Since the 1940s, perceived companion animal overpopulation in the United States has been an important issue to the animal welfare community (Moulton, Wright, & Rinky, 1991). This surplus of animals has resulted in millions of dogs and cats being euthanized annually in animal shelters across the country. The nature and scope of this problem have been notoriously difficult to characterize. The number of animal shelters in the United Stares, the demographics of the population of animals passing through them, and the characteristics of per owners relinquishing animals are poorly understood. What portion of these animals are adopted or euthanized, why they are relinquished, and their source of acquisition are all questions for which there have been little data. Consequently, we are no closer to answering the fundamental question of how and why many animals are destroyed each year in shelters (Arkow, 1994).

Behaviours studied were movement, vocalisation, lying down, sleep, object manipulation, barrier manipulation, barrier jumping, fence running, agonistic and affiliative activities, and proximity. Behavioural effects were compared among housing conditions, order of rotation through each housing condition, and behavioural changes over time during each 3 month rotation.Dogs spent more time moving in pens and runs than in cages. Dogs housed in the greatest degree of social isolation spent the most time moving, exhibited the greatest number of bizarre movements, and vocalised the most. Dogs housed in the smallest cages spent more time grooming and in manipulation of enclosure barriers than those housed in any other conditions. Forced treadmill exercise did not significantly alter behaviours. When housed in pairs, dogs spent more time sleeping and showed a tendency to spend less time vocalising than when housed singly.The results indicate that spatial area and activity are not likely to be the most important factors to be considered when evaluating psychosocial well-being of dogs. In assessing the psychosocial wellbeing of dogs, social isolation may be as harmful or more harmful than spatial restriction.

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