How Playgroups Benefit Shelter Dogs

Life in an animal shelter can be stressful. Shelter dogs are often held in confined spaces, receive limited interaction, and have few opportunities for physical activity. As a result, shelter dogs often experience anxiety, frustration, and behavioral issues, which are compounded by the loud, chaotic environment of a kennel. For some shelters, this can feel like an unavoidable reality–between limited resources, constant intakes, and high staff turnover, when is there a chance to catch up?

If only there were a simple, effective way to improve shelter dog outcomes, boost staff morale, and increase adoptions… Enter playgroups: a game-changing tool to allow shelter dogs to socialize, release pent-up energy, and show their true personalities. Let’s talk about how a playgroup program could revolutionize your shelter. 

What is a Playgroup?

Playgroups are programs implemented in animal shelters to provide enrichment for shelter dogs. Under the supervision of shelter staff and volunteers, dogs are allowed to play outside in small groups, providing an opportunity for socialization, enrichment, and exercise. In another blog, we talk about some quick tips for starting up a playgroup, so check that out to learn more.

The Top 5 Benefits of Playgroups in Animal Shelters

The impacts of playgroups are wide-ranging, affecting everything from shelter dog behavior to staff morale and animal shelter operations. Let’s talk about the biggest ways your shelter could benefit from a playgroup program. 

#1 Playgroups Provide Shelter Dog Enrichment

If you’ve read any of our other blogs, you’ll know just how important it is for shelter dogs to receive regular enrichment. Dogs who receive regular enrichment have far better health and behavioral outcomes than dogs who do not.

Playgroups give shelter dogs opportunities to learn valuable socialization skills with other dogs, broadening their adoption opportunities.

Enrichment enhances a dog’s quality of life by allowing them to engage in their most innate behaviors, like sniffing, digging, and playing. It’s one of the most important ways to directly improve a shelter dog’s quality of life–and one of the hardest to implement effectively in a hectic, resource-scarce animal shelter environment. 

In a playgroup, dogs get to run, sniff, dig, and play to their hearts’ content. Playgroups are a great way to provide enrichment for a bunch of dogs at once, improving behavioral outcomes and making the most of your staff’s time and resources. 

#2 Playgroups Allow for More Accurate Behavioral Assessments

Often, a dog’s behavior during intake is not an accurate representation of their true personality. This can cause dogs to receive stigmatizing labels, leading to reduced adoption outcomes. Playgroups provide an opportunity for dogs to be dogs, allowing their true temperament to shine through. 

A multi-state interdisciplinary study of 172 dogs from 4 different shelters showed that dogs who participated in playgroups were less likely to exhibit problem behaviors and showed evidence of increased adaptability indicators. Playgroups give shelter staff and volunteers opportunities to re-assess their shelter dogs’ behavior and implement better adoption matching. 

#3 Playgroups Reduce Kennel Chaos

In an animal shelter, kennels can be loud, chaotic places. With several dogs of different temperaments housed in a small space, one bark can lead to a never-ending chorus as anxieties grow and feed off of each other. In addition to deterring potential adopters, this loud, overwhelming environment can lead to increased stress and worse behavioral outcomes for dogs in care. 

Playgroups offer a way to reduce chaos and stress in kennels. In a study of 36 dogs housed at the Animal Rescue League of Iowa, researchers found that dogs who participated in playgroups displayed less barking, jumping, whining, and pacing in the kennel. 

#4 Playgroups Improve Shelter Operations

The benefits of playgroups go far beyond their direct impact on shelter dogs. In a shelter environment, time and resources are stretched thin, so every moment counts. Playgroups help staff to make the most of their time by providing natural opportunities to complete cleaning and maintenance while dogs are busy building connections with other dogs and staff.

Burnout is common among shelter staff, and playgroups give staff and volunteers opportunities to experience the infectious joy of dogs at play.  

#5 Playgroups Boost Staff Morale

Like in any high-stakes, resource-scarce industry, animal shelter staff can sometimes lose sight of why they were drawn to shelter work in the first place. Compassion fatigue affects us all, and in the hustle and bustle of intakes, maintenance, and crisis management, it’s all the more vital to find opportunities for joy. 

Playgroups give staff opportunities to do what they do best: build relationships with shelter dogs and foster positive dog-dog interactions. As behavior challenges, length of stay, and euthanasia rates decrease, your staff is likely to experience more job satisfaction, thereby decreasing your turnover rate. 

Make Playgroups a Reality with Shelter Behavior Integrations

I think that Eudora Watson, Shelter Manager at Potsdam Humane Society, summed up Laurie’s Playgroup program best: “Laurie and team did a fantastic job developing and delivering a custom-made program to help us learn how to run playgroups and assess dog-to-dog interactions. If you are looking to ramp up the quality of the care you offer your dogs? I recommend this organization 110%!"

Laurie Lawless founded Shelter Behavior Integrations (SBI) after nearly 17 years of working in the animal shelter space. As Laurie worked with shelters across the country, she saw a common thread: animal shelters were overcrowded and underfunded, shelter staff were struggling with burnout, and shelter animals were suffering as a result. Instead of pointing fingers or burying her head in the sand, Laurie decided to put her knowledge and experience to work toward a solution. 

SBI was founded to provide actionable support for overwhelmed shelters. Using her unique insight into animal shelter operations and her extensive education in animal behavior, Laurie is working to cut through the chaos and deliver practical strategies to re-center animal behavior in shelter operations. From virtual consultation to her playgroup intensive, Laurie has the services and skills you need to revolutionize your shelter.