Are Animal Shelters A Beneficial Environment For Dogs?

Are Animal Shelters A Beneficial Environment For Dogs?

Are Animal Shelters A Beneficial Environment For Dogs?

Are Animal Shelters A Beneficial Environment For Dogs?

Introduction:

If you’re watching television, surfing the web, or even listening to the radio, it’s likely that you’re going to hear a report, comment or opinion about animal shelters or some type of animal control issue. In the last few years, the over population of domestic animals has been heightening the issue of animal rights, especially among those who love animals as much as they do humans. As an animal lover myself, I am always looking for the opportunity to help animals. As I open my eyes to streets, the news, and to those around me I realize how important the topic of animal rights and animal shelters is. I get really strange looks sometimes when I go out of my way to pull my car to the side of the road in an attempt to persuade a group of young puppies to get safely to the other side where they had escaped from under their owner’s fence. I was brought to a rude awakening when I realized how many people don’t care about animals more than they care about the old vagabond that lives in the abandoned house on the corner. In my research project, I have decided to ask, are animal shelters a beneficial environment for animals? This question needs to be brought up because the more we know about animal shelters and the other available options; the more able we are to make the right decision about how our animals can be treated. I assume that the new options available to us as animal owners are vastly changing how we can control the animal population and ensure that our animals are receiving the care that they deserve.

Research:

I started my project with the idea that I was going to explore the negative effects of puppy mills but that changed to how puppy mills affect a dog’s physical and mental state. As I began my research I kept running into dead ends and I finally realized that before I could specify my research to that point I needed to research the basics. As I was doing my research I came across an article, “Effects of Human-Animal Interaction on the Behaviour and Saliva Cortisol Levels of Dogs Kept in an Animal Shelter Long Term,” from Journal of Veterinary Pharmacology & Therapeutics. (Barbero) Barbero helped deepen my understanding of how many factors contribute to an animals well being. I learned that animals, dogs in this instance, can gain more control over their environment by increasing social contact between them and humans. According to Barbero, animals that are exposed to a higher volume of human interaction develop better behavior which results in a better opportunity to be adopted. I had always assumed that human-animal interaction was something harmful to the animals because I always linked it to how I felt when I would get my hopes up just to have them smashed shortly after.

Deeper Research:

Realizing that I needed more backing behind my research, I followed up on “An Audit of Behavioral Indicators of Poor Welfare in Kenneled Dogs in the United Kingdom”. (Stephens and Ledger) The Journal of Applied Animal Welfare Science began publishing in 1992 and since then has made an enormous impact on available knowledge about animal shelters and animal behavior. In this article I found an incredible amount of research information that was compiled in several animal rescue centers in the United Kingdom. It describes key factors that contribute to variations in behaviors. This study is based around fifteen different behaviors that over eight percent of all sheltered animals experience at one time while living in a shelter or a rescue. The key findings entail the following, which I quote from this article:

· Each of the fifteen behaviors was observed in each dog in the first two weeks.

· 24.3% of the dogs were observed as excessive barkers.

· 20.3% were observed with listlessness (Lacking energy or disinclined to exert effort)

· 1.3% showed high counts of tail chasing.

· Pace repetitiveness increased over the six week span

· Wall bouncing almost doubled in each original case

· 90% of the dogs were recorded to have decreased behavior by week three

· When the dogs experienced no change in human attention the numbers increased by double.

The survey shows a very small portion of how dogs behave inside of animal shelters and animal rescues but it gives us a great eye opener as to exactly how special the animals are. The most interesting result of the study is found near the middle of the article where Stephen and Ledger state that “gender failed to account for differences and that the incidence of behaviors did not differ significantly between breeds.”

The Stephens and Ledger article gave me a more in depth idea of the concern behind animals being locked up in shelters until they are put to death. I wasn’t surprised at all to find out that nearly every dog tested was observed having some sort of behavioral issue. I have seen the issues that are caused in the adoption process and I have always assumed that the same sort of issues have to occur in dogs as well. The issue that really caught my attention was the almost instant drop in negative behavior after three weeks into the study. This finding has helped me immensely in my understanding of what types of issues need to be resolved while dogs are in the shelters.

