Simplifying Shelter Behaviour

This week Tom is joined by Amy Fitzsimmons from Dog Possible Austin for a really practical chat about life for dogs in shelters. Amy brings along plenty of real dogs she has worked with, and it's their stories that shape the whole conversation, showing how small, simple changes can make a big difference to how a dog copes in kennels.Tom and Amy talk about getting more out of the time dogs spend with staff and volunteers, why every dog doesn't need the same thing, and how slowing down can actually be better for both the dog and the person holding the lead. They also chat about the social side of shelter dogs, and why there is so much more to it than whether or not a dog can go to playgroup.Along the way they touch on shelter culture, being open to change, and why trying the easy things first often makes the most sense. If you've ever felt there just isn't enough time in the day, this episode is full of ideas you can try tomorrow.To find out more about Amy's work, visit dogpossibleaustin.com or follow @dogpossible on Instagram.About AmyAmy is a Certified Behavior Consultant Canine (CBCC-KA) through the Certification Council for Professional Dog Trainers and a Certified Dog Behavior Consultant (CDBC) and Certified in Shelter Behavior (CSB-D) through the International Association of Animal Behavior Consultants. She is also a Fear Free Certified Trainer (FFCT), a Pet Professional Guild Canine Training Professional, and holds several certificates in ethology, animal learning, and behavior from the Ethology Institute. Prior to transitioning to dog training and behavior modification full-time, Amy was a long time public educator, working in at-risk early childhood education and serving as a teen and family crisis mentor. Her passion for providing humane, effective behavior modification and improving quality of life for dogs in homes and in shelters has only grown during well over a decade in the field. She also loves getting to work with the amazing humans who share that passion, whether for their own dogs or dogs they’re trying to help find their way home. Amy is dog mom to elder muppet/luckdragon mix Monkey and honorary house coyote Socks!

In this episode, we're joined by researcher Lauren Powell, whose work looks at why people get pets, what they expect from them, and why so many end up back in shelters. The conversation moves through four threads: the genuine benefits pets bring to our lives, the gap between what new owners expect and what actually happens, how that gap drives relinquishment, and the specific behaviour problems that push cat owners to give up their pets.A recurring theme in Powell's research is that people go into pet ownership more optimistic than the evidence supports. Her 2018 study of nearly 3,500 prospective dog adopters in Australia found that almost everyone expected big upsides: 89% expected more happiness, 89% expected more walking, and 74% expected less stress. Fewer people anticipated the costs, with only half expecting behaviour problems and just 64% expecting more responsibility. The counterintuitive finding is that experience didn't make people more realistic, it made them more optimistic. Current owners were less than half as likely as people who'd never owned a dog to expect increased responsibility or training difficulty. Ironically, the group with no ownership history at all turned out to have the most accurate expectations of anyone.This matters because that gap between expectation and reality is one of the quiet drivers behind relinquishment. Powell's paper opens by citing relinquishment and euthanasia figures to make the stakes clear, and a related Dogs Trust study by Holland and colleagues backs this up: potential owners consistently reported more aspirational motivations for getting a dog than current owners did, describing companionship, health benefits and helping a dog in need at far higher rates than people already living with the reality. The takeaway Powell and her colleagues push for is straightforward: prospective owners need honest education about the day-to-day demands of pet ownership, regardless of how much prior experience they have, because that experience doesn't appear to inoculate people against unrealistic expectations.Taken together, Powell's research paints a picture of relinquishment less as a story about difficult animals and more as a story about mismatched expectations set long before the pet arrives home, and the practical, unglamorous fix is better information given earlier.About Dr. Lauren PowellDr. Lauren Powell is an Assistant Professor in Animal Welfare & Behavior and the Director of the Powell laboratory. She also serves as a faculty member for the Master of Science in Animal Welfare & Behavior program and an elected board member for the International Society for Anthrozoology. Dr. Powell received a Bachelor of Animal and Veterinary Bioscience (First Class Honors) and a PhD of Public Health from the University of Sydney.https://www.vet.upenn.edu/research/research-laboratories/powell-laboratory/https://www.vet.upenn.edu/directory/lauren-powell/https://www.linkedin.com/in/lauren-powell-a29448142/

