Changes in the Activity Levels and Physiological Welfare of Dogs Pre- and Post-Adoption

Abstract

Numerous potential stressors that are present in the animal shelter are often absent or less intense in the home, which can lead to changes in adopted dogs’ behavior, activity, and overall welfare. Given notable differences between these environments, dogs’ activity or behavior in the shelter may not necessarily reflect that in a home. Instead, this behavior may be indicative of the dog’s welfare while being sheltered. Our study utilized a within-subjects design to examine how dogs’ activity, physiology, and perceptions of their behavior change within and between the shelter and home environments. To evaluate this, 19 dogs wore PetPace Health Monitoring collars to measure their activity and physiology across each of their final 20 days in the shelter and their first 20 days post-placement into a home. Dogs’ activity was measured each minute using an accelerometer, while dogs’ pulse, heart rate variability (HRV), and respiration were measured using an acoustic sensor within these collars. A modified C-BARQ was completed by care staff in the shelter three weeks post-intake and adopters and caregivers in the home three weeks post-placement to evaluate dogs’ behavior and activity in both environments. Our results revealed that, while living in a home, dogs had significantly lower pulse and respiration rates, as well as higher HRV, than when they were in the shelter. Dogs also spent, most significantly, more time resting and less time in high activity in their homes as compared to the shelter. Each day in the home, dogs’ rate of rest significantly increased by 1.2%, while their rate of high activity decreased by 5.6% in the home and 1.8% in the shelter. Care staff in the shelter and caregivers in the home also reported significant differences in dogs’ behavior, although reports of behavior remained mild in both environments. Most notably, dogs displayed greater fear-based and aggression-related behaviors in the home, while their excitability was higher towards visitors in the shelter. Additionally, we found that both care staff and caregivers underestimated how much time dogs spent resting while also overestimating the amount of time dogs spent in higher levels of activity. Taken together, the increase in dogs’ rest and decrease in their high activity in a home, combined with improvements in pulse and respiration rates and heart rate variability, provide compelling evidence of the positive change in welfare dogs experience in a home. Furthermore, these results support the use of activity monitoring as a means of evaluating the welfare of shelter-living dogs. Underestimations by staff of dogs’ perceived rest and overestimations of their high activity highlight the advantages of continuous monitoring technologies for canine welfare assessment. Moreover, differences in dogs’ fear and aggression in the home, as compared to the shelter, reinforce the difficulty in predicting post-placement behavior. These results also further support the need for behavioral support programs for adopters and caregivers. Further considerations for interventions like foster care should be made, particularly for dogs that display elevated levels of high activity and reduced rest. Temporary placement with a caregiver might address these concerns and provide behavioral information in a home environment, offering potential support for both the immediate and long-term welfare of dogs in animal shelters.