The Bond That Never Developed: Adoption and Relinquishment of Dogs in a Rescue Shelter

Abstract

This study carried out a survey in an Italian shelter to analyze adoptions resulting in the rejection of the newly adopted dog. The results of this study show that the number of dogs adopted and returned was stable during the study, that more females than males were adopted, and that males were more likely to be returned. Almost all the dogs were returned because of behavioral problems, and most were more than 6 months of age. Some dogs were returned more than once, with 20% of the people who adopted the same dog at different times reporting the same behavioral problem. Having a house with a yard, a garden, or a terrace appeared to be important for better management of the dog and influenced the length of adoption. Half of the adopters had previous experience as caregiver for a dog; compared to adopters who had no previous experience, however, they returned their companion animal after a shorter period and because of behavioral reasons. Understanding why adopters return their dogs to shelters is an important step toward attempting to minimize relinquishments and, thus, optimize adoptions.

Sex, age and size as factors affecting the length of stay of dogs in Czech shelters

“…According to our results, females have demonstrably shorter LOS in shelters compared to male dogs. This finding is supported by several other studies (Patronek et al 1995;Lepper et al 2002;Clevenger and Kass 2003;Marston et al 2004;Mondelli et al 2004;Diesel et al 2007). These studies also showed that females are more likely to be adopted.…”

‘The effect of different genres of music on the stress levels of kennelled dogs’

“…Chronic stress can have a negative impact on the physical and mental well-being of an animal [4,13] and can induce and or contribute to the development of undesirable behaviours [20,21,3,5]. The expression of such aberrant behaviours can reduce the rehoming potential of a dog [50,15] and is the primary reason for dogs being returned to kennels following adoption [51,33,41].…”

A descriptive study of 215 dogs diagnosed with separation anxiety

“…High prevalence rates of behavioral problems in both American and European dog populations (Bamberger and Houpt, 2006;Rugbjerg et al, 2003) are reflected in the number of dogs being relinquished to animal shelters due to behavioral problems (Salman et al, 2000) and dogs brought to animal clinics for euthanasia (Houpt et al, 1996;Miller et al, 1996). Several reports show that the most common reason for euthanasia and relinquishment is the dog's behavior (Gonzalez Martinez et al, 2011;Miller et al, 1996;Mondelli et al, 2004). One third of the dogs that are adopted from shelters are returned because of the dog's behavior (Shore, 2005) A Danish study found that behavioral problems was the third most common reason for euthanasia, only preceded by old age and cancer.…”