As you may have noticed, I have been away from my computer for a couple of weeks and missed writing my blog, for those of you who look forward to the information, I am very sorry. My son had to have surgery and that changed ALL my plans for awhile.
This week’s entry is a topic that is extremely important to me. As a matter of fact, it is one of the biggest reason I decided to use the skills I learned growing up in the dog world to help other owners with their dogs.
We have all heard the pleas from veterinarians, rescue groups, and even Bob Barker to “Spay and Neuter your pets!” because we have been told that overpopulation is the reason all of our shelters are overflowing. While I completely agree that the average pet owner should DEFINITELY get their dog spayed or neutered, I have always felt that we were overlooking the bigger issue with the majority of shelter dogs and that is behavior problems. What we don’t like to admit is that most of the dogs that are in the shelter had a home at one time and were not able to keep it, not because there are too many dogs in the world, but because they did not “fit in” like the owners expected.
I wanted to find some research on this topic to support my idea that behavioral problems are being overlooked as a major source of dogs being relinquished but sadly I found very little. Surprisingly, very little research has been done on this topic but what has been conducted supports my ideas. I found a research study conducted by the National Council on Pet Population Study and Policy called The Regional Shelter Relinquishment Study that was published in the Journal of Applied Animal Welfare in 2000. This study questioned owners giving up dogs and cats at 12 shelters in 4 different regions of the country. This blog entry will only be focusing on their statistics on dog relinquishment.
What the study found was that of the dogs surrendered, 40% of the owners who were surrendering those dogs listed at least one behavioral problem as the reason for relinquishment. It also found strong associations between relinquishment and several other categories: number of pets in the household, neuter status, training level, age of pet, length of ownership, and where the pet was acquired.
They found that there was a strong association with acquiring a new pet in the household and relinquishment of dogs. Almost 60% of owners relinquishing a dog for behavioral reasons admitted to adding at least one new dog or cat, to their household within the last year. What this tells me is that many of the dogs being surrendered to the shelter did not adjust well to a new animal being introduced into the home. Acclimating animals to each other is something I work on with owners on a daily basis and are usually easily addressed. I know there are some extreme cases where two animals just should not live together but the majority of the time, a little bit of training can go a long way.
They also uncovered a relationship between the neuter status of the animal and frequency of relinquishment. While this area has little to do with training, I still wanted to include it because I think the idea of spaying or neutering your dog goes way beyond overpopulation. While I never promise spaying or neutering a dog will end your behavior problems, it certainly cannot hurt, and this study proves that you are more likely to relinquish a dog that is unaltered versus one that is spayed or neutered. I will say that if you are going to keep your dog intact, against my advice, it is very likely that the role of training will become even more important than if you had made the decision to get them “fixed”.
The average age of a dog being relinquished to the shelter and the length of ownership were also determined by this study. What they found was that the average age of relinquished dogs was 1-2 years of age and the average length of ownership was only 3 months! This completely shocked me, what this means is that we move a dog into a completely new environment and give them only 3 months to adjust before giving up on them? Imagine you moved to a different country where everyone spoke a different language than you, do you think you could get completely settled in just 3 months time? The other reason this scares me is that, from a training point of view, this gives me a VERY small window of opportunity to help new owners. It has been my experience that when I take the initiative and contact a new dog owner, they want to see if they can handle it themselves which I have no qualms about. However, if it does not work out, they usually call me the day before they are ready to get rid of the dog and expect the problems to get fixed overnight! It is impossible to fix issues that a dog may have had for months, possibly even years, overnight or even in just 3 months time (if I get to start working with the dog the day it gets adopted! ).
This study also found that there was a strong relationship between a dog being acquired from the shelter and ending up back at the shelter. According to their survey, 39% of dogs surrendered for behavioral issues had been acquired from the shelter. This is the equivalent of a repeat offender! The dog gets relinquished because of a behavior problem, if it gets adopted out again but no one intervenes to fix the issue, there is a high probability that the dog will end up back in the shelter for the very same reasons as the first time! I will never forget the dog that started one of my group classes who was 7 months old and on his fourth home! Thank God his fourth owner new the importance of training or who knows how many homes this dog would have seen! We have to figure out how to break this cycle.
Finally, and what I believe to be most important to this entire issue, is what they found about the relationship between the amount of training (or lack thereof) and dogs being surrendered to the shelter. They found that, of the dogs being relinquished because of behavioral issues, 91.3% did not have any private instruction by a professional trainer, 88.1% said that they had not bothered to take their dog to a group obedience class, and 36% admitted they hadn’t taught ANY basic commands to the dog! If these statistics do not scare you, I think you should read them again!
To summarize the study, the statistics show that we as dog owners are introducing new animals and expecting them to naturally figure out how to get along on their own, we are keeping them as intact breeding stock without realizing how that can affect their behavior, we give them a very limited amount of time to adjust to their new home, and all of this with little to no training to help them make these transitions! This study was done several years ago but I don’t believe much has changed since, or at least not enough. A separate study done in 1993(Spencer, L. (1993). Behavioral services in a practice lead to quality relationships. Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association, 203, 940–941) found that 50-70% of all dogs and cats euthanized were the result of behavior problems and unfortunately, I don’t believe that number has changed much in the last 20 years. So what can we do about this issue? Educate, educate, educate. Let people know that not all dogs naturally learn to live with us, they need training and time and sometimes you need the help of a professional. Don’t wait until its too late to get help, and if you see a member of your family, a friend, a neighbor, or even a coworker going down this path try to recommend a better solution than taking the dog to the shelter or rehoming the dog. Many people tell themselves that the dog just doesn’t fit into their house, when in reality, unless someone intervenes and changes the dog’s behavior, you are just letting someone else inherit your dog’s problems because they will not magically disappear in a new environment.
