The Impact of Excluding Food Guarding from a Standardized Behavioral Canine Assessment in Animal Shelters

Abstract

Simple SummaryRecent research has called into question the value of the food guarding assessment as a predictive tool for determining the safety of shelter dogs. This study examined the effect of eliminating the food guarding assessment in nine U.S. animal shelters. It was found that when the food guarding assessment was removed, bites or other injuries to staff or adopters did not increase. However, dogs exhibiting food guarding behavior were less likely to be adopted, had a longer shelter stay, and were more likely to be euthanized than dogs in the general population. Based on previous research and this study’s findings, the authors recommend that shelters discontinue the food guarding assessment.AbstractMany shelters euthanize or restrict adoptions for dogs that exhibit food guarding while in the animal shelter. However, previous research showed that only half the dogs exhibiting food guarding during an assessment food guard in the home. So, dogs are often misidentified as future food guarders during shelter assessments. We examined the impact of shelters omitting food guarding assessments. Nine shelters conducted a two-month baseline period of assessing for food guarding followed by a two-month investigative period during which they omitted the food guarding assessment. Dogs that guarded their food during a standardized assessment were less likely to be adopted, had a longer shelter stay, and were more likely to be euthanized. When the shelters stopped assessing for food guarding, there was no significant difference in the rate of returns of food guarding dogs, even though more dogs were adopted because fewer were identified with food guarding behavior. Additionally, the number of injuries to staff, volunteers, and adopters was low (104 incidents from a total of 14,180 dogs) and did not change when the food guarding assessment was omitted. These results support a recommendation that shelters discontinue the food guarding assessment.

Comparison of Canine Behaviour Scored Using a Shelter Behaviour Assessment and an Owner Completed Questionnaire, C-BARQ

“…There are few studies on the ability of an assessment to reflect previous home behaviour; rather, most literature looks at predicting future behaviour [ 8 , 13 , 14 , 25 , 31 , 32 , 33 , 34 , 35 ]. In this study, behaviour reported in the home showed a relationship with certain aspects of the behavioural assessment including fear, friendliness, anxiety, arousal and aggression.…”

“…Possessive behaviour has been reported in the literature to have a low predictability [ 13 , 14 , 31 ]. This may be due to the manifestation of the problem being environmentally based [ 13 , 31 ].…”

“…Possessive behaviour has been reported in the literature to have a low predictability [ 13 , 14 , 31 ]. This may be due to the manifestation of the problem being environmentally based [ 13 , 31 ]. Possessive aggression is associated with a need to protect a resource from surrounding threats, however, once a threat is no longer present, the behaviour ceases, therefore it is not often seen in post-adoption environments.…”

Are Underweight Shelter Dogs More Likely to Display Food Aggression toward Humans?

“…Despite increasing acceptance that food aggression by dogs may be considered normal regardless of cause, many shelters euthanize dogs who display such aggression to people [4,5]. In an animal shelter and in a home, such behavior is a potential risk to human safety.…”

“…However, it is a behavior that is often situation or environment-specific, responsive to treatment, and readily managed in a home [3,4]. Dogs displaying food aggression are not more likely to be returned by adopters than dogs that are not food aggressive [5]. Better understanding of the causation and prevalence of food aggression across various shelter dog subpopulations may lead to more emphasis on treating and managing the behavior, and fewer dogs being euthanized because of it.…”