Participation in a Short-Term Socialization and Training Program Improved Kennel-Raised Dog Welfare

Kennel-raised dogs are exposed to more stressors and fewer positive experiences than dogs raised in homes. We created a Dog Socialization and Training class to enrich the environment of university teaching dogs. Undergraduate students (103 total) were assigned a dog (64 total) to socialize and train for at least 36 30 min periods across 12 weeks. Each student used a Qualitative Behavior Assessments (QBA) tool to score 20 different behaviors on a scale of 0 to 125 for his/her dog at the beginning (PRE) and the end (POST) of each of the nine semesters. The PRE QBA scores were high for the ten positive valence behaviors including Relaxed (mean ± SE: 75 ± 6) and low for the ten negative valence behaviors including Distressed (31 ± 3). Following the interactive experiences, QBA scores for all 20 behaviors appeared to improve from 9% to 53% (p < 0.006). Principal Component Analysis identified four dimensions in the QBA scores that were responsible for most of the data variance. Providing kennel-housed dogs with regular, positive human interactions was perceived to increase the dogs' positive valence towards humans and reduced negative responses. These benefits are expected to enhance the dogs' teaching effectiveness with veterinary students, adoptability, and future adaptation to new forever homes.