Randy Grim founder of Stray Rescue, “Don’t Dump The Dog”

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Competition tunnels are 15 feet long and are typically curved. To start training your dog, you’ll want to use a short tunnel or shorten a long tunnel and keep it straight.

In training this command, you’ll want to work on speed and send offs (sending your dog through the tunnel from a distance).

You might want to let your dog get used to the tunnel first. Give him time to sniff and walk around it. If your dog is anything like ours, he’ll think the tunnel is a big strange toy that must be play bowed and barked at.

To get your dog to go through the tunnel, try throwing some treats into it and see if he’s willing to get them. Toss the treat further each time until he’s going through the tunnel without worry. If your dog needs help, have someone hold him at one end while you go to the other end and encourage him through. kneel down so that your dog can see you at the other side and call him in a happy voice.

When your dog is used to going through the tunnel like this, go to toss a treat and fake it. Quickly run to the other side and treat your dog as he emerges.

Put your dog into a heel a ways from the tunnel. Run up to it, calling out “Tunnel” and act like you’re tossing a treat in as you pass. Immediately treat him at the other side.

If your dog runs around the tunnel instead, don’t worry about it. Just take your dog back to the starting point and try again. Only reward him for successful runs.

Run him by the tunnel many times, always giving out the “Tunnel” command before you get too close. Soon, your dog will have connected the command to the action. Then you can try sending him through by telling him to “Tunnel” a short distance from the obstacle.

If your dog avoids the tunnel at this point, you’ve probably moved too fast. Just go back to running with him to the tunnel a few more times. Soon you’ll be sending him through like a pro.

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What?: Practice Agility Tunnel

Tools: Handsaw

Materials: Two rope tubs (or other wide tubs) and a roll of duct tape.

Instructions: Use a handsaw to cut the bottoms of the tubs off. Turn the bottoms in towards each other and tape them together. First, tape the tubs together with short lengths of tape diagonally across both tubs, then tape over these by making a few rounds with the tape all the way around the tubs.

Make sure to also tape the inside of the tubs, just as you did the outside. This makes the tunnel sturdier as well as covers up the sharp edges from your cut.

This tunnel is a good size for beginners. Not only is it easy to send your dog through a short tunnel, but with this size you can attach a sheet to one end to train your dog the chute as well. However, If you want to add some length to the tunnel, you can easily attach another tub or two as long as the tunnel stays together firmly.

The handles on this tunnel can be used to stake it into the ground to keep it from rolling as the dog runs through. Since this tunnel is straight though, you probably can get by without them.

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One of the local veterinarians mentioned that they don’t have many other choices. Running large shelters with adoption programs costs too much money. They also live in a region that generally doesn’t look at dogs as “pets.” Much like the feral cats roaming our own neighborhoods, these dogs are not considered companions, but rather have become more like feared pests. This makes adoption programs difficult to execute.

Unfortunately, Baghdad isn’t alone. Many countries struggle with adoption programs for their increasingly large numbers of stray dogs.

DogsTrust, the largest dog welfare charity in the UK has many programs that operate internationally. One of their more recent campaigns involves feral dogs living in countries like Iraq. Without killing stray dogs, they have found that TNR programs are successful in reducing the numbers of strays.

The TNR program is run much in the same manner as it is here in the US for cats. The dogs are trapped, spayed or neutered, then returned back to their previous territories. Dogs that have been trapped are marked with an “ear tipping” (notch cut into an ear) to prevent re-trapping of already altered dogs. Since these dogs are returned to their territories, it prevents more dogs from taking up residence.

In efforts to prove that these programs work, DogsTrust helped start a TNR program in Oradea, Russia. The program has been dubbed SOS Dogs Oradea and is a joint project of a number of different animal welfare organizations. Along with their TNR program, SOS Dogs Oradea also has an educational program for schools that teach children about dogs and their welfare. Since the introduction of the program, the number of strays and dog bite incidents have lowered and the strays are less and less viewed as pests.

This leads us to ask: Can TNR programs help strays all around the world?

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At this website you’ll find a wealth of information from a variety of no-kill supporters. The blog dissects the issues and concerns surrounding no-kill sheltering, pit bulls, and feral cats and provides many tips and tricks to get your local shelter animals adopted. You can comment on the posts or even contribute posts of your own. Enjoy!

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We took Tony for a walk in the snow. It was his first experience in it, so he was a bit wary.

We take him out in a little harness specially made for cats. It constricts at the back to prevent the cat from slipping out of it.

These walks give Tony the mental stimulation he would get as an “outside” cat without all the possible dangers that come with it.

Others take interest as well…

1.5 inches of snow is no match for this cat.

