The ADOPT Shelter Dog Assessment represents the best practices in animal shelters
Mary R. Burch, PhD & Gilles Meloche, DVM
Editor's note: Dr. Meloche is listed as an author on this paper because he was the director of the shelter at the time the work was done. Dr. Mary Burch and many other volunteers left the TLCASC when they became extremely concerned with Meloche's management. Dr. Meloche is no longer with the Tallahassee shelter.
There is a growing emphasis in animal shelters on reducing the number of dogs
euthanized and increasing the numbers of adoptions. While “adoptability”
is a primary concern in shelters, shelter administrators find themselves trying
to balance the goals of adopting as many animals as possible with making sure
that the safety of citizens is not jeopardized by placing aggressive dogs in
the community.
As a result, many shelters are beginning to use a formal, written screening
process to assess canine behavior. Assessments range from simple one-page checklists
to elaborate test protocols that may take as long as two hours to administer
per dog. While the more time-consuming assessments may yield a great deal of
information about each animal tested, many shelters do not have the time or
the staff to conduct such a lengthy evaluation. Therefore, these more time-consuming
assessments are most often used by private rescue groups and private shelter
programs.
In shelters where a written assessment process is not yet in place, decisions
regarding euthanasia (for aggression) are often based on staff statements such
as “I just looked into his eyes,” “I have a gut feeling about
this dog,” or “He put up a red flag.”
The decision of whether an animal will live or die should made in the most
professional, ethical, and thorough manner possible. Further, in the event that
staff members find themselves in court testifying on a dog-bite case, a well-constructed
assessment will be easier to defend than the statement that one could simply
“read the dog by looking at him.”
Problems with current assessments
Common shelter dog assessments include checklists and rating scales. In a checklist
format, observers score responses they see. For example, on the assessment item
“Dog responds to petting,” a checklist of possible observed responses
may include items such as:
( ) Dog is relaxed,
( ) Dog pulls away or
( ) Dog growls at observer.
Rating scales often present behaviors in a traditional one-to-five format with
the two ends of the continuum representing the extreme responses. A moderate
response is in the middle. For example, on a rating scale format, observers
would look at the behavior “tolerates petting” and would score five
if the dog was “extremely confident,” the score would be three if
the dog had a response that was “neutral” and the dog would be given
a score of one, the least desirable response, if it was “extremely fearful.”
Most typically, rating scales describe behaviors in subjective, non-behavioral
terms. Because terms such as “friendly,” “shy,” “threatening,”
and “confident” can mean different things to different people, the
ideal canine assessment includes definitions for behaviors that can be observed
and counted. “Friendly” presented in a more behavioral way would include
specific behaviors such as “approaches the front of the cage,” “licks
the hand of the evaluator,” and so on.
Some assessments for shelter dogs are not reliable. Reliability is a research
term that means two observers can agree on an observation at any point in time.
According to standard research convention, for an assessment to be reliable,
two observers watching a dog who is being tested should be able to agree on
at least 80 percent of the items scored. If two observers are unable to get
reliability at 80 percent or above, the assessment tool is unreliable. The solution
to this problem may be modifying the assessment, clarifying the definitions,
or providing additional training for the observers.
Development of the ADOPT
Early in 2001, the Advisory Board for the Tallahassee Leon Community Animal
Service Center (our local shelter) recommended that an assessment process be
implemented to ensure that no animals were euthanized who had the potential
for adoption. A committee was formed to work on identifying or developing an
assessment for the shelter’s animals, and it was decided that we would
develop an assessment tool that met the needs of our shelter.
In developing the ADOPT, the following 10 steps were carried out over a period
of about four months.
- Review the literature and a number of canine behavioral assessment tools.
- Try out some of the assessment tools and critique for the committee.
- Select a preferred format for an assessment (scale vs. lists of behaviors,
etc) and choose categories of behavior.
- Prepare a draft assessment.
- Try the draft assessment on several dogs.
- Revise the assessment (we had to re-order test items).
- Try the revision on several more dogs.
