Qualitative Behaviour Assessment (QBA) was utilised to examine the behavioural expression of dogs in different housing environments and the results were compared to measurements of quantitative behaviour and physiology. Firstly, quantitative behavioural and physiological differences were investigated between dogs in 3 housing environments (short-term shelter confinement, ≤4 days, n = 10; long-term shelter confinement, >30 days, n = 9; and domestic living situations, n = 10). Each dog’s behaviour was recorded over a 4 h period using an ethogram consisting of 21 behaviour categories. Dogs in both short (SD) and long (LD) term confinement displayed higher frequencies of paw-lifting ( P P P P H = 0.55, P = 0.76). Secondly, quantitative behaviour and QBA were combined to investigate differences among these same 29 dogs when filmed for 1 min in both their Home Environment and a standardised Novel Environment. QBA of these video clips was made by 10 observers utilising Free-Choice-Profiling methodology. Generalised Procrustes Analysis was used to calculate a consensus profile and three main dimensions of dog expression in both Environments. The observers repeated dog scores on these dimensions with high accuracy ( P H = 17.86, P H = 13.58, P H = 5.97, P H = 6.82, P P