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Clare Palmer, “Killing Animals in Animal Shelters”
in The Animal Studies Group, Killing Animals

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Why do shelters use temperament tests?
Shelter staff use temperament tests to find out if an animal has a behavioral problem which may affect his adoption. After the test is done the staff will be better able to place the animal into an appropriate home, thereby decreasing the amount of animals returned to the shelter after adoption. If the animal is found to have a behavior issue, shelter staff will work with the animal prior to being placed in a home as well as inform the adopter about the behavior. If the behavior is too serious and the prognosis is poor, the shelter may opt to have the animal killed in order to prevent any future bites and liability issues.

Who uses these tests?
Most shelters use some form of temperament testing to evaluate the adoptability of their animals. These tests are used widely by both “kill” and no-kill shelters alike. Leaders in the movement of behavioral assessments include Emily Weiss, PhD, the creator of the “SAFER Test” and Sue Sternberg, the creator of “Assess-a-Pet.”

What kind of tests are used?
There are many temperament tests used today, however, most shelters use either the “SAFER Test,” the “Assess-a-Pet,” or some derivative of these two.

Ideally, each test is performed by shelter staff who have trained specifically to perform the test. The dog will be given a period of adjustment ranging from 3 to 5 days so that he is familiar with shelter life prior to the first test. To begin, the dog will be leashed and scanned for behavioral cues which may be a safety hazard, such as nervousness, shyness, or reactivity. If the dog is too edgy, he may be given a longer period of adjustment.

The actual testing phase has many steps, though the whole process will only take some 15 minutes. The initial steps may test the dog’s reactions to gentle handling. These include repeatedly examining the dogs teeth by lifting up his lips, hugging the dog by a gentle head lock, and gently pinching and pulling at the dog. Further phases test the dog’s reactions to children via a life-size doll and taking the dog’s bowl and treats away with a rubber hand. During such action staff assess play style, level of arousal, and ability to calm down once play has ceased followed by meeting a strange person, dog, or another animal.

Some tests will include a visit with a veterinarian to rule out any medical cause for a particular reaction. The tests may be repeated to re-evaluate the dog after behavior modification efforts or experience in a foster home.

What do the results mean?
Although it varies, most tests are designed to include wide range of possible results. Results may be graded on a scale of A-B-C-D-F, where F is considered failure. The dog is also ranked on a variety of reactions such as: allows hugging; allows but with struggle; allows but becomes tense; intense struggle; tries to bite. Results are then grouped into categories like: no restrictions; home without kids; home without other dogs; unsocial; borderline; failed; no-issue. Dogs who exhibited the most serious issues are typically candidates for euthanasia.

Do these tests work?
That depends on whom you ask. There are very few studies of “behavioral testing” and their results vary considerably. Some researchers have found behavioral differences between breeds, sexes, ages, and whether or not the animal was intact, while others have found just one or none of these differences.

The variety in results may be due to a number of variables. One problem facing researchers is that dogs’ behaviors are largely contextual, yielding different behavioral cues depending on outside influences. Dogs in shelters may have heightened stress levels due to long periods of confinement. Such stress often only worsens in time.

The results may also depend on the perspective of the people involved, be they the evaluators themselves or their adoptive parents. Behaviors considered unacceptable to one person may not be considered unacceptable to the next. The number of dogs who pass or fail these tests can differ depending on whether or not the shelter is “kill” or no-kill and their level of dedication to the cause. Some argue that shelters who are bogged-down with too many dogs and too little space may be inclined to mark more dogs as un-adoptable than those experiencing fewer of these stresses.

Some researchers however, have found that behavioral tests can significantly reduce the number of dogs returned for aggressiveness. A recent research paper, “Behavioral evaluation and demographic information in the assessment of aggressiveness in shelter dogs” by Kelley S. Bollen and Joseph Horowitz, reviewed the effectiveness of the “Assess-a-Pet” test in a shelter environment. During the study, 2017 shelter dogs were tested for aggressive tendencies. The subjects were placed into categories of “failed; unsocial; borderline; no-issue.” After placement in adoptive homes, dogs were evaluated in a 6-month follow-up via a phone interview with the adoptive parent. By implementing the behavioral tests, returns of adoptions fell from 19% the previous year to 14% and returns for aggression fell from 5% to 3.5%. Although these reductions are statistically significant, they are relatively small.

Are these tests fair?
The research mentioned may indicate a reduced return rate, but it did not (and possibly could not) fully evaluate those dogs who failed the test for aggressiveness. 796 dogs failed the evaluation and 759 of these were killed; 112 of those killed showed severe aggression on only one component of the test. It is also worthwhile to note that six dogs were killed who exhibited aggressive behaviors in their previous home, but had passed the evaluation.

