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Research Rough Draft
There are approximately 3.9 million dogs that enter shelters every year according the ASPCA website. Only 35% are adopted. That means that 31% are euthanized. Many of those millions of dogs are thought to be aggressive and not adoptable. (Pet Statistics) This is an unfair assessment as a shelter can be a very stressful place for a dog. Just as people handle stress differently the same goes for dogs. There needs to be more education done to end this needless killing of dogs. Everyone needs to be aware of the issue and how they can help.
Dogs are also euthanized for different reasons. Sometimes dogs that come in can carry diseases. These diseases can spread and dogs with weakened immune systems can get very ill. Because shelter's residents are constantly changing the diseases can spread fast.
Dogs that don't pass the aggression tests toward people are put down. Some shelters don't even give them a chance. Some dogs could be just scared due to their circumstances. If these same dogs were placed into foster home the results would be incredibly different.
Overpopulation is a very frustrating reason for dogs to be euthanized. It is the easiest to fix also but people need to be educated. Puppy mills are a huge cause to this. They are out to make money and treat their dogs very badly. Their dogs are there just to have babies and not allowed to be dogs. Many breeding dogs that make it out of a puppy mill alive have many behavioral and psychological issues.
Overpopulation can also be curved when people are educated to spay and neuter their pets. Puppies are definitely cute but there are dogs out there that need homes. Besides, it is less expensive in the long run to neuter or spay than it would be to raise a litter of puppies for a year. The average size of a litter is 4 - 6 pups. A lot of vets and shelters work together to provide the occasional free spay and neuter clinic for people who can't afford it. There should be no excuse to being able to get it done. If one is for some reason opposed to the idea of neutering or spaying their dogs then please keep them indoors where they can't get loose. A lot of strays that end up at the shelters are dogs with homes that have gotten out and don't have identification.
Behavioral assessments are the key to getting dogs adopted. However the behavioral assessments that are currently done are not practical. The tests vary from one shelter to another. They are done in an environment that the dog is not comfortable in. Even if they have a "quiet" room away from all the ruckus that is going on in the kennels it is still stressful. How long have they been in the "quiet" room? How often have they worked with the shelter worker who is doing the assessment? Some dogs it might take a while for them to warm up.
Study has been done on the behavioral change in a dog from a shelter versus a home environment. Many times dogs that have been food aggressive during their shelter stay have no issues once they are adopted. (Mohan-Gibbons, Weiss, and Slater) In stressful shelter, the dog learns to be overly protective and goes into survival mode. In a home the dog feels more relaxed and knows they are going to get food and won't have to fend off all the barking dogs from the kennels. The more aggressive or timid dogs need to go to a more relaxing environment at a foster home. A dog Behaviorist needs to come train foster homes how to handle the more aggressive dogs. This would be better to give these dogs a chance to prove they can be good companion dogs. Behaviorists need to work with the shelters also. The shelter employees should be able to offer pup parents free training if they want to relinquish their dog to the shelter.
The behavior of a dog in their kennel when adoptees come to visit can determine whether the dogs are adoptable or not. If they are too stressed out and are hiding way in the back of the kennel they are less likely to be adopted. A lot of times what seems like aggression is simply so much anxiety that they are unable to control themselves in certain situations like food aggression. In a kill shelter that just puts them closer to the top of the line for euthanization.
Being able to accurately read the stress level of a dog can determine the dog's future. One way to test the stress level is to check their cortisol levels. However doing so can also add stress on to the dog. In order to check the cortisol levels blood must be taken which can stress the dog out. (Jones, Dowling-Gueyer, Patronek, Marder, D'Arpino, and McCobb) Dogs can tell us a lot about how stressed they are by their body language. This would be the better method however shelter workers need to be educated and updated regularly on the subject. Research has been done on the stress level of new born pups and their mothers. (Heckman) It has been determined that dogs will get a sense of what the world is like from inside the womb. The cortisol levels of the mother can be detected by the pups in the womb. If the mother is stressed then the pups will think the world is a bad place and are born stressed. If the mother is relaxed then the pups will view the world as a loving place. It is critical to place pregnant dogs into a safe and relaxed area for the sake of the pups. Doing so will give the pups a better start out of life. (Heckman)
Dogs are very social with humans. They generally like to please people. A great method to training dogs to be better behaved is to use what is called positive reinforcement. When the dog does well he gets praised. When he does badly he is ignored or told a simple "no." The dog responses to the praise and doesn't like being ignored. The dog will more likely do that what was good to get the praises and attention than to do what caused them to be ignored by their human. The same can happen if the dog does badly and get a huge negative reaction. They will do what they need to get attention from you. Not meaning they want to be yelled at but they are social and need interaction with their human.
A dog's diet can also determine their behavior. Just as if people make bad food choices it can affect health. If the dog's diet is changed to better quality foods the dog's behavior is easier to adjust. Giving the dog a good routine around meal time will benefit them also. Good human interactions will improve a dog's behavior. (Hennessy) By having structure in their lives and a purpose and not chaos the dog's behavior will improve. People who are educated on how to properly train a dog should be in the work of saving more dog's lives.
