Fall 2007 • V ol. 42 No. 3 - San Diego Humane Society and SPCA

president’s message
How Training Helps Our
Adoptable Pets Find
New Homes
Mark Goldstein, D.V.M.,
CAWA, President of
the San Diego Humane
Society and SPCA
with his dog Ren.
In this issue you will read how the San Diego Humane Society and SPCA’s certified behavior training staff helps
pet parents work on their pet’s behavior issues. In addition to their work with pet parents in our community,
our behavior trainers also play an essential role in how we prepare our shelter pets for adoption into their new
homes. Thanks to generous support from our community, we are able to provide essential training to our shelter
animals in order to make them more appealing to potential adopters, to assist in reducing their stress levels during
their stay with us, and also to ensure a more successful transition to their new homes.
Despite the fact that our available pets are housed in apartment-like settings and have daily interactions with
staff and volunteers, a number of pets who come to the Humane Society can become stressed by the change in their
environment and/or normal routine, as well as the proximity of other animals.
To ease our pets’ stress levels, Humane Society behavior trainers work with pets on an individual basis, both inside
and outside of their habitats, to make each pet’s stay in our adoption program more pleasant. For example, training
a shy dog that his bed or crate is a stress-free place he can go when he is unsure can help calm him and alleviate his
anxiety. Over time, the end result is a better-behaved pet who, in turn, will attract more potential adopters and has a
higher potential to do well in his new home.
In other cases, the simple observation of a pet’s reaction to his environment and taking steps to alleviate anything
stress-causing can make a big difference in our animals’ well being. For instance, our trainers may recommend that a
dog who reacts to potential adopters at his habitat window by barking (much like a dog at home might bark at
someone at the door) have a shade placed over his window. This decreases the startle-factor of people suddenly
popping in and out of sight, and helps him to relax. Such observations and recommendations by our trainers make it
easier for our pets to find new homes and can aid in devising solutions to potential behavior problems before the pet
has even gone to a new home.
In addition to reducing our pets’ stress and anxiety, the hands-on training methods our behavior and training
team uses with our animals to modify and shape behavior is essential in preparing our pets for adoption. Using
positive reinforcement training techniques which reward pets for their good behavior, our trainers work with pets to
encourage behaviors that will make it easier for them to find homes. Whether it’s teaching a dog that the best way to
get attention is by sitting quietly (and not jumping!) or by working with an under-socialized cat to enjoy touching
and petting, our behavior trainers’ work increases the overall adoptability of our pets. In the long run, the time our
trainers spend teaching and training our pets results in better companion animals as well as more successful
adoptions and homes for our pets.
It is only thanks to support from patrons like you that the San Diego Humane Society is able to take the sheltering
and adoption of our pets to a new level with our team of certified behavior trainers. Thank you for continuing to
support animals in need and for helping us to find them new, loving homes.
In our next issue of AnimalFare I look forward to talking about Behavioral Assessments and how we use this
observational tool to find our animals the best home matches possible.
Mark Goldstein, D.V.M., CAWA
President of the San Diego Humane Society and SPCA
2 www.sdhumane.org
AnimalFare • Fall 2007
Photo: Melisa Codgell