Individual Dogs & Behavior Programs

We assist in the evaluation of individual dogs and their behavior, providing recommendations on course of action and individualized treatment plans. We can also evaluate the day-to-day practices of behavior programs with a goal of reducing stress and improving animal well-being. This includes implementation of evidence-based enrichment interventions and the use of tools that minimize behavioral issues.

Other Programs

In addition to behavior, we evaluate programs or departments within the operations of your shelter that impact live release including adoptions, post-adoption support, intake, and fostering programs. Our goal is to improve adoptions, decrease returns, assist owners, and increase information sharing.

Shelter Design & Infrastructure

The environment that shelter animals live within during their stay can affect their health and well-being. If you'd like to make improvements to your existing shelter, we provide recommendations that take advantage of current infrastructure assets while minimizing limitations. If your organization is building a new facility, we offer design recommendations for animal spaces that aim to improve welfare while keeping in mind workspace functionality.

Human Performance

Staff and volunteers are the lifeblood of shelters. Our skills as behaviorists extend beyond animals. We provide workforce (staff & volunteer) performance analysis with the goals of enhancing recruitment, retention, education & skills, productivity, and morale. Our approach capitalizes on existing workforce strengths while adding new programs that increase care and contact.

Intervention Evaluation

As shelter scientists, we are skilled in measuring programmatic efficacy. We can evaluate current interventions in place or train your staff on how to assess programs of interest. Our training includes identification of meaningful outcome measures, constructing data collection procedures, guidance in basic data analysis, and tools for making data-based decisions. 

For more information ISD's Shelter Consultation Services including pricing and availability, reach out to us via email at dogspeaksf@gmail.com and/or somethingbacher@gmail.com