“In order to be fair, a temperament test must do two things: (1) screen out aggression and (2) ensure that friendly, scared, shy, sick, or injured dogs do not get wrongly executed. By focusing on the first prong, traditional shelters have ignored the second, a violation that goes to the core of the no-kill ideal: Animals are to be judged and treated as individuals.” Nathan Winograd of The No Kill Advocacy Center.

It is clear that some of the dogs evaluated indeed exhibited aggression in their home, despite having passed the test. While such false-positives do not directly describe the tests’ propensities for false-negatives, we may suppose that dogs who failed the test may not actually have been aggressive. How many of these dogs were wrongfully killed? Do we find it acceptable to wrongfully kill a single dog? Do we find it moral or merciful to kill an animal from decisions solely contingent on a human-perceived behavior? Perhaps these are questions behavioral tests may never fully answer.

Visit The Bark Unleashed for an in-depth study of this topic.

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Although some shelters go to great lengths to get their animals ready for adoption, most do not have the space or time to provide behaviorally-challenged animals the extensive care they need. For animals with large behavior problems, arriving at a shelter may be an automatic death sentence.

This is especially true for those animals who are too aggressive to be properly cared for. Not only are they unfit for adoption, but they are also a liability to the shelter itself. Even no-kill shelters may kill a dog who is too aggressive to be handled and adopted.

Feral cats pose a considerable dilemma. Although they may be too aggressive to be placed into an adoptive home, they are also capable of living ‘wild’ in their own environment without posing a significant human risk. Instead of killing these cats, organizations such as Alley Cat Allies are dedicated to saving these animals’ lives.

Organizations save these cats by using a TNR program. TNR means ‘trap, neuter, return’ and the programs do exactly that. Volunteers catch feral cats via humane traps; then they transport the cats to facilities where they are spayed or neutered. After the surgery is complete, the cats are replaced back into their original territory to prevent recolonization by more, unaltered cats. Feral cat colonies may be taken care of by volunteers called ‘caregivers.’ Caregivers provide the colony with food and water, shelter, ongoing health care, as well as neighborly advice to the surrounding humans.

Recently, we became aware of a feral cat living under a shed in a neighbor’s backyard. She was caring for two eight week-old kittens. They were becoming more bold, leaving the shed for longer periods of time. We quickly set-out to capture the kittens and mother in order to spay and neuter. We planned to re-home the kittens while releasing the mother back into the same territory.

We were able lure one kitten, whom we call Tony, with a dangling toy. But the neighbors soon discovered the two other residents under their shed and blocked its entrance. The mother and second kitten have been roaming the streets since, making it virtually impossible for us to capture either.

Tony has been nursed back to health and grown dramatically. The Jaeger Fund is currently fostering Tony and preparing him for adoption. To learn more about his little kitten life, visit Tony’s Twitter feed.

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Winograd took the audience down the path of shelter history, informing us about how the shelter systems started out as a safe-haven for saving lives and slowly spiraled into the shelters we know today.

The current trend in animal sheltering is saving the animals we can and euthanizing the rest. Winograd rejects this idea, saying that if we were really trying our best to save lives in the first place, there wouldn’t be such a large surplus in the end. He says that in order for No-Kill shelters to work there are a number of programs that must be up and running.

• Foster care: foster parents help ease shelter crowding by taking in animals not yet ready for adoption. They provide care, housing, and training necessary to make these animals loving pets and help place them in new homes.
• TNR “Trap, Neuter/Spay, Release” program: caretakers trap feral cats living in a neighborhood, spay or neuter them, then release back into their territories. Since the cats can no longer reproduce, the population eventually declines, thereby keeping unwanted cats off the streets and out of shelters.
• Low-cost Spay/Neuter: allows low-income families to get their pets altered with little to no cost.
• Volunteers: increases the number of hands useful for cleaning, training, walking, bathing and fund-raising.
• Compassionate Director: A director that is not compassionate about saving lives simply won’t be saving enough of them.
• Adoption programs: heightens the adoption rate by keeping shelters open when people are off work, take animals off-site to get public attention, and increase public awareness by utilizing televised news stations, newspaper ads and websites. Keep animals in their new homes by making sure they are a good match for their adopters.
• Rescue Groups: takes the burden off of shelters by bringing animals into their own adoption programs.
• Retention: keeps animals in their current homes by providing medical assistance, behavioral advice, and keeps lost animals for longer periods before putting them into adoption programs.
• Rehabilitation: provides animals with medical problems proper veterinary treatment. Uses behavior modification and training to save the lives of difficult pets.
• Community Involvement: increases the amount of supporters for donations, adoptions, and other help.

Is your local shelter doing all it can to fulfill the no-kill equation?

To attend a No Kill Conference near you visit the No Kill Advocacy Center. For more information about Nathan Winograd and future talks, visit Nathan’s website.

Nathan Winograd

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