The impact of delaying behavior rehabilitation onset on fear and outcome measures in dogs in a shelter setting

Undersocialized domestic dogs (Canis lupus familiaris) often experience moderate to severe fear in response to everyday stimuli, and their welfare may suffer. In an animal shelter setting, fearful behavior can also reduce dogs’ chances of adoption and, thus, increase the risk of humane euthanasia. Given that dogs are commonly relinquished to shelters as a result of fear-related behaviors, research is needed to assess the efficacy of behavior modification treatment for undersocialized fearful dogs in the shelter environment. Because dogs may demonstrate behavior change as they acclimate to the shelter after intake, such research must parse out the effects of acclimation from those of a structured treatment protocol. This experimental study examined the change in the fearful behavior of dogs that had behavior modification treatment beginshortly after intake with that of dogs that experienced a two or four-week “settling in” period before treatment began. We also compared the delayed treatment groups by key outcome measures including weeks in treatment (WIT), overall time to graduation from the behavior modification program (TTG), proportion of dogs graduated, and proportion of dogs adopted.

Two cohorts of dogs (New Jersey [NJ] facility n = 260, North Carolina [NC] facility n = 114) admitted to a behavioral rehabilitation center were pseudo-randomized into behavior modification treatment onset groups of immediate, two-, or four-week delay. All dogs received standard shelter care and in-kennel enrichment, behavior modification treatment, anxiety-reducing medication, and repeated behavior evaluations to assess their fear of several everyday stimuli that pet dogs encounter in home environments. Dogs in the immediate onset treatment group demonstrated a quicker reduction in measures of fear compared to dogs in the delay groups, suggesting that behavior modification, not acclimation to the shelter environment, resulted in the reduction in fear. Delaying treatment onset resulted in lower WIT for dogs in the NJ cohort, but not the NC cohort. No differences were observed in TTG between immediate treatment and delay groups. Treatment onset did not affect the proportion of dogs graduated or adopted. While WIT were slightly lower for dogs with delayed treatment onset, immediate treatment onset reduced dogs’ fear more expeditiously. Therefore, if shelter resources allow, starting behavior modification as soon as possible may be the most ethical option, with quality of life in mind.