Shelter Quality protocol

The Human-Animal Relationship and Animal Welfare Laboratory of the Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale dell'Abruzzo e del Molise "G. Caporale" developed, in the framework of a research project financed by the Italian Ministry of Health and in collaboration with the Institut de Recerca i Tecnologìa Agroalimentarias of Catalunya (Spain), an innovative protocol for the welfare assessment of sheltered dogs, named Shelter Quality.

In the 2012-2015 European Commission Strategy for animal welfare, emphasis is given to the development of science-based indicators based on animal welfare outcomes, as opposed to welfare inputs (e.g. based on the adequacy of resources or management practices the animals undergo), as the ones that has been used so far. This approach is being currently applied to livestock and provided encouraging results. The Shelter Quality protocol represents the first attempt of scaling this new approach to pet animals as well.

Thanks to the collaboration of a several NGOs and research institutions across the EU, including the RSPCA International, the Western Balkans Veterinary Network, the International Fund for Animal Welfare, Vier Pfoten International, the Autonomous University of Barcelona and the University of Belgrade, the protocol was tested on a sample of shelters in six countries (Croatia, Italy, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia and Spain).

In the next future, a follow-up of the project will aim to the elaboration of a standardised scoring system, that will allow to Competent Authorities or other stakeholders to apply the protocol and obtain a benchmarking of the shelter status in a given area, assessed directly on the basis of the real welfare status of dogs.

A full version of the protocol can be requested at shelterquality@izs.it.