Shelter’s Edge

Are your SAFER® assessments gleaning behavior information that is accurate? In order to answer that question and avoid the identification of false-positive aggression, you must consider your own behavior.

The SAFER aggression assessment tool is designed to assess a dog’s response to multiple forms of stimuli. When the assessment is conducted correctly, the dog has many choices in how to respond, including pulling away, staying near and engaging in the interaction, or displaying behaviors indicating a bite may occur if the interaction continues.

When choice is removed during a SAFER assessment (i.e. the dog is cornered, being forced into position, or is not allowed to move away when he chooses to), and the dog perceives the stimulus as being a potential threat, the likelihood of the dog aggressing increases. As a normal function of survival, all animals may aggress when they see no choice for escape; therefore, it is important to perform the SAFER assessment correctly as it assesses the probability of aggression when behavior choices are provided.

Dogs use body language to indicate they are uncomfortable (licking lips, stress yawning, avoiding eye contact). We can use our body language to assure consistent assessments and decrease miscommunication during assessments. We can also diffuse a situation that might lead to aggression by avoiding eye contact and turning our body sideways. Our body language can actually provide dogs with more choice!

Providing the dog with many behavior choices is critical when performing an assessment like SAFER. If we “tag” the dog (during the Tag item) and then pull him by incorrectly using a tight leash as we move about the room, we are likely to get a different behavior than if we keep the leash loose so he can choose to follow along, keep his distance or move away. More examples of giving choice during an assessment include:

• Allowing the dog the choice to pull his head out of our hands during the Look item.
• Having the observer hold the leash while providing some slack in the leash so the dog can choose to follow the food bowl during the Food Behavior item.
• Letting the dog choose to enter the room and approach the helper dog during the Dog-to-Dog Behavior item.

See the following photo of a SAFER assessor conducting the Tag item. Note the loose leash and the assessor’s body crouched and turned to the side. All of these human behaviors are intentional and are providing the dog with many choices in his behavior response.

How do you give choice during assessments or in other interactions with your dog? We would love to hear your ideas.

To learn more about how to give choices and using your body language when interacting with dogs, check out our Canine Communications webinar series.

Related links:
About SAFER
SAFER assessment items
Webinar: Canine Communications Series
“Tip of the Week: How Not to Teach Dogs to Guard Their Food Bowl”

You’ve met the contenders in the West and the South over the past few weeks. Now we’re getting to know the agencies in the North Central Division who will be competing to save the most animals’ lives in the 2012 ASPCA Rachael Ray $100K Challenge.

Ashtabula County Animal Protective League, Ashtabula, OH

Gotta love an agency with a sense of humor! This one's from the “Bloopers” photo album on their Facebook page.

What makes them a tough contender: “The ability to stay in the fight! We have done so much for our animals with such minimal resources. Fighting the good fight of being the voice for the animals is something we take pride in, and make top priority!”

Bay Area Humane Society, Green Bay, WI

BAHS' office cat, Sleepy

How they describe their innovative agency in 3 words: “Pushing the envelope!”

City of Bloomington Animal Care & Control, Bloomington, IN

Baked by a supporter in celebration of the agency's great showing during the Qualifying Heat

Why they’re a force to contend with: “We are fortunate to have a positive image in our community, strong community support, a dedicated staff and wonderful volunteers who will be excited to join us in this challenge to save more lives.”

Friends For the Dearborn Animal Shelter, Dearborn, MI

Spokesdog Pudge did whatever it took to wrangle votes during the Qualifying Heat.

What they love to tell their community: “Recycled pets are best.”

Heartland SPCA, Merriam, KS

Heartland SPCA adopter conferring with his new kitty.

What makes them a tough contender: “We believe that no matter what their size, shape or story, all dogs and cats deserve the chance to live long, happy and healthy lives, and our team of experts works hard every day as a lifeline to a better future for pets by providing comprehensive, affordable medical care, adoption services and innovative community programs.”

Humane Society of Greater Dayton, Dayton, OH

HSGD volunteers and staff after finishing the second shift of their recent 24-hour spay/neuter event

How they describe themselves in 3 words: “Proactive, Compassionate Leadership”

Kent County Animal Shelter, Grand Rapids, MI

KCAS staff and volunteers hard at work!

What they want their community to know: “Practice responsible pet ownership, spay and neuter, leash and license your dog and have your pets examined by a veterinarian regularly.”

Medina County SPCA, Medina, OH

Love the smart use of graphics to accompany each menu item on Medina's website

What makes them a tough contender: “We may be mini, but we’re MIGHTY!”

SICSA, Kettering, OH

Clap clap clap for this phenom Facebook cover photo!

How they’d use $100K: “SICSA would train volunteers and staff to supervise and grow off-site adoptions, supply funds for emergency veterinary care to pets at risk for euthanasia and provide low-cost microchip identification to the public to increase the number of pets returned to their owners.”

Toledo Area Humane Society, Maumee, OH

How they describe themselves in 3 words: "Respected, Compassionate, Responsible"

“TAHS is committed to promoting a healthy bond between animals and their human companions by providing temporary shelter and care for animals seeking permanent homes, advocating for animals and educating the community regarding animal issues and responsible care/training.”

Winnebago County Animal Services, Rockford, IL

Holy Engagement! WCAS got a great response when they asked Facebook fans to vote for the name of their new Senior Adoption program. (Psst, we like "Golden Whiskers.")

What makes them a tough contender: “Winnebago County Animal Services is striving to be a community leader and credible resource for the awareness and advancement of responsible pet ownership, adoption and animal health and welfare.”

Be sure to check in next week, when we highlight the contestants from the Northeast.