My Life Experiences with Animal Shelters:

After several days into my research I couldn’t stop thinking about all of the examples of strange behavioral issues that I had seen in dogs. My grandma has had several dogs that have been from the same breed, the same shelter, and even the same family. Although they had all of these things in common each dog had its own unique personality. These personalities had been altered by over exposure to shelters, abuse, neglect, and over bearing families that cared more about their animals then their children. I can specifically remember an instance with two Pembroke Welsh Corgis that she had recently. Foxy and Thatcher were from the same family and the same breed but what made them different was the exposure that one had to an animal shelter while the other enjoyed a peaceful life with a widowed middle aged woman. I related these memories to the research that I was doing at the moment about the different elements of animal shelters factor into a dog’s emotions.

Diet and Affects on Behavior:

In a study by Michael B. Hennessy, I found that even a dog’s appetite affects its behaviors and attitudes. (Hennessy) For the second time in my research I came across the line “The experience of dogs in shelters is of concern, not only in terms of animal welfare but also for its potential effects on the behavior of the dog and, therefore, for the likelihood of a successful adoption.” (Hennessy) I am really bothered by the fact that an animal in a dog shelter is almost an oxy-moron. The purpose of having a dog in a shelter is to offer it temporary protection, stability, and food while it tries to be one of the thirty percent that make it out alive. (ASPCA) It’s very contradictory to a dog’s welfare to be in the shelter especially when the shelter is the main cause of the personality and behavior mutation. When I read a little bit deeper into the scholarly journal by Hennessy I started to ask myself a very basic yet important question. What kinds of behavior and health issues arise when a dog’s food is changed? I know that when I bought my Shih-Tzu puppy the pet store owner told us that the dog’s food was the most important factor in the early health stages of the puppy. I wanted more clarification and depth on this subject so I branched out from what Hennessy had written to a similar article by Ellen H. Whiteley.

Article by Whiteley:

In her article and research she talks about how certain types of pets need special types of diets. She had everything from pregnant obese pets to young or ill pets but what really caught my attention was the emphasis that she gave to the diet of pets with high stress levels. The title of her entry states that the article wasn’t focused on any particular animal by saying “pets” but she emphasizes her entire first page on the diet of dogs. I didn’t find anything specifically about stress from animal shelters but Ellen Whitely does mention that being a mother dogs, soldier dogs, performance dogs, and dogs that are exposed to extreme temperature are considered the highest stressed dogs. I found that these dogs should be given a very specific diet that consists of highly digestible, caloric-dense nutrients. (Whiteley) This research drove me to ask the questions, what type of food is administered in animal shelters? How much food is given to each dog while in the shelter? And finally, how the dogs react to the abrupt change in diet. I assumed that the dogs that came from stable homes would be the ones that were affected the most rather than those who came off the streets. The dogs that come off the streets would most likely find the new food as a blessing but I still wondered how it affected them. I wasn’t able to find any research on the exact types of amounts of dog food that is administered in animal shelters but I was able to come across several similarities between Hennessy and Whitely.

Comparison between both scientists:

I compared the results from Whiteley with those of Hennessy and found several similarities including erratic behavior and sickness. The initial research that was done by Hennessy was to study the affect of daily intervention with humans. The topic changed slightly when it was noticed that the behavior or emotional state of dogs seemed to be affected by the diet they were fed. I was really surprised when I found out that their study was similar to my research in the sense that it took a completely different spin once key observations, like behavior linked to diet, were noticed. The study was put in place after the Hennessy and his team realized that the food that was labeled “premium” tended to lead to less distressed dogs. After doing some digging I was able to come across a web based article by T.J. Dunn Jr. that talks specifically about what makes a diet “premium” (Dunn). In his entry he goes into detail about how, like humans, dogs need specific amino acids in order to maintain their body, mind, and overall health. Dunn included a very detailed list of exactly which proteins are and aren’t required in a dogs diet in order to classify it as “premium”.

