Behavioral Programs in the Shelter: Out of Kennel Training Alexandra (Sasha) Protopopova, MS, PhD, CPDT-KA Texas Tech University Annual Conference & Trade Show Dallas, TX

Learning Outcomes 1. Summarize previous research on out of kennel training 2. Identify the challenges in this research 3. Recognize several out-of-kennel behaviors that improve adoption 4. Conduct a validated behavioral program at the shelter

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Choice while at the shelter In-kennel selection

Out-of-kennel selection

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Luescher & Medlock, 2009 Control (n = 88) Experimental (n = 92) Gentle Leader No-pulling Sit on command No jumping on approaching person outside of the kennel

Trainer gave treats to non-barking dogs Staff gave treats

Percentage of Dogs

20 min outside training sessions 100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0%

Euthanized Adopted

Trained

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Control

Social Behavior Training increased adoption rates (Luescher & Medlock, 2009) Sociability most important factor (Sternberg, 2003) Gazing as a social behavior (Miklosi et al., 2000) Can be placed under operant control (Bentosela et al., 2008)

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Experimental Design Training Group n= 60

Adoptable dogs

Feeding Group n= 60 Control Group n= 60

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Adoption

Outcome

Rescue

Euthanasia

Improvements on Methodology Staff and volunteers are blind to dogs’ group placement Feeding Group Controls for simply taking dogs out of kennel and feeding them

Trained for generalization Alternated trainers Relevant location

Video analysis Validating training Annual Conference & Trade Show Dallas, TX

Acquisition Data

Percent of looks over 2.5 s

Feeding

Training

100 80 60 40 20 0 Day 1

Day 7

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Day 1

Day 7

Social Training-No Effect on Adoption Rate 0.8 Proportion of dogs

0.7 0.6 0.5

Control

0.4

Feeding

0.3

Training

0.2

0.1 0.0 Adopted

Euthanized

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Rescued

Dog training in the shelter Is it possible to increase adoption through training? Obedience training improved adoption Luescher & Medlock, 2009

Social training did not improve adoption Protopopova et al., 2012

Deductive versus inductive approach Inductive: observation theory

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A different point of view Animal welfare perspective DOG CENTERED APPROACH

Consumer choice perspective HUMAN CENTERED APPROACH

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Human centered approach Kinds of questions: What do people want in dogs? How can we “sell” our product? Shelter versus pet store

Ensuring a quality product Return rates

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“Hidden” agenda Decreasing euthanasia rates/ long stays at the shelter

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What do consumers want? Not straight forward! What is choice? Entering your shelter, looking longer at dog, taking dog out of kennel, adoption, keeping the current dog How do we measure choice? 1. Retrospective studies 2. Surveys 3. Observational methods 4. Experimental designs

Does everyone want the same kind of dog?

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How about out-of-kennel selection? Survey (Weiss et al., 2012) What did the dogs do right before adoption? ANSWER: Approached and greeted Licked Jumped on them Wagged their tails

What about observational research? Annual Conference & Trade Show Dallas, TX

Out-of-Kennel Selection We observed 250 interactions between potential adopters and shelter dogs Aims: 1. Can we find behaviors that increase likelihood of adoption? 2. Can we find behaviors that impede adoption? 3. Are there other non-behavioral variables that are important?

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Methods Alachua County Animal Services 250 interactions 151 different dogs and 154 potential adoptive families

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Data collection Followed potential adopter Filmed entire interaction until adoption/ nonadoption decision reached Video coded on ethogram 25% double coded

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Behavior Accepting Petting Rejecting Petting Human Toy Play

Operational Definition Dog does not walk away when person touches or strokes dog Dog walks or darts away when person reaches for dog Dog engages with toy that is held by person or runs towards the toy when it is thrown and brings back to person

Ignoring Play Initiation Independent Toy Play Human Play

Dog walks away or otherwise ignores initiation of play by person (through toy or body) Dog engages with toy away from the person

Attending To Person

Dog is facing person, looking in direction of the person. Proximity is not necessary

Accepting Food Rejecting Food Obeying Command

Dog ingests food when given or thrown by person Dog ignores food when given or thrown by person Dog complies with a command (i.e. sit, down, shake, get off, stop it, give, come here, etc.) Dog does not comply with command

Dog engages with playing person by play bowing, barking, light mouthing, jumping. No toy involved

Disobeying Command Lie In Proximity Dog is lying down within an arm’s reach (~1 m) Sit In Proximity Dog is sitting within an arm’s reach (~1 m) Mouthing Person Dog places teeth on person Annual Conference & Trade Show Jump On Person Dog places both front feet on person simultaneously and somewhat forcefully Dallas, TX

Some descriptive stats 35% of interactions ended in adoption 62% of dogs taken out only once People like different dogs/adopt dogs that they like right away 1 dog taken out SEVEN times! (Pretty but badly behaved?)

