Shelter Dogs Blog

Playfulness is at the top of many people’s list of why they like dogs. Play is a great way to have fun and exercise.  When you have a young dog in your house, play isn’t an option; it’s a requirement, if you want to prevent your dog from playing with things that aren’t appropriate dog toys.
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It was truly a wonderful and successful week at the Southampton Animal Shelter. As part of the Center for Shelter Dog's Match-Up II Reliability Study, we evaluated fifty dogs in three and a half days of nonstop evaluations. I know, amazing, right?
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It's been a busy but exciting week here at the Southampton Animal Shelter.  Several of us from CSD are here working on the MUII Behavior Evaluation Reliability Study.
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Relinquishing owners are an important source of information about a dog’s behavioral history.  In fact, a recent survey conducted by the Center for Shelter Dogs with 1,300 respondents from sheltering organizations found that 60% of them collected information about relinquished dogs from surrendering owners using a formal questionnaire or “intake form." However, as we have all experienced, the information provided by surrendering owners is not always accurate, especially if owners worry that every unfavorable behavior may cause the dog to be rejected from admission or lead to euthanasia.
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The landscape of humane sheltering is pretty diverse.  Organizations can range from very small, volunteer-based groups focused on a specific animals (like guinea pigs) to large, high-volume organizations employing 50 or more employees that may take in all animals presented to it.  This diversity is a strength because it enables our industry to care for animals of all types, ages, personalities, etc.  But this diversity also makes it difficult to develop programs, services, and tools that are useful to a large number of sheltering organizations.
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