Dog assessment

[Mumtolittlesausage]

We had an initial call with a social worker the other day for 2nd time adoption. 1st time round we had a pet assessment which involved her filling in a form about the dog and the cat. This time round they've said it's the same for a cat but for a dog we have to have a pet behaviourist do a report on them and we have to pay for it ourselves. Has anyone else had to do this and where did you start in finding one. They haven't offered any names of anyone and I've contacted a few I've found online who said its not something they do.

Hmm, sounds a bit odd unless the dog has shown some behaviour the SW is worried about? Has the SW even met your dog though?!

We had two dogs at the time, our SW just came to do his appointments with us and observed the dogs when we did those, and just said both dogs were fine. He was very experienced though.
When we went to adopt for the 2nd time the SW (a different one) came round and started saying we'd need to make the spindles in our staircase smaller and criticising things our previous SW had no issues with.... I think it sometimes depends on who you get!

Yes we didnt have to do anything for our dog, the sw just observed him and no concerns were raised.

The 1st time we didnt have to do anything but apparently they have changed the process and this is required now. Not just for us, for all adopters with a dog. It may only be our council and not a national thing but highly annoying either way

We had to do this as standard, not because there were specific concerns about our dog (early 2019). Our agency gave us contact details for the dog assessor though, and we just had to arrange the appointment with him and pay for it. It was all fine, we didn't have to take any action as a result of it. Maybe if your LA/agency won't signpost you to someone to carry it out you could ring another local VA or LA and see if they have someone they recommend to their adopters?

Ours was 2021 panel no concern over dog, but we do have bc so that could impact? Maybe your vets could recommend or maybe your agency would accept vet assessment?

Not all behaviourists are equal - there's some absolute charlatans out there. Look for someone APBC or CCAB accredited - generally reckoned to be the gold standard qualifications.

This is one example of a CCAB accredited behaviourist who says she does adoption assessments (Bristol area)
www.pet-sense.co.uk/for-owners/