Average duration of interaction: 7.9 minutes (no difference in adoption/ non-adoption) Annual Conference & Trade Show Dallas, TX

What predicts adoption?

Percent of dogs in each outcome category

Morphology? NO

40

Presumably, people already made their decision based on morphology during in-kennel 70 selection 70

35

60

60

30

50

50

25

40

40

20

30

30

20

20

10

10

0

0

15 10 5 0

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Not adopted Adopted

What predicts adoption? Location of interaction? YES BEST

Percent dogs in the outcome category

80 70 60 50 40

Not adopted

30

Adopted

20 10 0 Indoor room

Small outdoor

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Large outdoor

What predicts adoption? Percent of dogs in the outcome category

Intention to adopt a dog in general? YES 100 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0

Not adopted

Adopted

No intention

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Intention

What predicts adoption? Dog’s behavior? YES 5.0%

Ignoring Play Initiation

4.5% Percent time spent

4.0% 3.5%

8.0% 7.0% 6.0%

3.0%

5.0%

2.5%

4.0%

2.0%

3.0%

1.5%

1.0%

2.0%

0.5%

1.0%

0.0%

0.0%

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Lying in Proximity

Not adopted

Adopted

Who were the potential adopters? Female (58%) Young (37% under 25 yrs) Lived with more than 2 other people (54%) Did not have children (54%) Already had other pets (58%)

No demographic category was more likely to adopt

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Survey results- Why did you choose to adopt this dog?

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Survey results- Why did you choose to NOT adopt this dog?

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Summary: How do people chose dogs at shelters? Out-of-kennel selection (8 min) Behavior: Lie down in proximity, don’t ignore play signals from adopter Location: smaller is better Mindset of adopter: needs to be willing to take the dog home today!

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So how do we use this information? Train dogs on appropriate out-of-kennel behavior Lay down next to adopter Play with adopter

Arrange appropriate conditions Take adopter to smaller interaction area

HOWEVER…. Correlation ≠ Causation! Annual Conference & Trade Show Dallas, TX

But what about out-of-kennel behavior? Target behavior Lie down next to potential adopter Don’t ignore play initiation by the adopter

EASY ENOUGH…

MY SOLUTION: Ask the dog what kind of play it prefers (individual preference assessment of play) Encourage the potential adopter to engage with the dog in preferred play style

Measure likelihood of adoption Annual Conference & Trade Show Dallas, TX

Validating Preference Assessment N = 20 Present toys consecutively in a random order If dog engages in oral contact with toy, the experimenter offers a treat to get the toy back The number of contacts for each toy is counted (proportion)

Tennis ball

Fleece rope

Squeaky vinyl toy

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Plush toy

Naturalistic observations Played with dog twice per week for 3 weeks Total of 6 observations

8 min observations Each toy for 1 min, twice If dog engages in oral contact with toy, the experimenter offers a treat to get the toy back The number of contacts for each toy is counted (proportion)

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Validating Preference Assessment

Proportion of trials played

Play in the assessment predicted play with that toy in naturalistic observations Examples:

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BPA predicts play in general in naturalistic observations Proportion of All Play in the Brief Assessment

Pearson correlation of all play

1

R² = 0.8381 p < .05

0.8 0.6 0.4 0.2

0 0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

1

Proportion of All Play in the Naturalistic Observations

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BPA predicts play in general in naturalistic observations across time Proportion of play

1 0.8 0.6

0.4 0.2 0

1

2 Ball

3 4 Validity Test Squeky

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Rope

5 Plush

6

Brief Play Assessments Validity Assessment predicts play in general play with individual toys predicts no play

Play is stable across time

Reliability All assessments were videotaped and coded by an additional observer 95.4% IOA

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Structured Adopter-Dog Interactions 281 dogs enrolled

Experimental condition Play preference assessment Lying down assessment

Control condition

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Cost-efficient Play Preference Assessment Take dog out of the kennel Keep on leash Present toy 3 times while the dog is on the leash Order of toys not random

If dog takes the toy, give or toss a treat to the dog Play in at least 2/3 of the trials

First “winner” ends assessment

Tennis ball

Fleece rope

Squeaky vinyl toy

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Plush toy

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Experimental Assessment 160 potential adopter-dog interactions

Experimental condition Small interaction area Step 1: allow the dog to potty Step 2: play with preferred toy

Step 3: leash the dog and sit on bench Short leash next to adopter Reinforce laying down with treats

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Experimental Assessment 160 potential adopter-dog interactions

Control condition Off-leash in a large area containing various toys and agility equipment Annual Conference & Trade Show Dallas, TX

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Questionnaire

Was interaction intrusive?

