Ruff Morning? The Use of Environmental Enrichment during an Acute Stressor in Kenneled Shelter Dogs

SIMPLE SUMMARY: Dogs in shelters are often exposed to unavoidable stressful events. Finding effective and novel enrichment for dogs, especially the longer they stay in that environment, is a significant welfare concern. We wanted to compare the effectiveness of enrichment items as a stress buffer for shelter dogs during the acute stressor of the morning cleaning and to support a proposed prescription system of enrichment. This new system would focus on post-enrichment behaviors. We found calming items were more effective than no enrichment at reducing stress-related behaviors seen in kenneled dogs. Tactile items reduced vocalization the most, with the arousing tactile item (a ball) resulting in the lowest frequency overall. Our results suggest that the type of enrichment item should be thoughtfully chosen during acute stress events, which would then optimize a shelter’s limited resources, decrease stress-indicative behaviors, and indirectly reduce the need for euthanasia by increasing adoption rates. ABSTRACT: The length of stay for some animals has increased with the recent reduction of animals euthanized in US shelters and animal control facilities. Research examining the effectiveness of different types of enrichment on buffering the effects of acute daily stressors in the shelter environment, such as kennel cleaning, is lacking. In addition, daily known stressors can result in undesirable behaviors that could lead to a need for euthanasia. Ways to effectively reduce the effects of daily stressors while optimizing strained resources is currently a high priority. In this study, we presented shelter dogs with food, tactile, and scent enrichment items to increase (arousing) or decrease (calming) activity during the daily stressor of morning kennel cleaning. We found that calming, rather than arousing, enrichment items were associated with body position scores indicative of lower stress in dogs, with calming scent enrichment (lavender) producing the most significant benefit. In contrast, items that showed the greatest reduction in vocalization were arousing (ball) compared to other arousing conditions. Our findings suggest that different unwanted behaviors in the kennel environment often associated with stress can be reduced using specific types of enrichment during a daily stressful event. Further, the results illustrate that enrichment items other than food might be more effective at decreasing certain undesirable behaviors. Overall, this study provides insight into how shelter workers might effectively use enrichment items during an unavoidable acute stressor. With many shelters keeping dogs longer, addressing events that might cause repeated stress in this population may indirectly help with adopting and lowering euthanasia rates due to unwanted behavior that develops due to repeated exposure to this necessary but acute stressor of morning cleaning.