Dog Behavior Assessment 3: What Do You Think?

This is the third 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 and course 2. 

In the first two courses, we went from identifying what the dog wants (so we can get them out of their kennel) to identifying how the dog feels (so we can get them out into the world). However, the real world is complicated. There's no reasonable way to devise a singular test that can accurately predict future potentially challenging behavior. That's why, in this final course, we identify a framework for evaluating a dog in a way that's safe, reasonable and nuanced. The process of assessment should be to identify what needs to be disclosed to a potential adopter about what we have observed, and to make a plan about how to move forward. Our goal during assessment is to handle the dog to the best of our ability, carefully observe the dog's behavior throughout, respond appropriately to communication from the dog, and report transparently about what we saw. 

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.