APDT Foundation Poster-Using interactive and therapeutic play leads to improve health and wellness in shelter dogs

Description

One challenge for shelters is the excitement dog’s show to visitors that may not be representative of their personality, but rather a symptom of being kenneled for the majority of their time. Occupational therapy interventions with children use sensory-motor strategies of heavy work (proprioceptive input) and movement (vestibular input) for improved behavior responses and emotional regulation. Through neural plasticity, nervous system pathways are strengthened and recruited for a more developed and mature nervous system. Based on these concepts, a toy was designed for dogs that matches the high stimulus threshold required to elicit a neuronal response. Shelter dogs are likely to be anxious or stressed due to their lack of interaction, presenting behaviors such as pacing, barking, or jumping. However, if they receive sufficient neural stimuli through interaction with this object – therapeutic play – they should develop a calmer, perhaps more approachable, demeanor and hopefully have a greater likelihood of being adopted. Furthermore, previous studies have shown that human interaction can reduce stress as measured by cortisol levels. Based on these ideas, enrichment for dogs at a large shelter was designed using therapeutic and interactive play with a trained behaviorist. Following two weeks of playing with these dogs every other day, behaviors that typically indicate stress or anxiety showed a significant decrease (e.g., jumping on and nipping at the trainer.) In addition, salivary cortisol was significantly lower on the last day of play and remained lower for at least three days. These data together suggest that enrichment involving therapeutic and interactive play can have a significant and lasting impact on the health and wellness of shelter dogs. After summarizing research results, we will discuss how programs can be developed and maintained in shelters through volunteers.

This research is a collaboration with Calmr Dog Toys, Inc. and Unleashed Training, LLC.