Essential (is only obtained via diet)

Non Essential (is not required in diet)

Aginine

Alanine

Histidine

Asparagine

Isoleucine

Aspartate

Methionine

Cysteine

Phenylalanine

Glutamate

Tryptophan

Hydroxylysine

Threonine

Glycine

This table didn’t make very much sense to me because of the terminology but it was a great resource for me because it showed me exactly how delicate dogs are. It also showed me that a big factor in the dog’s behavior had to do with a well balanced diet. Now that I had determined what Hennessy meant by a “premium” food I was ready to continue on with my comparison of the research done by him and Whiteley.

Detailed Diet Table:

As I was looking through the study that was done by Hennessy I came across a table that he and his group created that detailed each ingredient in the food and the amino acids that each ingredient was composed of. For lack of space I will not try and duplicate that graph but it showed very clearly that the two types of diets that were administered were very different and that was the major cause in the dog’s behavior. The first of the two groups was fortunate enough to be given what Dunn would call “premium” food while the second group was forced to consume the food that wasn’t rich in the specific amino acids listed above. This is about as far as the research by Hennessy goes in comparison to the research done by Whiteley because Whiteley merely gave educated common knowledge while Hennessy went to incredible depths to even factor in how much fat consumption would affect the dog’s behavior. I could go on all day about the very intriguing research that was done by Hennessey but the conclusion to his research was that the animals that were administered the amino acid enriched diet were more receptive to random humans, behavioral battery tests, and the overall adoption rate.

Conclusion:

After studying only a very small portion of the affects that animal shelters have specifically on dogs I was able to expand my knowledge, understanding, and love for these amazing animals. I learned through my research that animal shelters can improve a dog’s life in ways other than just providing a shelter by developing a system that treats them as they would be treated in a domestic home based environment. I did decide that animal shelters can harm dog’s by forcing them into such an erratic life change but I understand now that animal shelters and scientists are working together to make the shelters positive learning and developing environments. As I further my research, I am not sure if I will ever be able to come to an exact conclusion on whether or not animal shelters do more harm then good but I am convinced that the shelters and those running the shelters are working towards a more positive future that we can someday see as a great place to adopt a pet. I love what I’ve done with my research up to this point because I truly have a desire to spend the time to search out my next dog through a dog shelter so that I can make sure that I’m not supporting any illegal breeding that is being done to mass produce puppies. My original topic has found its way into my paper but during the course of my research I never could have guessed that I would make my decision based on the positive findings that I’ve researched about animal shelters. I hope to explore the topic of animal shelters more in the future so that I can deepen my understanding of what a dog has to go through in order to make it out normal and alive.

Works Cited

Works Cited

ASPCA. “How Many Animals are in Shelters?” Pet Statistics: How Many Pets are There In the United States? ASPCA, Accessed 24 November 2011. Web.

Barbero, R. et al. “A08 Effects of Human-Animal Interaction on the Behaviour and

Saliva Cortisol Levels of Dogs Kept In an Animal Shelter Long Term.” Journal of Veterinary Pharmacology & Therapeutics 29.S1 (2006): 57-58. Academic Search Premier. Web. 8 Nov. 2011

Coppola, Crista L., R. Mark Enns, and Temple Grandin. “Noise in the Animal Shelter

Environment: Building Design and the Effects of Daily Noise Exposure.” Journal of Applied Animal Welfare Science 9.1 (2006): 1-7. Academic Search Premier. Web. 18 Nov. 2011.

Dunn, T.J. “Pet MD.” Contrasting Grain-based and Meat-Based Diets for Dogs. Pet MD, Accessed 25 Nov. 2011. Web. 2011

Hennessy, Michael B., et al. “Exploring Human Interaction and Diet Effects on the

Behavior of Dogs in a Public Animal Shelter.” Journal of Applied Animal Welfare Science 5.4 (2002): 253-273. Academic Search Premier. Web. 16 Nov. 2011

Whiteley, H. Ellen. “Special Diets For Special Pets.” Saturday Evening Post 259.4 (1987): 20-80. Academic Search Premier. Web. 9 Dec. 2011