Webinars Series: SAFER Canine Assessment

This free, multi-part webinar series will benefit any individual or animal welfare organization seeking to learn more about the ASPCA's SAFER® canine assessment program. The goal of the series is to provide the informational tools needed for program implementation resulting in SAFER Assessor certification. Assessors and organizations currently using the program will also learn ways to fine-tune their implementation to ensure dogs are assessed in the most objective and accurate manner.

Session One: Canine Assessment: SAFER Overview and Research *
Presented by ASPCA staff: Emily Weiss, PhD, CAAB

Interested in implementing a standardized assessment in your shelter?

Learn about SAFER® (Safety Assessment for Evaluating Rehoming), a canine aggression assessment designed by Emily Weiss, PhD, CAAB. Dr. Weiss will cover the history, the research, where we are now, and other ways to collect information about each dog (SAFER is just one piece of a puzzle). SAFER is a brief yet thorough assessment to evaluate what resources you may need to place each dog. SAFER can identify which dogs are ready to go into your placement program or rescue, which ones will benefit from behavior modification, and which ones may need careful management when placed.

This webinar will benefit anyone working in animal welfare, dog training, or those interested in shelter programs.

Certified Behavior Consultant-Canine (CBCC's) who attend the full live session are eligible for 1 CEU credit for behavior consultants from the Certification Council for Professional Dog Trainers (CCPDT).

Session Two: ASPCA SAFER Equipment & Handling *
Presented by ASPCA staff: ASPCA: Shannon Gramann; Heather Mohan-Gibbons, MS, RVT, ACAAB, CBCC-KA

SAFER® (Safety Assessment for Evaluating Rehoming), is an ASPCA canine assessment program. It is a predictive, consistent method for evaluating the probability of canine aggression in individual dogs. The seven item assessment generally takes no more than 10 minutes per dog to complete. In this webinar we'll examine each SAFER assessment item in sequence. We'll focus on how each item is conducted, what behaviors the item is meant to identify and what those might mean in regard to the dog's adoptability profile. We'll also cover how to effectively use your body position as well as proper leash handling for each item to accurately conduct the assessment.

SAFER assessments demand little in the way of special equipment or space. Many tools can be found in the average shelter. We'll review facility requirements and equipment, and discuss the components needed to conduct the SAFER assessment and why they're important.

This webinar will benefit anyone working in animal welfare, dog training, or those interested in shelter programs. Assessors and organizations currently using the program will also learn ways to fine-tune their implementation to ensure dogs are assessed in the most objective and accurate manner. This webinar is an overview of SAFER handling and does not replace the information found in the SAFER DVD and guidebook.

To get the most out of this session, we strongly recommend you participate in the other webinars in the four-part SAFER series by watching webinar recordings.

Certified Behavior Consultant-Canine(CBCC's) who attended the full live session are eligible for 1 CEU credit for behavior consultants from the Certification Council for Professional Dog Trainers (CCPDT).

Session Three: SAFER Canine Assessment: Scoring & Choice *
Presented by ASPCA staff: ASPCA: Shannon Gramann; Heather Mohan-Gibbons, MS, RVT, ACAAB, CBCC-KA

ASPCA SAFER® Aggression Assessment is a predictive, consistent method for evaluating the probability of canine aggression in individual dogs. This webinar, the third in a four-part series, focuses on objectively scoring the behavior responses seen during each SAFER item as well as behaviors throughout the assessment. We will help you determine which dogs are candidates for behavior modification. Throughout, you'll see how important the role of choice plays into the assessment, as dogs are given the choice to interact with or move away from the handler in each assessment item.

This webinar is an overview of SAFER scoring and does not replace the information found in the SAFER DVD and guidebook. This webinar will benefit anyone working in animal welfare, dog training, or those interested in shelter programs. Assessors and organizations currently using the program will also learn ways to fine-tune their implementation to ensure dogs are assessed in the most objective and accurate manner.

To get the most out of this session, we strongly recommend you participate in the other webinars in the four-part SAFER series by watching webinar recordings.

Certified Behavior Consultant-Canine (CBCC's) who attended the full live session are eligible for 1 CEU credit for behavior consultants from the Certification Council for Professional Dog Trainers (CCPDT).

Session Four: Becoming a SAFER Certified Assessor
Presented by:

• Charleston Animal Society: Pearl Sutton; Paul Aytes
• Wisconsin Humane Society: Natalie Zielinksi
• ASPCA: Shannon Gramann; Heather Mohan-Gibbons, MS, RVT, ACAAB, CBCC-KA

The ASPCA SAFER® Aggression Assessment is a tool that requires strong handling skills, body awareness, and a keen understanding for objectively observing canine behavior. This webinar is an overview of the ways to get SAFER Certified.

Certification can be obtained remotely via several ways using a video camera. Certification ensures assessors have the knowledge and skills to perform SAFER as it is designed and can handle potentially aggressive dogs humanely and safely. Also, behaviors seen during SAFER are repeatable when performed by another certified assessor. Join us as we walk you through the components to becoming a SAFER certified assessor and hear from other certified assessors in the field about how the SAFER assessment has helped them to save lives.

This webinar will benefit anyone working in animal welfare, dog training, or those interested in shelter programs.

To get the most out of this session, we strongly recommend you participate in the other webinars in the four-part SAFER series by watching the webinar recordings.

Session Five: Identifying and Managing Food Guarding In Shelter Dogs *
Presented by ASPCA staff: Heather Mohan-Gibbons, MS, RVT, ACAAB, CDEP, CBCC-KA; and Emily Weiss, PhD, CAAB

Learn how to identify food guarding behavior using the ASPCA SAFER aggression assessment. Hear about the findings of a national survey on what shelters are currently doing with food guarding dogs. We will discuss what kind of support these dogs need post-adoption, and share a downloadable program to help you save the dogs that are more at-risk in your shelter.

Discover two options for managing food guarding in your shelter:

1)  Use a behavior modification program either in-shelter or in-foster home to save more lives or
2)  Place some food guarders directly into homes without behavior modification

Also, learn how fosters can serve as “Adoption Ambassadors” and adopt these dogs directly from their homes, saving shelter resources and saving lives!  This webinar will benefit anyone working in animal welfare, dog training, veterinary clinics, foster care, and animal behavior consultation.

To get the most out of this session, we strongly recommend you participate in the other webinars in the SAFER series by watching webinar recordings.

Certified Behavior Consultant-Canine (CBCC's) who attended the full live session are eligible for 1 CEU credit for behavior consultants from the Certification Council for Professional Dog Trainers (CCPDT).