How Different Personalities Affect the Reaction to Adoption of Dogs Adopted from a Shelter

Abstract

Dog shelters provide a valuable service by housing homeless dogs and seeking subsequent adoption for these dogs. Few studies have aimed to monitor the behavior of adopted dogs when adoption is successful. The aim of this study was to detect what behavioral modifications, based on their personality, occurred in dogs after their adoption. The personality of 34 healthy dogs was evaluated in the pre-adoption phase by means of a Principal Component Analysis (PCA) of their behavioral patterns. In the post-adoption phase, we analyzed the behavior of the same dogs, completing a questionnaire with their owners. Pre- and post-adoption data were standardized and a PCA was run on the differences between these variables. A k-means cluster analysis was run on the six components, obtaining three groups of dogs: for groups one and two, changes in behavior after adoption seemed to be influenced by dog personality: bolder dogs (1st group) became more active, excitable and playful, showed increased aggressive behavior towards humans, and decreased anxious and submissive behavior towards dogs and humans; shyer dogs (2nd group) went in the opposite direction, displaying increased aggressive behavior. For the 3rd group, personality was not predictive of behavior changes. All the dog adoptions in this study were successful.

Two-Shots of Immunization Effectively Induce Protective IgG against Canine Parvo-Viral Infection

“…Purebred dogs retain originality of the breed characteristics [26]. Adopted dogs usually have proper history of breeding and vaccination, previous illness, feeding, and management known making them more attractive by the interested dog owners [27]. Vaccination at early age suggested that the owners are conscious enough about the health of their pets as most dogs are kept as companions.…”

Quantified Canine: Inferring Dog Personality From Wearables

“…Not only could dog personality assessment reduce the number of owner-dog mismatches, but it could also put an end to (unfortunate) cases in which dogs get flocked into shelters or destroyed by authorities when expelled from their homes [17]. In fact, a few dog agencies and shelters are already experimenting with the use of dog personality traits for matchmaking dogs with future owners [52,83].…”

El diseño estratégico y su influencia en la adopción de perros criollos en el distrito de Surco, Lima, Peru 2022

“…Sin embargo, mientras la sobrepoblación de animales domésticos aumente, los refugios y albergues necesitan encontrar maneras de aumentar las tasas de adopción (Bradle y Rajendran, 2021). Sumado a esto, administrar un refugio de animales abandonados es complicado, en especial en países que desaprueban la eutanasia si no es como último recurso luego de una estadía muy larga, por lo que la adopción es el fin más deseable para cualquiera de estos animales (Corsetti et al, 2021).…”