About This Episode In this episode, we're chatting with Dr. Ly about animal welfare and how research into one welfare, is changing how we think about supporting animals. We dig into the reasons why animals end up needing care, what affects whether owners can reclaim them, and the real challenges faced by caregivers looking after them. Understanding how we support owners over and above relinquishment is, in my opinion, essential to the future of our industry and I loved getting Dr Ly's view on things! About Dr Ly Lexis’ research focuses on ways we can use data to support One Welfare principles in animal shelters and multispecies communities. Her work supports efforts to support vulnerable human-animal bonds, help animal shelter services provide equitable services, and reduce intake to shelters. Current areas of research interest include owner relinquishment, self-rehoming, pet adoption processes, links between human and animal vulnerability, community-based support services, and access to pet care.Lexis also has a strong interest in teaching and pedagogy. She has been a teaching assistant or co-instructor for numerous classes in the program and facilitated workshops about pedagogy for graduate students. She was honoured with the Killam Graduate Teaching Assistant Award in 2025.

 In this episode, Lorenzo JW Fox and I explore coregulation, how a calm human nervous system can help a stressed dog settle and why it matters so much for shelter dogs. We talk about the quiet power of presence and touch, how Constructional Affection builds a fearful dog's comfort with people by handing them control of the interaction, and why Leslie McDevitt's Control Unleashed pairs so well with a coregulation approach through predictability, rhythm, and choice. The throughline is agency: helping dogs feel safe enough to regulate, then handing that skill back to them. About Lorenzo JW Fox He/TheyLorenzo’s childhood on a Kentucky petting zoo and cattle farm meant he was always surrounded by animals—from camels and coatimundis, to arctic foxes and water buffalo. After earning his BA, Lorenzo spent nearly a decade working with people in challenging situations like juvenile incarceration and crisis centers. Eventually, he turned his skills toward animals, specializing in resolving tough behavior issues like aggression and anxiety.When he’s not busy working with pets, you’ll likely find Lorenzo hiking, climbing, or doing dog sports like agility, tracking, nose work, and dock diving. He’s also dedicated to caring for his diverse animal family, which includes a cockatiel, a boa, and baby tarantulas!  Me-tiktok: @lorenzojw_xig: @lorenzojw_x@summer_and_yoshi_and_rufioSynergy Veterinary Behavior-www.synergybehavior.comig & facebook:@synergybehavior

This episode really got my brain turning! The amazing Adrian Ray-Avalani brought their linguistic background to the table and spoke to us about a parent-child communication framework that helps us support owners in our conversations, and helps owners in the conversations they have with their dogs! You can nearly hear the cogs in my brain turning as Adrian talks us through how to build good communication across a dog team, and how we can improve the way we communicate with our clients through understanding, expectation, and conversation. About Adrian Ray-Avalani Adrian Ray-Avalani has always been fascinated by systems of communication. As a computational linguist, Adrian's training is in human behavior and language use, but to their surprise, humans started to make more sense once they got their first dog. Adrian currently helps manage Control Unleashed's online presence and assists in in-person CU classes, as well as volunteering at the PAWS animal shelter, where they introduce shelter dogs to pattern games. Outside of the dog world, Adrian enjoys science fiction books and media, adaptive rock climbing, wheelchair hikes, and training their cat, Coriander (who can now roll over and meow on cue!). Adrian lives in Philadelphia with their partner Leslie, two part-time spawn, and a fluctuating number of beasts at any given time. They are probably training one of them right now. Links • Conference Unleashed! (virtual and in person): https://www.conferenceunleashed.com/ • Control Unleashed with Leslie (episode): https://open.spotify.com/episode/0pgxfbWoN9OxGS3jDsXVOm?si=bJd6nXwITu2KfxgddRWtPQ • Control Unleashed with Cats: https://open.spotify.com/episode/665UfqdozqOFdGy1FRtObM?si=Fhd_pUVHSE2lajUnGK4qIg • Grisha Stewart Academy, Ask Me Anything: Problem Solving for Control Unleashed with Leslie and Adrian: https://school.grishastewart.com/courses/troubleshootingpatterngames?ref=352ff9 • Animal Training Academy Episode- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXsVrUAV9Mo