is past president of the International Society for Developmental Psychobiology and is a member of the editorial board of the journal Developmental Psychobiology. He previously was named outstanding faculty member of the year at Wright State. He has served as a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the California National Primate Research Center and currently serves on the External Scientific Advisory Board of the Waltham foundation. Dr. Hennessy’s basic research has been funded nearly continuously by the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation. His work with dogs has been funded by various sources including the Waltham Foundation, the IAMs company, and the ASPCA. Dr. Hennessy is author of over 140 peer-reviewed journal articles and book chapters.

Regina Willen, Founder and Executive Director, HALO

Regina Willen is a Neuroscience and Physiology Scientist. She is a board-certified applied animal behaviorist (ACAAB) with the Animal Behavior Society (ABS) and is an animal behavior consultant with the International Association of Animal Behavior Consultants (IAABC). She has extensively studied the behavior of shelter dogs in and out of the shelter. She specializes in creating behavior programs that are practical for shelter staff, volunteers, and the busy family.