prEN 17984-2
(Main)Assistance dogs - Part 2: Dog lifetime welfare
Assistance dogs - Part 2: Dog lifetime welfare
The purpose of this document is to protect the welfare of assistance dogs. For this, it sets out requirements based on the Five Domains Paradigm to ensure the dog’s welfare.
The requirements apply:
- throughout the whole life of the dog;
- for all types of assistance dogs;
- for all people/caregivers/handlers who are entrusted with a dog at any point during its lifetime.
Assistenzhunde - Teil 2: Lebenslanges Wohlergehen von Hunden
Der Zweck dieses Dokuments ist, das Wohlergehen von Assistenzhunden zu schützen. Dafür legt es Anforderungen auf Grundlage des Fünf-Bereiche-Paradigmas fest, um das Wohlergehen des Hundes sicherzustellen.
Die Anforderungen gelten:
- für die gesamte Lebenszeit des Hundes;
- für alle Arten von Assistenzhunden;
- für alle Personen/Betreuer/Hundehalter, denen ein Hund in einer beliebigen Phase seiner Lebenszeit anvertraut wird.
Chiens d’assistance - Partie 2 : Bien-être des chiens tout au long de leur vie
Le présent document a pour objet de protéger le bien-être des chiens d’assistance. Pour cela, il définit des exigences basées sur le Paradigme des cinq domaines afin de garantir le bien-être du chien.
Les exigences s’appliquent :
- tout au long de la vie du chien ;
- à tous les types de chiens d’assistance ;
- à l’ensemble des personnes/soignants/maîtres à qui un chien est confié à n’importe quel moment au cours de sa vie.
Psi pomočniki - 2. del: Doživljenska dobrobit psa
General Information
Standards Content (Sample)
SLOVENSKI STANDARD
01-april-2024
Psi pomočniki - 2. del: Doživljenska dobrobit psa
Assistance Dogs — Part 2: Dog Lifetime Welfare
Assistenzhunde - Lebenslanges Wohlergehen von Hunden
Ta slovenski standard je istoveten z: prEN 17984-2
ICS:
11.180.99 Drugi standardi v zvezi s Other standards related to
pripomočki za invalide aids for disabled and
handicapped people
65.020.30 Živinoreja Animal husbandry and
breeding
2003-01.Slovenski inštitut za standardizacijo. Razmnoževanje celote ali delov tega standarda ni dovoljeno.
DRAFT
EUROPEAN STANDARD
NORME EUROPÉENNE
EUROPÄISCHE NORM
April 2024
ICS 65.020.30; 11.180.99
English Version
Assistance dogs - Part 2: Dog lifetime welfare
Assistenzhunde - Lebenslanges Wohlergehen von
Hunden
This draft European Standard is submitted to CEN members for enquiry. It has been drawn up by the Technical Committee
CEN/TC 452.
If this draft becomes a European Standard, CEN members are bound to comply with the CEN/CENELEC Internal Regulations
which stipulate the conditions for giving this European Standard the status of a national standard without any alteration.
This draft European Standard was established by CEN in three official versions (English, French, German). A version in any other
language made by translation under the responsibility of a CEN member into its own language and notified to the CEN-CENELEC
Management Centre has the same status as the official versions.
CEN members are the national standards bodies of Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia,
Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway,
Poland, Portugal, Republic of North Macedonia, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Türkiye and
United Kingdom.
Recipients of this draft are invited to submit, with their comments, notification of any relevant patent rights of which they are
aware and to provide supporting documentation.
Warning : This document is not a European Standard. It is distributed for review and comments. It is subject to change without
notice and shall not be referred to as a European Standard.
EUROPEAN COMMITTEE FOR STANDARDIZATION
COMITÉ EUROPÉEN DE NORMALISATION
EUROPÄISCHES KOMITEE FÜR NORMUNG
CEN-CENELEC Management Centre: Rue de la Science 23, B-1040 Brussels
© 2024 CEN All rights of exploitation in any form and by any means reserved Ref. No. prEN 17984-2:2024 E
worldwide for CEN national Members.
Contents Page
European foreword . 4
Introduction . 5
1 Scope . 7
2 Normative references . 7
3 Terms and definitions . 7
4 Use of the Five Domains Model to support lifetime welfare . 7
4.1 General . 7
4.2 Good nutrition (Minimize thirst and hunger and enable eating to be a pleasurable experience) . 7
4.3 Good environment (Minimize discomfort and exposure and promote thermal, physical, and other comforts) . 8
4.4 Behavioural interactions (Minimize threats and unpleasant restriction on all kinds of behavioural interactions
and promote engagement in rewarding activities) . 10
4.5 Positive mental experiences (Promote various forms of comfort, pleasure, interest, confidence, and a sense of
control) 10
4.6 Mitigation for specific welfare risks for different types of assistance dogs . 11
5 Breeding . 11
5.1 Breeding program . 11
5.2 Reproducing dogs: bitches and studs . 11
5.3 Breeding selection . 12
5.4 Medical tests . 12
5.5 Whelping facilities. 12
5.6 Prenatal status . 12
5.7 Neonatal care . 12
5.8 Daily routine . 12
5.9 Socialization and habituation . 13
6 Puppy raising program and education . 13
7 Dog welfare during travel and transportation . 15
8 Dog qualification . 15
9 Dogs removed or retired from an assistance dog program . 16
9.1 Retirement of the assistance dog . 16
9.2 Rehoming of dogs removed or retired from the programme . 16
10 Euthanasia . 16
Annex A (normative) Exclusion criteria. 17
Annex B (informative) Recommendations for veterinarians on health evaluation . 19
Annex C (informative) Welfare of assistance dogs required for balance/stability . 20
Annex D (informative) Hygiene plan for assistance dog facilities. 21
European foreword
This document (prEN 17984-2:2024) has been prepared by Technical Committee CEN/TC 452
“Assistance dogs”, the secretariat of which is held by UNI.
