Inter-Observer Agreement And Sensitivity To Climatic Conditions In Sheltered Dogs ’ Welfare Evaluation Performed With Welfare Assessment Protocol (Shelter Quality Protocol)

The Shelter Quality Protocol (SQP) is a concise and easily implemented tool for assessing dog welfare and to identify critical aspects of the shelter environment. A first version of the protocol has been modified in order to improve its performance. The aim of this study was to evaluate the reliability of the measures included in the second version of the protocol (SQP2) by testing the inter-observer agreement between two independent assessors. We evaluated the sensitivity of animal-based measures in detecting the shelter dogs ’ welfare outputs during two different seasons.
Source: Journal of Veterinary Behavior: Clinical Applications and Research - Category: Veterinary Research Authors: Source Type: research