The effect of the kennel environment on canine welfare: a critical review of experimental studies
By K. D. Taylor, Daniel Mills. Animal Welfare, 2007
181 citations recorded by the source corpus.
Dogs can be held temporarily or permanently in kennels for a number of reasons, not necessarily for their own benefit. Although restrictive environments have been associated with poor welfare, priorities for research and change cannot be understood unless the various aspects of the kennel environment are appreciated separately. This review critically evaluates the experimental research regarding the physical, social, sensory, occupational, nutritional and psychological aspects of the kennel environment and their effects on canine welfare, with a view to providing a consolidated report on our current state of knowledge on this subject. However, the lack of within-dog, single manipulations and a focus on quantitative measures affects the ability to make valid conclusions about the welfare benefits of several aspects, including social housing, kennel size and location. Despite these criticisms, the evidence for the positive benefits of group housing is strong. There is also considerable evidence for the benefits of positive human contact particularly on sociability and stress responses in other situations. Surprisingly few studies have looked at other forms of enrichment and even less have considered the potential for the kennel to be over-stimulating in an auditory, olfactory and visual sense. Such topics are suggested as priorities for further research, in addition to ways of minimising aggression in group housing and the effect of establishment of predictability on adjustment to kennelling.
Subfields: Ecology, Genetics, Small Animals
View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/572b47af654d22006c9b0e0b36b702a9343d2dcd
How researchers see this paper
The researchers whose trusted networks rank it highest, strongest advocate first. Every researcher gets a different order.
In Ecology
In Genetics
In Small Animals
Citations in the corpus
- Behaviour and experiences of dogs during the first year of life predict the outcome in a later temperament test (2014, background): “Again, this is a somewhat counterintuitive result, since time left alone at home is generally related to higher incidences of a variety of behavioural problems in dogs (Kobelt et al., 2003; Taylor and Mills, 2007).”