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Percentage of Time Engaging in Behavior

Structured Adopter-Dog Interactions 12%

*

10% 8% 6%

Condition:

*

Control

4% 2%

0%

Ignoring Play Independent Annual ConferenceInitiation & Trade ShowToy Play Dallas, TX

*

Lying in Proximity

Morphology did not predict adoption

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Structured Adopter-Dog Interactions χ2= 4.22, p = 0.03 Experimental

Control

23% 39% 61%

77% Adopted

Not Adopted

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Questionnaire 5 4

3 2 1 0 I was I was restricted Volunteer was I was I didn't get a full I was able to comfortable in interacting intrusive comfortable understanding evaluate the interacting with with dog with volunteer of the dog dog on my own dog terms

Control

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Experimental

Duration of interaction Does not take more time away from staff

14 12 Minutes

10 8 6 4 2 0 Control

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Experimental

Other interesting findings 281 dogs enrolled in study 38% wanted to play with toys 20% with tennis ball 7% with rope 3% with squeaky toy 8% with plush toy

16.5% were able to be lured into the down position

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Side note: How does play at the shelter compare to play at the house? Shelter: 38% of dogs enjoyed playing with toys Even if the dogs played, they only engaged in active play for a third of the available time Pet homes (Rooney et al., 2001)

Most common play signals Pat the floor (38%) Whisper vocalization (56%)

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Structured Adopter Dog Interaction Gives shelter dogs a voice Preference assessment of play

Improves behavior outside of the kennel Sociability/ calmness/attentiveness Increases social play with potential adopter Increases time spent laying down in proximity

Not perceived as intrusive Not more time-consuming for staff

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What should you do? Know which toys individual dogs like Do they like playing in general?

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Sample Data Sheet • If 3/3, end • If 2/3 continue • Cheapest wins • If 1/3 highest • No toy preferred

Trial Ball

Ball Ball Rope Rope Rope

Squeaky Squeaky Squeaky Plush Plush Plush

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Success (Y/N)

What should you do? Toss treats into kennels Occasionally be boring to your dogs (read to them) Structure interactions with potential adopters Bring treats and leash Smaller enclosure area Bring preferred toy Encourage lying down

Take data! Annual Conference & Trade Show Dallas, TX

Summary: How do people chose dogs at shelters? In-kennel selection (20-70 sec) Morphology is important! Size, breed, and age matters Behavior: Front of kennel, facing front, no excessive locomotion No feces in kennel

Out-of-kennel selection (8 min) Behavior: Lie down in proximity, don’t ignore play signals from adopter Location: smaller is better Mindset of adopter: needs to be willing to take the dog home today! Putting it all together: assessing a multifaceted approach

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Human centered approach Kinds of questions: What do people want in dogs? How can we “sell” our product? Shelter versus pet store

Ensuring a quality product Return rates

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Thank you! Funding Morris Animal Foundation, Merial, Maddie’s Shelter Medicine Program, Humane Society Veterinary Medical Association

Co-authors Hagar Hauser, Maria Brandifino, Amanda Gilmour, Jacqueline Shen, Rebecca Weis, Clive Wynne, Lindsay Mehrkam

Undergraduate research assistants Rachel Bradley, Caroline Leibrecht, Courtney Alexander, Kissel Goldman, Devin Caballero, Austin Folger, Jessica Vondran, Monica Perdomo, Nancy Ordax, Steph Junco, Sarah Weinsztok, Kaila Ames, Melinda Hua, Sandy Au Yeung, Jaclynn Key, Rebekah Pfaff, Daniel Snook, Amber Robinson, Claire Spieler, Melissa Campo, Leah Parker, Jiali Zhang, Kim Marrazzo, Jose Garcia, Yelena Gonzalez, Kreetee Dutta, Lucie Cavanagh, Dea Garic, Zachary Hoge, Taryn Lee, and Emma Grauerholz-Fisher

Photo credit: Beth Zavoyski, ACAS volunteers, Dory Rosati

[email protected] Annual Conference & Trade Show Dallas, TX