Understanding and meeting the welfare needs of working dogs – Presented by Sam Gaines

Welfare i.e. the physical and mental health of an animal is closely linked with performance and working ability. Studies of assistance dogs have shown that high levels of stress leads to failure and research using military working dogs has found similar links between elevated stress and poor performance. Working dogs are both valuable and of value so it makes good economic sense that they are happy and healthy. However, there are other reasons as to why welfare is important including our moral duty to do what is right, the public’s perception of how we treat animals, our legal duty and the increasing understanding around animal sentience i.e. the capacity to experience positive and negative feelings and that these feelings matter to animals.

This presentation will provide attendees with a contemporary and evidence based understanding of animal welfare, introducing ideas about how we can meet the welfare needs of working dogs.  In particular, the behavioural and social needs of working dogs will be looked at in detail and how we can influence these through our choices of training methods and interactions.

Coming soon.