- Final revision- clarify wording and modify protocol (where to test, etc).
- Try the final revision on several dogs.
- Reliability sessions conducted over several weeks (several observers).
Staff training
Knowing that we would eventually want to teach all of the shelter staff to
evaluate dogs, a training package was developed that included information on
- recognizing the signs of stress (some dogs behave differently while being
tested)
- body postures,
- social behavior (including developmental information) and
- aggression.
About the ADOPT
The ADOPT includes 10 general categories of behavior that are:
- In-kennel behaviors
- Approach behaviors (animal approaches observer)
- Leash/collar behaviors
- Assessment area behaviors (out of run; in hallway or outside)
- On-leash behaviors
- Reactions to petting and handling
- Reactions to play
- Reaction to distractions
- Reaction to other animals (e.g., dogs, cats)
- Guarding of food or possessions
Within each of the 10 general categories of behavior, there are several specific
test items. We started with 50 items on the ADOPT and most current version (6.2)
has been pared down to 15 test items. Our research showed that some test items
yield the same results. For example, if a dog’s reaction to a loud stimulus
is tested by the dropping of a food pan, it is not also necessary to test the
dog’s reaction to clapping hands.
The administration of the test takes approximately 10 minutes. If a dog does
not pass the in-kennel and approach behaviors portion of the ADOPT (indicating
that it is aggressive), the test is stopped. A minimum of two staff members
are present for assessments. This is for the safety of the staff and to ensure
reliability.
We developed our assessment and as a committee, we began to consider a suitable
name for the test. We considered “Behavior Assessment for Dogs” until
we realized that the acronym would be BAD. “Screening Assessment for Dogs”
had a similar problem. Someone finally suggested that we needed a name to describe
what the test did, which was Assess Dogs On Practical Tests. A-D-O-P-T. The
name couldn’t have worked out any better!
The ADOPT’s adoptability summary
After this direct observation portion of the assessment is done, the ADOPT’s
Adoptability Summary is completed. This portion of the ADOPT includes information
from interviews with the animal control officers who brought the animal to the
shelter, history from the person who relinquished an animal, and observations
from shelter staff since the animal has been at the shelter (e.g., this dog
does not respond well to men). The purpose of the Adoptability Summary is to
combine all of the information from the direct observations of the dog, staff
reports, owner reports, health status, etc. in one place so that animals can
be matched with the best possible homes.
Problem with assessing shelter dogs
The most obvious problem with implementing an assessment program for all dogs
(with the exception of strays who will return home) in a shelter is the time
it takes to assess dogs. When shelters are short-staffed, procedures such as
conducting behavior assessments seem like luxuries. One possibility is to have
a core of qualified volunteers (e.g., experienced dog trainers) who can be called
to come in and assist staff with assessments during busy times.
Some rescue groups opposed behavioral assessments because they believe that:
1) they are more qualified to evaluate their breed(s) than shelter staff
or
2) they feel that using behavior assessments will result in an increased number
of euthanasias, particularly dogs who are identified on an assessment to be
dangerous or aggressive.
At one shelter, a breed rescue person for several larger guard breeds told
staff that the only acceptable assessment for her breeds was to go in the cage
and “see if you can back the dogs down.” She felt that her breeds
needed to be evaluated only by people who “understood” them and that
it was not appropriate to judge all breeds by the same standard.
Some rescue groups advocate taking aggressive/dangerous dogs out of shelters
and placing them in carefully selected homes. They believe that implementing
an assessment that results in the euthanasias of all dogs who attempt to bite
or show signs of aggression will have the undesirable result of increasing the
number of dogs euthanized.
The ADOPT results
The ADOPT was fully implemented at the TLC Animal Service Center in July 2002.
In seven months, euthanasias of adoptable animals have dropped to a low of 10
percent while adoptions are up from the same time period in the previous year.
As a dramatically increasing number of shelters implement behavior assessments,
it is estimated that within five years the behavioral assessment of dogs will
be considered best practice in shelters across the country.
This article was adapted from an article previously published in the American
Animal Trainers Magazine.
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