Helping Fearful Shelter Dogs: Human Contact as a Key to Hope

For fearful shelter dogs, even two fifteen-minute interactions with a human per day for five days improve their adoptability.

Entering a shelter is a highly stressful experience for any dog. For fearful dogs, the inability to escape perceived threats can trigger defensive behaviors such as growling or even snapping.

A new study by Regina Willen and the HALO team, published in Applied Animal Behaviour Science, highlights the effectiveness of a program providing positive human contact. This approach may significantly improve adoption outcomes for fearful dogs.

The researchers write:

“Providing dogs with relatively brief interactions with a person in a calm environment, enhanced with elements like treats or toys, may be an effective tool for reducing aggressive behavior in these animals and also appears to improve their affective state.”

Many shelters still use standardized screening tools to assess a dog’s suitability for adoption. One commonly used tool is SAFER (Safety Assessment for Evaluating Rehoming), which tests how dogs respond to situations like direct eye contact, being touched or handled, and having their food bowl moved while eating.

Fearful dogs often “fail” such tests. While intended as just one of several assessment methods, in overcrowded shelters with limited time and staff, dogs that don’t pass may end up being euthanized.

The Study

Dogs were assessed within 24 hours of arriving at the shelter and classified as fearful if they showed behaviors such as avoiding eye contact, retreating to the back of the kennel, cowering, or panting. When approached, they would growl, back away, lower their posture, and avoid eye contact. Dogs displaying offensive aggression (e.g., tail up, approaching the person) or with a bite history were excluded from the study.

In a series of three experiments, fearful and non-fearful dogs were divided into control and experimental groups. The experimental group participated in a human interaction program over five days, while the control group did not. Afterwards, the dogs were assessed using the SAFER test or a cognitive bias (optimism) test.

Almost all non-fearful dogs passed the SAFER test regardless of participation. However, only a small percentage of fearful dogs in the control groups passed: 33% in experiment 1 and 13% in experiment 2. Among fearful dogs who participated in the human contact program, most passed: 77% in experiment 1 and 94% in experiment 2.

In the optimism test (experiment 3), dogs were trained that a food bowl in one location always contained a treat, while another location never did. Then, a bowl was placed in a neutral location to assess the dog’s response.

Fearful dogs took longer to complete the training. However, those who experienced positive human contact approached the neutral bowl faster than those in the control group, suggesting greater optimism. Interestingly, non-fearful dogs who had experienced human contact were slower to approach the neutral bowl than their control counterparts—possibly because they preferred to stay near a familiar human rather than explore an ambiguous situation.

The Intervention

The human contact program included two 15-minute sessions per day in a quiet room designed to resemble a home environment, with a rug, couch, classical music, and the scent of lavender—conditions shown to benefit shelter dogs in previous studies. Dogs could interact with the handler if they chose to or simply rest and explore. Toys and treats were available.

Sessions were conducted by a certified behaviorist. For safety and efficacy, this kind of program requires professional expertise. Some fearful dogs needed several sessions before they were even comfortable enough to enter the room—up to two days in some cases.

Ideally, the optimism test would have been conducted by someone other than the person the dog interacted with, but for fearful dogs, this proved too stressful. Therefore, the same person conducted both the interactions and the test.

Results

The study shows that a brief enrichment program involving gentle human interaction in a calm environment significantly increases the number of fearful dogs that pass the SAFER test. This is crucial—it means more fearful dogs are considered adoptable and can engage in shelter activities like walks with volunteers.

The findings align with previous studies showing that short petting sessions can improve shelter dogs’ wellbeing (McGowan et al., 2018).

Fearful dogs in the program also showed greater optimism—an important indicator of improved emotional state.

Takeaway

There’s more we can do to support fearful dogs in shelters. One highly effective, low-cost step is simply to give them time and space with a trained, compassionate human.

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Zazie Todd, PhD. Happy cats. Happy dogs. Thanks to science. Companion Animal Psychology

Willen, R. M., Schiml, P. A., & Hennessy, M. B. (2019). Enrichment centered on human interaction moderates fear-induced aggression and increases positive expectancy in fearful shelter dogs. Applied Animal Behaviour Science. 217: 57-62. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.applanim.2019.05.001

McGowan, R. T., Bolte, C., Barnett, H. R., Perez-Camargo, G., & Martin, F. (2018). Can you spare 15 min? The measurable positive impact of a 15-min petting session on shelter dog well-being. Applied Animal Behaviour Science, 203, 42-54.