Association for Behavior Analysis International

Welfare can be a complex construct to define and measure. Some caretakers approach welfare in a topographical sense that is characterized by implementing certain environmental arrangements that are presumed to improve animal well-being. Alternatively, a functional approach can be taken which involves objective outcome measures. Identifying objective outcome measures comes with its own challenges and it is not always obvious if and how a behavior is related to welfare. We may consider welfare on a continuum that caretakers must consider and make decisions upon regarding what it means to make progress towards greater welfare of the animal. Furthermore, histories of the individual animal and species influence what efforts are required to assess and improve the animal’s well-being. Organizational contingencies may also make it difficult to sufficiently address welfare concerns. This symposium will provide examples of how behavior analysts have contributed to behavior-informed welfare measures in a variety of applied settings. Insight into the challenges of navigating organizational constraints will be discussed, as well as recommendations for collaborating with other professionals towards improved welfare of animals.

Behavior analysts interested in utilizing our science and technology to positively influence the welfare of animals are encouraged to attend.

With improvements in shelter adoptions and reduced volume of animals entering many shelters, some shelters now have the ability to keep animals for longer periods of time until they are adopted. However, with this comes new challenges for keeping dogs behaviorally healthy during their stay at the shelter. This, coupled with most shelters limits on staff and resources, makes finding programs that are easily implemented essential. We will discuss research looking at assessing welfare of dogs in shelters using behavior and two programs that were focused on improving welfare while minimizing the impact on staff time and shelter resources. The two programs are co-housing shelter dogs and brief sleepovers. In the co-housing study, dog-friendly dogs were paired with another dog or kenneled alone and behavior was assessed over a seven-day period. The brief sleepover study evaluated dogs before, during, and after a one- or two-day sleepover with a volunteer foster. We will discuss what impacts those programs had on the behavior and welfare of shelter dogs and where they point for future interventions.

In an animal shelter, welfare ideally includes husbandry, enrichment, behavior assessment and training, as well as finding the right home for the animal. The right home ideally includes families who are motivated to train the pet to be a good family and community member. To further this mission, for animals with special behavioral needs, a pre-adoption behavioral counseling session was required that entailed a discussion of the problem behavior, what assessment had been done, and what training had been effective (or not). The adopter was then instructed in how to carry out the training before they took the animal home, and they reported progress as the animal made the adjustment with its new family. They then came back in in the following month to report as to how the training was going and to ask any questions. Along with other programs, this can be an effective model for adoption of animals with problem behaviors.