The longer a dog's stay in a kennel the more likely they were to not be adoptable. (Protopopova, Mehrkam, Boggess, and Wynne) This is usually due to the dog becoming aggressive from the time spent in the kennel. "Occasionally a pet becomes aggressive after spending weeks, months or even years in a cage. This is essentially a reaction to the continued confinement and is usually referred to as 'kennel crazy.'" (Gray)
Millions of dogs are being euthanized and it is the human responsibility to resolve this problem. Dogs tend to be less stress out when they are moved from the chaotic environment of a shelter to that of a quiet foster home. Shelters should offer a training program for anyone who may be interested in becoming a foster home for dogs. If we could get the food aggressive dogs, the frightful dogs that tend to bite out of fear, and dogs that otherwise are not seeming to be adoptable out of the shelters and into foster homes, there would be a great decrease in the number of euthanized dogs.
Works Cited
Gray, Allison. "3 Big Reasons Why Animal Shelters Euthanize Pets" Petful.
Hekman, Jessica. "Stressed-out Even Before Birth?" The Whole Dog Journal 17.11 (2014): 14-15. Web.
Hennessy, Michael B, Victoria L Voith, Travis L Young, Jesse L Hawke, Jason Centrone, Angela L McDowell, Fran Linden, and Gary M Davenport. "Exploring Human Interaction and Diet Effects on the Behavior of Dogs in a Public Animal Shelter" Journal of Applied Animal Welfare Science 5(4) (2002): 253-273. Web.
Jones, Sarah, Seana Dowling-Guyer, Gary J. Patronek, Amy R. Marder, Shiela Sergurson D'Arpino, and Emily McCobb. "Use of Accelerometers to Measure Stress Levels in Shelter Dogs" Journal of Applied Animal Welfare Science 17 (2014): 18-28.
Mohan-Gibbons, Heather, Emily Weiss, and Margaret Slater. "Preliminary Investigation of Food Guarding Behavior in Shelter dogs in the United States" Animals 2 (2012): 331-346. Web.
"Pet Statistics." The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. ASPCA.
Petak, Irena. "Communication Patterns Within a Group of Shelter Dogs and Implications for Their Welfare" Journal of Applied Animal Welfare Science 16 (2013): 118-139.
Protopopova, Alexandra, Lindsy Renee Mehrkam, May Meredith Boggess, and Clive David Lawrence Wynne. "In-Kennel Behavior Predicts Length of Stay in Shelter Dogs" Plos One 9(12) (2014): 1-21.
Research Rough Draft
Dog Killing in Shelters
There are approximately 3.9 million dogs that enter shelters every year according the ASPCA website. Only 35% are adopted. That means that 31% are euthanized. Many of those millions of dogs are thought to be aggressive and not adoptable. (Pet Statistics) This is an unfair assessment as a shelter can be a very stressful place for a dog. Just as people handle stress differently the same goes for dogs. There needs to be more education done to end this needless killing of dogs. Everyone needs to be aware of the issue and how they can help.
Dogs are also euthanized for different reasons. Sometimes dogs that come in can carry diseases. These diseases can spread and dogs with weakened immune systems can get very ill. Because shelter's residents are constantly changing the diseases can spread fast.
Dogs that don't pass the aggression tests toward people are put down. Some shelters don't even give them a chance. Some dogs could be just scared due to their circumstances. If these same dogs were placed into foster home the results would be incredibly different.
Overpopulation is a very frustrating reason for dogs to be euthanized. It is the easiest to fix also but people need to be educated. Puppy mills are a huge cause to this. They are out to make money and treat their dogs very badly. Their dogs are there just to have babies and not allowed to be dogs. Many breeding dogs that make it out of a puppy mill alive have many behavioral and psychological issues.
Overpopulation can also be curved when people are educated to spay and neuter their pets. Puppies are definitely cute but there are dogs out there that need homes. Besides, it is less expensive in the long run to neuter or spay than it would be to raise a litter of puppies for a year. The average size of a litter is 4 - 6 pups. A lot of vets and shelters work together to provide the occasional free spay and neuter clinic for people who can't afford it. There should be no excuse to being able to get it done. If one is for some reason opposed to the idea of neutering or spaying their dogs then please keep them indoors where they can't get loose. A lot of strays that end up at the shelters are dogs with homes that have gotten out and don't have identification.
Behavioral assessments are the key to getting dogs adopted. However the behavioral assessments that are currently done are not practical. The tests vary from one shelter to another. They are done in an environment that the dog is not comfortable in. Even if they have a "quiet" room away from all the ruckus that is going on in the kennels it is still stressful. How long have they been in the "quiet" room? How often have they worked with the shelter worker who is doing the assessment? Some dogs it might take a while for them to warm up.
