Dear all Dr. Mandy Paterson, Principal Scientist at RSPCA Queensland, Australia will give a talk entitled "Adoption success, behaviour assessment and other research at RSPCA Queensland" (abstract below) Thursday 4th April, 3A94, Cottrell Building , University of Stirling. External visitors please see: https://www.stir.ac.uk/about/getting-here/ Note you need to pay for parking between 9am-5pm. If anyone would like to join us for dinner after Mandy's talk please let me know by Tuesday 2nd April so I may book a table (h.m.buchanan-smith(a)stir.ac.uk) Please feel free to share amongst colleagues/other potentially interested parties. "Adoption success, behaviour assessment and other research at RSPCA Queensland" Abstract RSPCA Qld rehomes over 6,000 dogs and 10,000 cats a year as well as approximately 2,000 other species (birds, livestock, rodents and reptiles). We aim to achieve a successful match between adopted pet and new owner but this, unfortunately is not always the case. Animals brought back within 14 days are named 'returns', are accepted back and the owner receives a refund. Pets brought back after 14 days, in most cases, are treated the same as any other 'surrender' and are not tagged as a 'return' in our database (although the animal will have the same identification number). The 'return rate' for RSPCA Qld is around 3% but the true number of animals that comes back to us (returns and surrenders) has not been examined. When an animal is returned or surrendered a reason for this is recorded. However, whether the reasons given paint an accurate picture is not known. Initial analysis reveals that between 4% (kittens) and 13% (adult dogs) are brought back to the shelter and 70% of these are in the first 14 days. A better understanding of the animals coming back - how long they are staying in the new home, and why they are being brought back - will allow us to improve our adoption processes, animal preparation for adoption and support given for animals after adoption. In shelters around the world, dogs' behaviour is assessed prior to adoption to gauge suitability for adoption, ensure public safety (aggressive dogs are not allowed into the community), and instigate behaviour modification programs where necessary. However, the validity and predictability of such assessments is currently under fire with some shelters even stopping assessments altogether. RSPCA Qld believes there is value in canine behaviour assessment and we have conducted several studies with the aim to improve overall assessment processes and gauge just how predicative our testing is. We found the following post-adoption behaviours were significantly correlated with shelter behaviour assessment: friendliness and social behaviour including interactions with children, strangers and known and unknown dogs and cats; anxiousness; and fear. When asked about their adopted dog's behaviour around food, 91% of new owners were not concerned, and when asked about their dog when it had been left alone, 80% were not concerned about its behaviour. Hannah M. Buchanan-Smith Professor, Behaviour and Evolution Research Group<https://www.stir.ac.uk/about/faculties-and-services/natural-sciences/our-research/research-groups/behaviour-and-evolution-research-group/> Stirling Human Animal Interaction Research (SHAIR<https://www.stir.ac.uk/about/faculties-and-services/natural-sciences/our-research/research-groups/behaviour-and-evolution-research-group/stirling-human-animal-interaction-research/>) Group Room 3A79, Cottrell Psychology, Faculty of Natural Sciences University of Stirling Stirling, FK9 4LA Scotland Tel: 01786 467674 Fax: 01786 467641 E-mail: h.m.buchanan-smith@stir.ac.uk<mailto:h.m.buchanan-smith@stir.ac.uk> Home page: https://www.stir.ac.uk/people/257464 http://marmosetcare.com/ http://www.247animalwelfare.eu/ http://refiningdogcare.com/