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Evaluating factors influencing dog post-adoptive return in a Canadian animal shelter

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2023

JR Friend  and
CJ Bench
JR Friend
Affiliation:
Department of Agricultural, Food and Nutritional Science, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada T6G 2P5
CJ Bench*
Affiliation:
Department of Agricultural, Food and Nutritional Science, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada T6G 2P5
*
* Contact for correspondence: bench@ualberta.ca
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Abstract

Understanding the factors associated with post-adoptive return in dogs (Canis familiaris) is important for reducing shelter return rates. The objective of this retrospective study was to identify factors detectable in shelters associated with post-adoptive return in an objective dog-centric analysis. The records of 959 dogs were evaluated via factor analysis of seven behaviour and seven physical variables which resulted in the extraction of six principal factors. Fear aggression, ongoing health concerns, separation anxiety, sex-specific aggression, and age effect on source were not found to significantly impact outcome. In particular, dog aggression risk (a factor composed of breed, size, and dog aggression) was found to be significantly higher in returned dogs. Since dog aggression risk is associated with post-adoptive return, this could help shelters to modify policies to either screen aggressive dogs from the adoption population or improve adoption counselling in an attempt to help lower return rates.

Keywords

aggressionanimal welfarecaninefactor analysispost-adoptionanimal shelter
Type
Research Article
Information
Animal Welfare , Volume 29 , Issue 4 , November 2020 , pp. 399 - 410
Copyright
© 2020 Universities Federation for Animal Welfare

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