This document is currently submitted to the CEN Enquiry.
This document is part of a series of standards under the general title Assistance Dogs, which will comprise
the following parts:
— Part 1: Vocabulary
— Part 2: Dog lifetime welfare
— Part 3: Competencies for assistance dogs’ professionals
— Part 4: Training and assessment
— Part 5: Client services
— Part 6: Accessibility and universal access
— Part 7: Conformity assessment
Introduction
Lifetime encompasses the whole life course of the animal from pre-birth to old age and death.
Accommodating the welfare of the dog is not only a legal requirement, but fundamental to the ethical
basis of being a responsible custodian. This holds true for the breeder, trainer, owner/handler of a
working dog, or of a retired dog and any other person who has temporary or permanent care of the dog.
This document provides an overview of the requirements that should be met in respect to welfare.
Following contemporary scientific thinking, lifetime welfare of assistance dogs should provide each
individual at all life stages with a Good Life. This means that the dog’s caretaker should aim to comply
fully with best practice recommendations for dog welfare that are well above the minimum standards.
The management of the dog should focus both on the minimization of negative experiences and the
provision of opportunities for positive experiences.
To achieve this objective, this document uses the Five Domains Paradigm (Mellor, 2016; Mellor, 2016b;
2020, Littlewood and Mellor, 2016).
Detailed guidelines regarding each section will be provided as supplementary material.
In defining, advising about, and assessing welfare, this document relies heavily on the Five Freedoms as
proposed by the UK by Brambell (1965) namely: freedom from hunger and thirst; from discomfort; from
pain, injury and disease; from fear and distress and the freedom to express normal behaviour. It is still
commonly considered that providing for an animal’s welfare is simply ensuring that these freedoms are
met, that negative states such as pain, fear and distress are minimized, and that the animal has the
opportunity to perform normal behaviours, such as general maintenance behaviours of moving,
stretching, and grooming. However, this is limited both in understanding of what good welfare is and how
it can be assessed (Mellor, 2016, 2020).
While these five freedoms acknowledge that animals are sentient and capable of feeling pain and other
negative emotions, simply avoiding such states does not ensure that an animal has a life worth living, let
alone a good life (Mellor, 2016). Good welfare and having a life worth living depends on the animal
experiencing positive emotions, e.g. pleasure, confidence, interest, and a sense of control over its
environment with opportunities to explore, solve problems and gain sufficient physical and mental rest
(Mellor and Beausoleil, 2015; Mellor, 2016b, 2020). Age-related changes may impact the animal’s ability
to experience positive welfare, and this should be taken into consideration in the management of older
dogs.
To ensure welfare, caretakers should have current knowledge and competency in welfare, ethology,
learning theory and practical dog training. The dog’s welfare should be informally monitored
continuously by the caretaker. The dog’s welfare should be formally assessed on a regular basis by
appropriately trained person or persons. This includes assessment of all five domains of welfare
(Table 1).
Table 1 — Five Provisions and Welfare Aims adapted from Mellor 2020
Domain Provision Animal Welfare Aim
1. Nutrition Provide ready access to fresh water Minimize thirst and hunger and enable
and a diet to maintain full health and eating to be a pleasurable experience
vigour
2. Physical Provide shade/shelter or suitable Minimize discomfort and exposure and
Environment housing, good air quality and promote thermal, physical, and other
comfortable resting areas comforts
3. Health Prevent or rapidly diagnose and treat Minimize breathlessness, nausea, pain,
disease and injury, and foster good and other aversive experiences and
muscle tone, posture, and promote the pleasures of robustness,
cardiorespiratory function vigour, strength and well-coordinated
physical activity
4. Behavioural Provide stimulating and engaging Minimize threats and unpleasant
Interactions environment, friendly and playful restriction on all kinds of behavioural
companions as well as empathic, interactions and promote engagement in
knowledgeable, and skilful people rewarding activities
5. Mental Provide safe, congenial and species Promote various forms of comfort,
State/Affects (and breed) appropriate pleasure, interest, confidence, and a
opportunities to have pleasurable sense of control
experiences
1 Scope
The purpose of this document is to protect the welfare of assistance dogs. For this, it sets out
requirements based on the Five Domains Paradigm to ensure the dog’s welfare.
The requirements apply:
— throughout the whole life of the dog;
— for all types of assistance dogs;
— for all people/caregivers/handlers who are entrusted with a dog at any point during its lifetime.
2 Normative references
The following documents are referred to in the text in such a way that some or all of their content
constitutes requirements of this document. For dated references, only the edition cited applies. For
undated references, the latest edition of the referenced document (including any amendments) applies.
prEN 17984-1, Assistance dogs — Part 1: Vocabulary
3 Terms and definitions
For the purposes of this document, the terms and definitions given in prEN 17984-1 apply.
ISO and IEC maintain terminology databases for use in standardization at the following addresses:
— ISO Online browsing platform: available at https://www.iso.org/obp/
— IEC Electropedia: available at https://www.electropedia.org/
4 Use of the Five Domains Model to support lifetime welfare
4.1 General
...
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