Before Molly was adopted, she had to overcome some big behavioral obstacles. Molly had taken to becoming very aggressive when guarding her resources, especially when items were taken away from her. Molly’s first owner also noted that she would become aggressive and bite when a harness and leash was put on her. Due to the owner’s travels, age and own health issues, she decided to surrender Molly to a local rescue in Washington. Molly was later adopted, and her new family was given strict guidelines regarding her biting history. The rescue required her adopters to conduct training to address her behavioral issues while in their care.
Unfortunately, after about a month, Molly was surrendered to the Seattle Animal Shelter (SAS). Molly was surrendered to SAS on January 12, 2020, but because she did not exhibit any behavioral issues or aggression while at the shelter, she was made available for adoption on January 14. Molly was returned to SAS on January 19, 2020 after the behavioral issues and biting resurfaced.
This is when SAS Animal Behaviorist Lead Kimberlee Spicer stepped in. Spicer gathered as much information as she could on Molly to formulate a plan that would work to help Molly address these issues in the long run. During her research and digging, Spicer learned that Molly’s first adoptive family hired a trainer that utilized adverse training methods, which did not suit Molly’s needs. Instead, Kimberlee outlined a plan for a foster parent who agreed to foster Molly and use positive association training and desensitization of resources (like food and toys) with her. Spicer’s training plan (a seven-phase approach) ultimately made Molly comfortable around her resources by rewarding her with higher value items (like cheese) and giving Molly the space she needed. Kimberlee noted after reading up on Molly’s history that she exhibited high anxiety when being forced to do certain tasks, like going on walks. Spicer stressed the importance of allowing Molly to slowly build up to more activity as she became more comfortable.
“Molly’s resource guarding is her way of showing stress and anxiety,” said Molly’s foster parent Shalini. “It took me a while to understand where it stems from, but I started noticing that she’d pant with wide eyes closer to the object she was guarding and growl if I came closer. With tremendous support and consult from Kimberlee, I tried training techniques that seemed to work and made her resource guarding manageable.”
Thanks to the careful behavior modification training outlined by Spicer and carried out by Shalini on a daily basis for three months, the Quality of Life team at SAS felt that Molly was ready to be made available for adoption. Spicer prescreened all 75 applications for Molly and looked for an experienced family that was able and open to continuing her training and giving her time to acclimate to her new home. After the extensive application reviews, Molly found her forever home.
As with Molly’s foster parent, Spicer was in constant contact with Molly’s new adopters every couple of days, offering behavioral support until the family was able to find a positive reinforcement trainer in the area. Molly has shown immense improvements and is continuing her behavior modification training in her forever home thanks to the wonderful work of Spicer, her foster parent, and the behavior team at SAS.
If you are interested in supporting SAS programs like the behavior modification training that helped Molly, consider donating to the Seattle Animal Shelter Foundation. To learn more about the behavior and foster care programs at SAS, click here.