Related links:
The 50 Challenge Contestants
“Up for the Challenge, Part 3: Meet the 2012 Contestants”

Dirty, dirty data… We can get there many different ways – from sloppy data entry, poor spelling and more… The dirtiest data, I would argue, is the data that is entered intentionally – that is, with the wrong intentions.

An example may help to clarify. There have recently been some great conversations on the SAWA list-serv about pit-type dogs. The discussion focused on how cautious we should be of labeling them if we do not know their real heritage. Suggestions included using a generic mix-breed label for them. That is a great intention – but is not data- and risk-intentional. We know that in many agencies, dogs who appear to have bully-type breeds in their mix (whether they actually do or not) tend to be at higher risk than those without. If we cannot accurately track where those animals are coming from, and what happens to them when they are in our shelters, how can we measure the impact of program designed to support them?

Another common one we run into is the coding of cats as “owned” by some arbitrary number of days they are fed by a Good Samaritan who considers the cat a stray. While I understand some city ordinances state if a cat is fed X number of days he is owned – and I understand that some of those who work in shelters identify feeding as ownership – from our perspective, we can miss some important data by coding these cats as owned. Imagine I want to develop an intervention to provide spay/neuter for owners in a particular area. I flood the area with information about the spay/neuter services we can provide for their cats – but we’d be completely missing those that are just feeding cats they consider stray, as they do not consider themselves the “owner.”

Sometimes data is coded a certain way to get around a local ordinance or simply to get around a shelter software issue. We have found some dirty data where shelters “push” though a low-cost spay/neuter of a public animal by coding the animal as an intake and then out as an adoption at the end of the surgery day! As you can imagine, this can be an issue when looking at impact of spay/neuter on intake…

What is the intention with your data entry? What are you using your data for? If it is to track progress and impact, as well as your ROI – are you sure that is how your data is entered? It may be time to check…

Resources on naked data:
Shelter Data 101: What, why and how to collect
Basic Data Matrix
Naked Data posts on ASPCA Shelters’ Edge blog

You can’t hide, all you expert caption writers out there! Give this kitty something to say or think!

P.S. Fabricated a great answer? Leave it in the comment box. And check out the answer to last week’s Wordless Wednesday to learn what Facebook and a baggie of tuna have in common.

Update, May 16: She. Looks. Mah-ve-lous! To find out how to create and share photos like these, check the comment box and take a tip from Spokane Humane Society.

Related links:
Hot Shots: Getting Great Photos of Your Animals
Instagram
Spokane Humane Society’s “Instagram Photos” Facebook Photo Album

Greg Simpson is a social worker, writer, award-winning cat lover (according to Cat Fancy magazine) and the volunteers coordinator at Protectors Of Animals, Inc. in East Hartford, CT. And not only does Greg volunteer as the volunteers coordinator, but EVERYBODY at POA – all 250+ of them – is a volunteer! Together, they fulfill 300 different jobs at the organization, managing five locations and adopting some 600 cats and 60 dogs per year. Not bad, eh?

But wait, there’s more. They have virtually zero lack of follow-through from their volunteers AND they have a steady flow of more people wanting to volunteer – about 500 per year, in fact. And about 10 new applicants every week!

So what’s Protectors Of Animals’ secret? (Besides Greg, of course.) There are three, actually, which Greg shared at the New England Federation of Humane Societies annual conference last month.

Secret number one: Expedite the process. At POA, every single volunteer inquiry is responded to within 24 to 48 hours! Why? Because Greg has learned that when people are moved to want to help, the very best time to reinforce that is, well, right then and there. Every day you wait is a day that can start drawing your potential new volunteer’s time and attention away from you.

Secret number two: Institute a pyramid structure. Think small at the top, bigger in the middle, and really big at the bottom. The volunteer structure at POA has the Coordinator at the top. Then come Team Leads for the eight major functions in the organization – things like Foster Care, Daily Cleaning & Feeding, Adoptions, etc. Each of these functions ideally has TWO team leads so that there is always someone to manage the function while allowing for the leads to have back-up and time off. Each function then has a large number of “line” volunteers who fulfill the daily and weekly tasks. Everyone commits to at least two hours per week for at least six months, but most folks put in many more hours. The pyramid structure provides for good communications, specialization in the different areas of the operation and plenty of support flowing both up and down. After Greg interviews a potential volunteer, they meet with a team lead for another interview. If both parties remain interested, the volunteer then trains with the team lead and subsequently reports directly to that person. Eventually, that new volunteer may help with the training and support of new volunteers, and may ultimately apply to be a team lead themselves.

Finally, secret number three: Make it easy for volunteers to find you. POA uses every volunteer registry possible… all of the local organizations that provide community networking and resources to nonprofits as well as all of the online venues such as volunteermatch.org, from which Greg says they get a ton of volunteers. He also recommends using every communications tool at your disposal – your website, Facebook page, LinkedIn, Twitter, etc. – and make the pitch for volunteers really apparent (and welcoming). POA also hosts a number of “social” events every year in order to put on a friendly face of the organization and provide the opportunity for meet-and-greets (of the two-legged variety).

While I don’t have the credentials in volunteering that Greg has, I’m going to go out on a limb here and say there is one more thing that’s essential to a successful volunteer program – which became really apparent in Greg’s workshop. Cat Fancy may have honored Greg as one of the “40 Ultimate Cat Lovers in the U.S.,” but it’s pretty clear he loves people, too. So here’s my additional two cents on this topic: put someone with a heart big enough for animals and people in charge of your volunteer program!

Related links:
Protectors of Animals
Volunteers & Foster Care
“Wordless Wednesday: Volunteer Appreciation Week”
“Take Five Friday: Offsite Adoptions, What Volunteers Are Worth Per Hour and No New Car Smell”