Animal Welfare Professionals

Does anyone have an in kennel enrichment plan for human aggressive dogs that must be held in the shelter for long periods of time due to dog bites? 

Yes!! This is my favorite part of my job. We regularly have anywhere from 1-6 (sometimes up to 12!) dogs we can't take out of their kennels, and they can be with us for months. We do sessions with them called "thru-kennel clicker training," where we work on kind of whatever the dog is feeling for the day. Sometimes it's just drive-by treats, other times it is working on cues like "watch me," sit/down/spin, etc. Lots of shaping behavior! I even was working on teaching one to jump through a hoop, though we never got past him tugging the hoop into the kennel ... :)

Even day-to-day it's different depending on the dog, how they're feeling that day, etc. Our goal is just to keep them comfortable, engaged, active, and as best of a QOL as we can provide given the circumstances. I was really lucky to learn about protected contact cooperative care with some folks from the zoo, so I try to teach them things like "up" as well so we can look at paws, bellies, groin areas. We use large target sticks as well. It also helps build a relationship with specific people so if we do ever need to take them out for weights/exams, it's a little easier. 

For enrichment, they get the same 3x daily enrichment as additional enrichment (prey scent, food, calming scent) like busy boxes/bowls, feeding on trays so it's not so easy, and really anything else we feel like giving out that day. In a bittersweet way, we do get to know these dogs very well so we get to know what they like and don't like. I'm also working on a more formal enrichment activity book for them that I'd be more than happy to share when it's done!

Did you read file uploaded Nov 10, 2021?

https://forum.maddiesfund.org/HigherLogic/System/DownloadDocumentFile.ashx?DocumentFileKey=6ebc59fa-e365-5121-046e-2c13dab554f2&forceDialog=0

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rosann ]Boston Terrier Rescue of Florida
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