Volunteers who donate an hour or two each week playing with the dogs and cats at the local shelter may not realize just how important their work is. While a clean environment and regular food are basic needs, dogs and cats, being the domestic animals that they are, thrive on love and attention.
Homeless dogs and cats who find themselves in a no-kill shelter are fortunate in that they have a second chance at finding a home and a good life. Despite that, life in a shelter can often be stressful.
Shelter Life can be Stressful
Many shelters are overcrowded, noisy, require extended periods of time in crates or kennels, and employ a small, overworked staff that is so busy keeping up with the basics that it has little time to offer the large number of animals one on one love and attention.
These conditions, coupled with the fact that many dogs and cats may be missing their original home and family, can cause a great deal of stress for pets. Sometimes very old or very young pets who do not adjust well will be cared for in a foster home when, or if, one is available but, for the most part, shelter animals must cope the best they can until a forever home comes along.
For some animals, that may not be very long. Those who adjust well and greet their visitors happily and playfully are the first to be chosen by adoptive families. Others become more withdrawn and sometimes develop anxiety-induced behaviors. These are the ones who typically get passed up and may languish for months or even years in the shelter.
Scientific Study Shows Attention Reduces Stress in Dogs
In a study published in 2006 in the journal of Physiology and Behavior, a group of dogs in a shelter were groomed and played with for an average of 45 minutes the day after their arrival. Another control group of dogs did not get this attention. On the third day, levels of cortisol, a hormone indicating stress, were measured in saliva samples. The dogs who had received human attention the day before had much lower cortisol levels that did the dogs who did not get this attention.
This is where the value of volunteers, who can give dogs and cats the love and attention every pet deserves, comes in. While some volunteers help with cleaning, feeding and paperwork, many devote their time to the important role of lavishing shelter dogs and cats with the love and attention that pets in a happy, forever home experience.
When pets have lower stress levels, their personality can blossom, which increases their chances of being adopted sooner, which in turn, provides space sooner for another homeless pet to be rescued.
Related Reading
Dogs Suffer Stress Too discusses the symptoms and behavior problems of stress and ways to reduce stress in dogs.
Most children love to work with animals. Kids Volunteering Help at Animal Shelters offers ideas for ways children can help, despite age limitations at some shelters.
Source
Constant Din of Barking Causes Stress Behavior Changes in Dogs in Shelters, ScienceDaily.com
Joy Butler - Writer, retired lab tech, mom, and animal lover with over 20 years' experience rescuing, kenneling, training and showing dogs.
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