Case Study: Dog Evaluation Jess
Case Studies are great ways to learn more about dog evaluations. Grab a cup of coffee, print off the evaluation form to review and then sit down and watch this five minute video. Compare your thoughts against the decisions made by one daycare. Do you agree? Disagree? Get your staff together and talk about what you see and think. Start now with our first study featuring Jess’ Dog Evaluation at Urban Tails.
The 5 minute video includes clips from a dog evaluation done at Urban Tails. Jess is a female Doberman mix that applied for the dog daycare program. Based on review of the application it was decided to schedule the evaluation during an onsite training program (this is the reason you will observe so many people in background of the video). The full evaluation session took about 45 minutes to complete.
Background:
Click here to review the completed Application form for background information on Jess, the applicant dog (names have been changed to protect the innocent).
The video shows Jess meeting four tester dogs; during the actual evaluation she was introduced to six different dogs, including a small cavalier. The first two dogs, Sheppy and Dallas were low-key calm balanced adult dogs frequently used during evaluations. Sheppy is a male, six-year old cocker/chow mix. Dallas is a female eight-year old bassett hound. Buddy and Brownie are both males under three years of age.
Dog evaluations at Urban Tails are performed on leash with staff handling the leads. You will observe the dogs are wearing metal choke collars that are not fitted to each dog. This is not a recommendation from The Dog Gurus, but is the procedure followed by Urban Tails for evaluations.
Jess’s mom did attend the evaluation and was instructed to ignore Jess and to not interact with her during the session. Mom was encouraged to interact with the other tester dogs. Near the end of the clip you will see Jess at a door as her owner had left the room for that portion of the evaluation.
Urban Tails’ training manager led the evaluation session.
Urban Tails has three primary play groups for dogs that attend daycare. Puppies under 5-6 months of age and tiny dogs attend separate daycare playgroups from the primary groups listed.
- Small Tails – Comprised of smaller, less active dogs and some large low activity dogs. Tiny dogs (less than 10 pounds are excluded from this group).
- Happy Tails – Comprised of younger large dogs and medium-sized dogs that are active players.
- Body Slamming Tails – Comprised of large very active dogs that enjoy chase, wrestle and body-slamming play styles.
How to Use the Case Study:
We have created a “short” and “extended” case study option for this video clip. The short version is fully contained in this post; the extended version is available here. Once you work through the case study consider presenting it to your staff for continuing education training.
Watch the video clip and respond to the following questions:
- Name one red flag response noted during your review of the application form
- How were Jess’s social interactions?
- What did Jess’s behavior during the small group tell you?
- Is she a fit to your playgroups? Why or Why not?
Audio Note: Audio only accompanies clips when it is relevant dog communication or explains what is happening during the evaluation. Several clips are silent to eliminate distracting background noises.
If you found the short case study interesting then click here for an extended list of questions to consider related to the Jess evaluation.
To see responses to the extended case study questions from The Dog Gurus, Robin and Susan click here.
