Readers who have visited San Francisco Animal Care and Control (SFACC) recently will have noticed some friendly, happy, and healthy puppies and dogs available for adoption.
Have you ever wondered how these animals do so well living at the shelter? The answer is: hard work and loving attention. At SFACC, we are lucky enough to have a Behavior and Training Department staffed by dedicated, hardworking, passionate individuals who are skilled in dog behavior and development and understand canine physical and emotional needs.
What does SF/ACC’s Behavior and Training department actually do?
We evaluate all dogs that come through the shelter doors to determine whether they are ready for adoption. One of the factors we consider is whether a dog can cope with the shelter environment. For those dogs we worry may not cope well, we try to find a rescue group willing to take them. Meanwhile, we often give these dogs a chance in the available dog area to see if they can adjust.
We train volunteers how to walk and interact with our dog population. We instruct them in basic positive training principles and show them how to teach a dog simple commands like Sit, Wait, and Watch Me, as well as walking nicely on a loose leash. These are behaviors that we know are important to potential adopters, so they will help the dog be adopted more quickly and improve the dog’s chances for staying in one home for life. We also teach our volunteers how to deal with dogs that are jumping up or being mouthy – behaviors that adopters do not want in a dog.
We train volunteers how to prepare food puzzle toys, like Kongs, to help prevent boredom and give dogs some mental stimulation. Providing these kinds of toys helps reduce arousal/excitement in the kennels and provides a more calm and relaxing environment for the dogs. Volunteers provide each dog with toy options that change daily, as well as regular treats and chewies/rawhides – all currently provided by Pet Food Express. A big “Thank you!” goes out to them.
We have canine playgroups three times a week, during which we teach small groups of carefully selected playmates successful dog body language and play skills. Many of our dogs have not had the opportunity to learn appropriate play skills before. Many dogs who end up at our shelter are pushy or over-excited. They need to learn that most other dogs don’t appreciate this kind of behavior. We teach them that having their play interrupted by people is a good thing (rewards!) and that they still get to go back to playing once they calm down. This makes it a win-win situation and helps ensure success around other dogs once they have been adopted. Playgroups are also a fabulous exercise outlet for the dogs.
Once a week we have a special class where volunteers learn how to teach a specific shelter dog the basic skills that will make him more attractive to adopters, including using different pieces of agility equipment. Such outlets reduce a dog’s stress and exercise his mind as well as his body. Better-trained and educated volunteers mean better trained and dogs who are likely to experience faster and more successful adoptions.
We have a small foster program for underage puppies, pregnant mamas, and dogs with special medical needs. A shelter is not the best place for a puppy under eight weeks of age – neither behaviorally nor medically – so we ask interested volunteers to take these puppies into their homes for intensive socialization, house-training, and learning basic manners. The foster program at SFACC is relatively new and we are always on the lookout for people willing to open their homes to dogs in need. Doing so definitely helps save canine lives. An expanded foster program would allow us to provide a beneficial break for dogs that have been at the shelter a long time, a healthy haven for dogs with kennel cough, and a loving environment for shy dogs who need to warm up to people so they can be put up for adoption.
We rely solely on donations from community members who donate to Friends of San Francisco Animal Care and Control, a non-profit group set up to benefit the animals of SFACC and our rescue group partners. We operate on a very lean budget each year and 2011 looks like it will be lean indeed. We are continually inundated with both stray and owner-surrendered dogs from people in difficult personal situations. Please think about donating to Friends, becoming a volunteer at SFACC, or becoming a foster parent. This is your City shelter and we want you to continue feeling proud of the work that we do. We can’t do it without your help!
Belinda Ryder is Head of Behavior and Training at SFACC and Shelter Operations Director for GADAB (Give a Dog a Bone), a nonprofit group that provides quality-of-life services to dogs in custody at the City Shelter while who are awaiting the results of court proceedings.
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