Study has been done on the behavioral change in a dog from a shelter versus a home environment. Many times dogs that have been food aggressive during their shelter stay have no issues once they are adopted. (Mohan-Gibbons, Weiss, and Slater) In stressful shelter, the dog learns to be overly protective and goes into survival mode. In a home the dog feels more relaxed and knows they are going to get food and won't have to fend off all the barking dogs from the kennels. The more aggressive or timid dogs need to go to a more relaxing environment at a foster home. A dog Behaviorist needs to come train foster homes how to handle the more aggressive dogs. This would be better to give these dogs a chance to prove they can be good companion dogs. Behaviorists need to work with the shelters also. The shelter employees should be able to offer pup parents free training if they want to relinquish their dog to the shelter.
The behavior of a dog in their kennel when adoptees come to visit can determine whether the dogs are adoptable or not. If they are too stressed out and are hiding way in the back of the kennel they are less likely to be adopted. A lot of times what seems like aggression is simply so much anxiety that they are unable to control themselves in certain situations like food aggression. In a kill shelter that just puts them closer to the top of the line for euthanization.
Being able to accurately read the stress level of a dog can determine the dog's future. One way to test the stress level is to check their cortisol levels. However doing so can also add stress on to the dog. In order to check the cortisol levels blood must be taken which can stress the dog out. (Jones, Dowling-Gueyer, Patronek, Marder, D'Arpino, and McCobb) Dogs can tell us a lot about how stressed they are by their body language. This would be the better method however shelter workers need to be educated and updated regularly on the subject. Research has been done on the stress level of new born pups and their mothers. (Heckman) It has been determined that dogs will get a sense of what the world is like from inside the womb. The cortisol levels of the mother can be detected by the pups in the womb. If the mother is stressed then the pups will think the world is a bad place and are born stressed. If the mother is relaxed then the pups will view the world as a loving place. It is critical to place pregnant dogs into a safe and relaxed area for the sake of the pups. Doing so will give the pups a better start out of life. (Heckman)
Dogs are very social with humans. They generally like to please people. A great method to training dogs to be better behaved is to use what is called positive reinforcement. When the dog does well he gets praised. When he does badly he is ignored or told a simple "no." The dog responses to the praise and doesn't like being ignored. The dog will more likely do that what was good to get the praises and attention than to do what caused them to be ignored by their human. The same can happen if the dog does badly and get a huge negative reaction. They will do what they need to get attention from you. Not meaning they want to be yelled at but they are social and need interaction with their human.
A dog's diet can also determine their behavior. Just as if people make bad food choices it can affect health. If the dog's diet is changed to better quality foods the dog's behavior is easier to adjust. Giving the dog a good routine around meal time will benefit them also. Good human interactions will improve a dog's behavior. (Hennessy) By having structure in their lives and a purpose and not chaos the dog's behavior will improve. People who are educated on how to properly train a dog should be in the work of saving more dog's lives.
The longer a dog's stay in a kennel the more likely they were to not be adoptable. (Protopopova, Mehrkam, Boggess, and Wynne) This is usually due to the dog becoming aggressive from the time spent in the kennel. "Occasionally a pet becomes aggressive after spending weeks, months or even years in a cage. This is essentially a reaction to the continued confinement and is usually referred to as 'kennel crazy.'" (Gray)
Millions of dogs are being euthanized and it is the human responsibility to resolve this problem. Dogs tend to be less stress out when they are moved from the chaotic environment of a shelter to that of a quiet foster home. Shelters should offer a training program for anyone who may be interested in becoming a foster home for dogs. If we could get the food aggressive dogs, the frightful dogs that tend to bite out of fear, and dogs that otherwise are not seeming to be adoptable out of the shelters and into foster homes, there would be a great decrease in the number of euthanized dogs.
Works Cited
Gray, Allison. "3 Big Reasons Why Animal Shelters Euthanize Pets" Petful.
Hekman, Jessica. "Stressed-out Even Before Birth?" The Whole Dog Journal 17.11 (2014): 14-15. Web.
Hennessy, Michael B, Victoria L Voith, Travis L Young, Jesse L Hawke, Jason Centrone, Angela L McDowell, Fran Linden, and Gary M Davenport. "Exploring Human Interaction and Diet Effects on the Behavior of Dogs in a Public Animal Shelter" Journal of Applied Animal Welfare Science 5(4) (2002): 253-273. Web.
Jones, Sarah, Seana Dowling-Guyer, Gary J. Patronek, Amy R. Marder, Shiela Sergurson D'Arpino, and Emily McCobb. "Use of Accelerometers to Measure Stress Levels in Shelter Dogs" Journal of Applied Animal Welfare Science 17 (2014): 18-28.
Mohan-Gibbons, Heather, Emily Weiss, and Margaret Slater. "Preliminary Investigation of Food Guarding Behavior in Shelter dogs in the United States" Animals 2 (2012): 331-346. Web.
"Pet Statistics." The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. ASPCA.
Petak, Irena. "Communication Patterns Within a Group of Shelter Dogs and Implications for Their Welfare" Journal of Applied Animal Welfare Science 16 (2013): 118-139.
Protopopova, Alexandra, Lindsy Renee Mehrkam, May Meredith Boggess, and Clive David Lawrence Wynne. "In-Kennel Behavior Predicts Length of Stay in Shelter Dogs" Plos One 9(12) (2014): 1-21.