Dog Behavior Assessment 2: How Do You Feel?

This is the second course in a three-course dog assessment series. The courses are designed to be taken in order. If you have not already done so, please complete course 1. 

Successful evaluations require nuance and specificity. In this course, we seek to answer the question “How does the dog feel about this specific stimulus?” If the dog feels scared, anxious, frustrated, or something else that causes a sudden change in their behavior, we might recognize that stimulus as a trigger. Then we need to ask more questions like “Where is the threshold for this trigger?” and “How can I manage this trigger to avoid the dog becoming overwhelmed?” The answers to these questions will get to the heart of answering the whole purpose of an evaluation in a shelter:

• What does safe handling look like for this dog?
• Do we have the resources to safely handle this dog?
• How do I explain what I'm seeing to make sure we all have the objective information we need to make safe and informed decisions about handling this dog?

Course author: Devan Amundsen, CPDT-KA CBCC-KA, is a certified dog trainer, certified behavior consultant, and founder of the nonprofit Free Dog Trainers. He has over 15 years of experience working with not just dog owners, but dogs in shelters, assistance dogs and other working dogs.