Maddie's Insights: Implications of weeklong fostering and co-housing on shelter dog welfare (On demand)
Recorded On: 05/14/2026
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Maddie's® Insights are monthly webcasts with practical tips based on current research to help pets and people.
Meeting both the physical and psychological needs of dogs living in animal shelters is a challenging proposition. Negative environmental inputs, such as excessive noise, restrictive kenneling, and social isolation, contribute to compromised canine welfare. Human-animal interaction, such as a temporary stay in a caregiver’s home, has been shown to reduce dogs’ cortisol levels and increase their rest. What is not well understood, though, is if longer durations of foster care could extend those benefits. In addition, co-housing in the animal shelter has been even less explored scientifically, but previous studies suggest that dogs’ behavior can be improved through living with another dog. In this webcast, Dr. Lisa Gunter will present our findings from her recently published study about weeklong fostering and co-housing, place these results in context with their previous work investigating various durations of fostering, and discuss the implications of these findings for how they utilize foster care and co-housing in the animal shelter.
Key learning objectives:
- discuss previous research about field trips and sleepovers
- describe new findings about weeklong fostering and co-housing
- differentiate how to utilize field trips, sleepovers, and weeklong fostering to positively impact dogs' proximate and distal welfare
- recognize utility of co-housing on entry into the animal shelter
Webcast host: Sheila Segurson, Director of Shelter Solutions, Maddie's Fund
Presenter: Lisa Gunter, PhD, MA, CBCC-KA, Asst Professor, Animal Behavior & Welfare, Virginia Tech
This webinar has been pre-approved for 1.0 Certified Animal Welfare Administrator continuing education credits by The Association for Animal Welfare Advancement (CAWA) and by the National Animal Care & Control Association (NACA). It has also been approval for 1 hour of continuing education credit in jurisdictions which recognize RACE approval until 4/8/2028. Complete the quiz to earn a certificate of attendance to use for CAWA, NACA and RACE CE.
Visit Maddie's Pet Forum to comment, follow a discussion or ask questions: https://maddies.fund/InsightsM...
keywords Maddie's Insights, Dr Lisa Gunter, shelter pet foster programs, week-long fostering and co-housing for shelter dogs. animal welfare research
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LockedLisa Gunter, PhD, CAAB, CBCC-KA
Assistant Professor
Virginia Tech School of Animal Sciences
Dr. Lisa Gunter is an Assistant Professor of Animal Behavior & Welfare at Virginia Tech in the School of Animal Sciences and directs the Companion Animal Research & Education (CARE) Lab. Before beginning her graduate studies, she worked for nearly a decade with dogs in animal shelters and owners and their dogs. Over her academic career, she has investigated the breed labeling of shelter dogs, their breed heritage, shelter housing and social interactions with other dogs and people, weeklong fostering, temporary stays in foster homes, short-term outings, behavioral indicators of welfare, post-adoption interventions focused on owner retention, canine adoption and relinquishment in the animal shelter - and more recently, fostering during the pandemic and safety net programs aimed at keeping people and their pets together. Prior to joining Virginia Tech, she was an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology at Coastal Carolina University and the Maddie’s Fund Research Fellow at Arizona State University and managed the ASU/VT Maddie’s Nationwide Fostering Study. Lisa earned her PhD and MA degrees in the behavioral neuroscience and comparative psychology program at Arizona State University in the Canine Science Collaboratory.
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