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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 approaching
◦ Level 2 – Calm behaviour when people enter and exit the kennel, including lead handling
◦ Level 3 – Basic commands, manners, handling, and play
◦ Level 4 – Calm, loose-lead walking, even around people and other dogs
• Why first impressions matter, research shows potential adopters spend roughly a minute at each kennel deciding whether to meet a dog based on calm, front-facing behaviour, then make a final decision within about eight minutes of meeting them.
• Ditching the food bowl, how feeding meals through Kongs, treat balls, and dog mazes turns mealtime into mental stimulation instead of a five-second event.
• Toilet training and spot cleaning, how scheduled toileting breaks let kennels be spot-cleaned daily rather than fully hosed out, preserving familiar scents and freeing up staff time for training.
• The early results, calmer, quieter dogs within 24 hours of the pilot, most clean in kennels within days, and happier staff and dogs
Kelly Dunbar is a respected behaviourist who co-founded the Open Paw programme in the United States in 2000 alongside her husband, Dr Ian Dunbar. Open Paw has since become a proven model for shelter enrichment and training, now adapted for both dogs and cats.
With 30+ years in professional dog training, and deep roots in puppy development and shelter dog programs, I now focus primarily on dog trainer mentorship, plus a limited amount of highly personalized work with dogs and households.
I teach dog training as a craft, not a doctrine. I’m pro-dog, anti-dogma, and I’m here for trainers who want clear standards, practical skill, better judgment, and a broader view of the work.
My work helps dog trainers bridge the space between education and real-world practice, where handling skills, training methods, client communication, program design, and professional judgment all have to come together.
• Open Paw at NAWT: https://www.nawt.org.uk/open-paw/
• Before & After video — Open Paw for Dogs: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fs5jmGEstyQ
• Before & After video — Open Paw for Cats: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e342PUjhX74
• Kelly Dunbar https://www.kellydunbardogtraining.com
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