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• SHELTERING TRENDS AND ANIMAL HOUSING <br />HSUS Animal Care Expo 2002 <br />Lawrence A. Gates <br />Gates Hafen Cochrane Architects <br />735 Walnut Street, Boulder, Colorado 80302 <br />(800) 332-4413 <br />Creating Better Environments for Animals <br />Imagine how much easier it would be to place your charges if they were well behaved <br />and socialized. By minimizing stress, reducing boredom, and encouraging opportunities <br />for social interaction, the animals in a shelter environment will behave more naturally, <br />and it will be easier to judge their ability to adapt to a new home. <br />Progressive shelters are not only interested in furnishing safe and clean enclosures for <br />animals, but also in providing environments that help reduce stress for the animals, <br />staff, and public alike. There is a growing realization that the construction of prison - <br />grade, damage -resistant, lab animal efficient enclosures may not be the best <br />environment for either holding animals or for encouraging adoption. <br />Longer holding periods resulting from changes in regulations, limited admission or "no - <br />kill" policies, and increased efforts to place those animals previously considered <br />• unadoptable call for new approaches to holding environments. The shelters of the <br />future will increasingly be more than just holding facilities, they will become <br />rehabilitation centers as well. The behavioral and psychological needs of the animals <br />during their now potentially longer stays should be considered and met. <br />Canine Environments <br />Although it is seemingly impossible to overestimate the damage a bored, stressed, <br />uncomfortable dog can do to its enclosure, some shelters are finding that programs <br />involving training, exercise, and social interaction help to minimize the need for °bullet- <br />proof" habitats. Better environments will minimize kennel shock and encourage good <br />behavior; studies show that traditional cages and runs are extremely stressful and <br />promote undesirable behavior, such as barking, lunging at gates, and soiling the <br />enclosures. <br />From a design perspective, this means an evolution from the traditional prison -grade <br />construction and jail -style rows of kennels to a variety of environmentally -enriched <br />housing units, such as group housing, real -life rooms, and village -style kennels. <br />Group Housing <br />A well -designed group housing room provides opportunities for animals to interact with <br />each other, much like they would in a free -roaming environment. This can also be an <br />asset during adoption, because by watching an animal interact at the shelter, it is <br />• possible to imagine how the animal would behave with other animals currently living in <br />the new home. As an added bonus, a cageless environment is a more natural way for <br />