About this episode

Tom Candy and Kelly Dunbar discuss the Open Paw programme that transforms how rescue centres care for shelter animals.

Episode Summary In this episode, Tom Candy and Kelly Dunbar to talk about Open Paw, the training and enrichment programme reshaping how rescue centres care for dogs and cats. Co-developed in the US in 2000 by behaviourist Kelly Gorman Dunbar and, British behaviourist and author Dr Ian Dunbar, Open Paw has spent over two decades proving that shelter animals don’t have to be “unlucky inmates” waiting out their stay, they can be active “students” building the social and life skills that make them irresistible to adopters. • What Open Paw is, a structured enrichment and training programme for shelter dogs and cats, designed to maintain good habits from previous homes and teach new ones that help animals settle into new families faster. • The shift in shelter philosophy, moving away from viewing animals as inmates serving time, toward treating them as students at a “university of life skills.” • Minimum Mental Health Requirements, how the programme sets enrichment standards to keep animals calm, stimulated, and ready to learn while in care. • The four-level training programme: ◦ Level 1 – Hand-feeding kibble at the kennel front, regardless of the dog’s reaction, so dogs learn to enjoy…

People in this episode

Host: Tom Candy

Guest: Kelly Dunbar

Topics covered

• shelter animals
• training programme
• enrichment
• animal behaviour
• adoption

Keywords

• Open Paw
• shelter training
• animal enrichment
• dog behaviour
• cat behaviour

More episodes of Simplifying Shelter Behaviour

• Ep. 64 Quality of Life Research for Shelter Dogs · June 17, 2026 · 34 min

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