Most shelters test a dog’s behavior a few days after it arrives. At the shelter we studied, the evaluator approaches the kennel, handles the dog’s feet and ears, reaches for its food bowl with a fake hand, and brings in a stranger and another dog. My colleagues and I wanted to know whether those results predicted how long a dog waited to be adopted, so we went through nearly five years of records from the Tompkins County SPCA in Ithaca, New York.
We published the results in 2021. The records covered 975 dogs that were evaluated, released for adoption and kept at the shelter until they went home, from September 2014 to May 2019. Puppies and dogs in foster homes were left out. The average dog was adopted about 20 days after arriving.
Most dogs did fine
Serious problems were rare. On every test, no more than 4.1% of dogs showed behavior the shelter rated as dangerous. The most common flag was a mild one: about a third of dogs ignored the evaluator, or barely greeted her, while she stood still for a minute.
Food guarding and other dogs
Two kinds of behavior predicted a longer wait. Dogs that guarded food severely, lunging at, snapping at or biting the fake hand, stayed about 14 days longer than other dogs, an average of 34 days against about 20. Dogs rated as dangerous when meeting another dog stayed about 15 days longer. Dogs that reacted on seeing another dog at a distance also stayed longer, by about 9 days, though that result fell just short of our statistical cutoff.
Milder versions made no difference. Dogs that stiffened or growled over their food were adopted as quickly as dogs that didn’t guard at all, and the same held for dogs whose reaction to another dog was concerning but not dangerous.
Age also predicted the wait, and sex did not. Seniors (8 and older) stayed about a week longer than adult dogs, and adults about five days longer than dogs under a year old.
Why we think it happens
We think these dogs had fewer interested adopters. Kennel signs, a full account of the evaluation from adoption counselors, and a required meeting with any dogs already in the adopter’s home can each steer people away from a dog that guards food or struggles with other dogs. Our records couldn’t tell us which of those steps weighed most.
Food guarding in a shelter test is also a weak guide to life at home. When adopters from this shelter were surveyed, more than half of the dogs flagged for food guarding did not guard in their new homes. And this was one shelter, so the numbers may differ elsewhere.
If you’re adopting
If a dog you like has a food-guarding note on its kennel, ask what the dog did during the test. A stiffened body or a growl over the bowl did not slow adoptions in our data, and many flagged dogs never guarded at home. Senior dogs waited longest of all.
If your new dog reacts to other dogs, every walk with us is one-on-one, and our concierges include former Canine Behavior Specialists from the Animal Care Centers of NYC. You can read how our dog walking works and book a meet & greet from there.
Source
- McGuire, B., Chan, J., Jean-Baptiste, K., Kok, P., & Rosenbaum, E. (2021). Results of behavioral evaluations predict length of stay for shelter dogs. Animals, 11(11), 3272. Read the paper · doi:10.3390/ani11113272