IMPROVING IN-KENNEL PRESENTATION OF SHELTER DOGS THROUGH RESPONSE-DEPENDENT AND RESPONSE-INDEPENDENT TREAT DELIVERY
Publication Type: |
Journal Article |
Year of Publication: |
2015 |
Authors: |
A. Protopopova, C. D. L. Wynne |
Publication/Journal: |
Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis |
Keywords: |
adoption, animal behavior, animal welfare, behavior, clinical, environmental enrichment, noise, psychology, rescue shelter, shelter dogs |
ISBN: |
0021-8855 |
Abstract:
In a sequence of studies, we evaluated 2 behavioral interventions designed to decrease undesirable in-kennel behaviors of shelter dogs. In Experiment 1, we compared the efficacy of a simple pairing of person with food (response-independent treat delivery) to an increasing interval differential-reinforcement-of-other-behavior (DRO) procedure and a control condition. Both procedures decreased the median percentage of undesirable behavior from baseline (88.13%, interquartile range [IQR]=52.78% and 66.43%, IQR=89.06% respectively), and the control condition increased behavior by 15.13% (IQR=32.08%), H(2)=6.49, p=.039. In Experiment 2, we assessed the efficacy of a response-independent procedure on the whole shelter population. We found a 68% decrease from baseline in the number of dogs that behaved undesirably (U=-4.16, p<.001). Our results suggest that a response-independent procedure is equivalent in efficacy to a DRO procedure to decrease undesirable in-kennel behavior of shelter dogs.