Shelter dogs are not born, they are made…
This week’s entry is a topic that is extremely important to me. As a matter of fact, it is one of the biggest reason I decided to use the skills I learned growing up in the dog world to help other owners with their dogs.
We have all heard the pleas from veterinarians, rescue groups, and even Bob Barker to “Spay and Neuter your pets!” because we have been told that overpopulation is the reason all of our shelters are overflowing. While I completely agree that the average pet owner should DEFINITELY get their dog spayed or neutered, I have always felt that we were overlooking the bigger issue with the majority of shelter dogs and that is behavior problems. What we don’t like to admit is that most of the dogs that are in the shelter had a home at one time and were not able to keep it, not because there are too many dogs in the world, but because they did not “fit in” like the owners expected.
I wanted to find some research on this topic to support my idea that behavioral problems are being overlooked as a major source of dogs being relinquished but sadly I found very little. Surprisingly, very little research has been done on this topic but what has been conducted supports my ideas. I found a research study conducted by the National Council on Pet Population Study and Policy called The Regional Shelter Relinquishment Study that was published in the Journal of Applied Animal Welfare in 2000. This study questioned owners giving up dogs and cats at 12 shelters in 4 different regions of the country. This blog entry will only be focusing on their statistics on dog relinquishment.
What the study found was that of the dogs surrendered, 40% of the owners who were surrendering those dogs listed at least one behavioral problem as the reason for relinquishment. It also found strong associations between relinquishment and several other categories: number of pets in the household, neuter status, training level, age of pet, length of ownership, and where the pet was acquired.
They found that there was a strong association with acquiring a new pet in the household and relinquishment of dogs. Almost 60% of owners relinquishing a dog for behavioral reasons admitted to adding at least one new dog or cat, to their household within the last year. What this tells me is that many of the dogs being surrendered to the shelter did not adjust well to a new animal being introduced into the home. Acclimating animals to each other is something I work on with owners on a daily basis and are usually easily addressed. I know there are some extreme cases where two animals just should not live together but the majority of the time, a little bit of training can go a long way.
They also uncovered a relationship between the neuter status of the animal and frequency of relinquishment. While this area has little to do with training, I still wanted to include it because I think the idea of spaying or neutering your dog goes way beyond overpopulation. While I never promise spaying or neutering a dog will end your behavior problems, it certainly cannot hurt, and this study proves that you are more likely to relinquish a dog that is unaltered versus one that is spayed or neutered. I will say that if you are going to keep your dog intact, against my advice, it is very likely that the role of training will become even more important than if you had made the decision to get them “fixed”.
The average age of a dog being relinquished to the shelter and the length of ownership were also determined by this study. What they found was that the average age of relinquished dogs was 1-2 years of age and the average length of ownership was only 3 months! This completely shocked me, what this means is that we move a dog into a completely new environment and give them only 3 months to adjust before giving up on them? Imagine you moved to a different country where everyone spoke a different language than you, do you think you could get completely settled in just 3 months time? The other reason this scares me is that, from a training point of view, this gives me a VERY small window of opportunity to help new owners. It has been my experience that when I take the initiative and contact a new dog owner, they want to see if they can handle it themselves which I have no qualms about. However, if it does not work out, they usually call me the day before they are ready to get rid of the dog and expect the problems to get fixed overnight! It is impossible to fix issues that a dog may have had for months, possibly even years, overnight or even in just 3 months time (if I get to start working with the dog the day it gets adopted! ).
This study also found that there was a strong relationship between a dog being acquired from the shelter and ending up back at the shelter. According to their survey, 39% of dogs surrendered for behavioral issues had been acquired from the shelter. This is the equivalent of a repeat offender! The dog gets relinquished because of a behavior problem, if it gets adopted out again but no one intervenes to fix the issue, there is a high probability that the dog will end up back in the shelter for the very same reasons as the first time! I will never forget the dog that started one of my group classes who was 7 months old and on his fourth home! Thank God his fourth owner new the importance of training or who knows how many homes this dog would have seen! We have to figure out how to break this cycle.
Finally, and what I believe to be most important to this entire issue, is what they found about the relationship between the amount of training (or lack thereof) and dogs being surrendered to the shelter. They found that, of the dogs being relinquished because of behavioral issues, 91.3% did not have any private instruction by a professional trainer, 88.1% said that they had not bothered to take their dog to a group obedience class, and 36% admitted they hadn’t taught ANY basic commands to the dog! If these statistics do not scare you, I think you should read them again!
To summarize the study, the statistics show that we as dog owners are introducing new animals and expecting them to naturally figure out how to get along on their own, we are keeping them as intact breeding stock without realizing how that can affect their behavior, we give them a very limited amount of time to adjust to their new home, and all of this with little to no training to help them make these transitions! This study was done several years ago but I don’t believe much has changed since, or at least not enough. A separate study done in 1993(Spencer, L. (1993). Behavioral services in a practice lead to quality relationships. Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association, 203, 940–941) found that 50-70% of all dogs and cats euthanized were the result of behavior problems and unfortunately, I don’t believe that number has changed much in the last 20 years. So what can we do about this issue? Educate, educate, educate. Let people know that not all dogs naturally learn to live with us, they need training and time and sometimes you need the help of a professional. Don’t wait until its too late to get help, and if you see a member of your family, a friend, a neighbor, or even a coworker going down this path try to recommend a better solution than taking the dog to the shelter or rehoming the dog. Many people tell themselves that the dog just doesn’t fit into their house, when in reality, unless someone intervenes and changes the dog’s behavior, you are just letting someone else inherit your dog’s problems because they will not magically disappear in a new environment.
Shelter dogs are not born, they are made…
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