FEATURE
Adopted , but not for life ?
Why dogs get returned
By Kristina Spaulding , Ph . D , CAAB , and Irith Bloom , CPDT-KSA , CDBC , KPA CTP , VSPDT , CBATI
Adoption of pets from animal welfare organizations is touted as a way to save a life while bringing a great companion into your home . Unfortunately , the reality can be very different . We wanted to know more , so we looked into recent research on this general topic . One paper that stood out was a study entitled “ Characterizing unsuccessful animal adoptions : age and breed predict the likelihood of return , reasons for return and post return outcomes ” ( Powell , et al ., 2021 ).
Powell et al .’ s 2021 paper is a retrospective analysis of 23,932 animal records covering the period from 2015 to 2019 at Charleston Animal Society in North Charleston , South Carolina . The records are for 9,996 dogs , 13,450 cats , and 486 animals of other species , and detail adoptions as well as returns . The researchers also looked at post-return outcomes .
Nearly one in 10 adopted animals get returned Overall , 9.2 percent of animals adopted from Charleston Animal Society were returned to the shelter within six months of adoption . It is worth noting that there was a significant difference in return rates by species . Dogs were returned in 16.3 percent of cases , while cats only wound up back at the shelter 4.2 percent of the time . On the other hand , nearly one in 10 rabbits were returned post-adoption . Two pigs , four guinea pigs , two mice , and one hamster were also returned during the period studied .
Why is this happening ? The high return rate for dogs is the one we APDT members need to be thinking about . Why are these returns happening , and what can we do to help ? Fortunately , Powell et al . delved into the reasons for return in detail . In dogs , they found a relationship between the likelihood of return and the intake age and breed group . Dogs between two and eight years of age were most likely to be returned , with dogs between six months and two years of age being the next most likely ( teenage dogs , anyone ?). Next came senior dogs . Puppies under six months of age were least likely to be returned . Breed type also played a role . Toy breeds were 65 percent less likely to be returned than herding breeds . Similarly , terriers were 35 percent less likely to be returned than herding breeds .
How often are dogs returned ? The researchers also looked at number of times an animal was returned . While about 85 percent of the animals were returned once , more than 11 percent were returned twice , and 2 percent were returned three times – that last includes 44 dogs and 6 cats . Fourteen dogs were returned four times , three dogs five times , and one a whopping six times . Still , looking at the total number of dogs returned ( 1,628 ), the 18 dogs that were returned four or more times are still not much more than 1 percent of the total .
The age of intake correlated with rate of return . Young adults were more likely than expected to be returned more than once . On the other hand , the rate was lower than expected for puppies . Another factor that varied in the multiple return category was breed group ; pit bull types were more likely to be returned multiple times , and sporting breeds less likely .
What are the adopters saying ? Interestingly , there was poor agreement in the reasons given for return by multiple adopters of the same dog . The strongest agreement was seen where the dog was returned due to health issues , but even in that case , the agreement was only considered “ fair .” An issue the authors themselves mention is that they had
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