Obedience training helps encourage potential owners to adopt shelter dogs

Abstract

Stray animals are one of the contributors to animal welfare issues worldwide. They endanger the health of both animals and humans as spreaders of infectious diseases. Many stray dogs end up in shelters. Despite increasing public education about dog welfare and the importance of adoption, the number of dogs in animal shelters is not decreasing. Therefore, it is important to find suitable methods of training dogs so that they are more desirable for adoption, thus improving both dogs and people welfare. A total of three obedience training experiments with shelter dogs were carried out using modified methodologies from international scientists. The results reveal that shelter dogs respond better to treats, verbal praise, and stroking as opposed to clicker training alone. After applying these methods, dogs living in shelters were trained to sit on cue after a brief period of time. The learned “sit” request was found to be retained by the dog even after a change of training location and/or trainer. These findings might help train dogs faster and increase adoptability as basic obedience is shown to be a highly desirable behavior among potential pet guardians. By training canines with positive behavior traits like obedience and composure, in animal shelters, adoption rates can be increased.