Behavior assessments in animal shelters help match dogs and cats with appropriate adopters, but their accuracy and welfare implications are contested. Evidence-based assessment improves outcomes for both animals and adopters.
Shelter behavior assessment creates a welfare paradox: designed to protect public safety and improve adoption matches, poorly conducted assessments can result in the euthanasia of behaviorally healthy dogs who show stress-induced behaviors during testing. The validity problem is well-documented — behavior in a stressful shelter environment during a standardized test is a poor predictor of behavior in a home setting — yet high-stakes decisions about euthanasia and placement continue to be based on these assessments. Welfare-optimal assessment acknowledges this limitation: it includes a decompression period before testing, multiple observations over time, and consultation with behavioral professionals for complex cases. Long-term foster programs that observe behavior in home environments provide more valid assessment than any shelter-based protocol.