Epsilon Archive for Student Projects

Abstract

Today, rehoming of dogs is a growing issue all around the world. Especially after the covid-19 pandemic, which opened the possibility for more people to purchase dogs due to working from home. Purchases of shelter dogs also increased during the pandemic and are therefore an expanding part of the dogs being giving up for rehoming as well. In this study I will especially focus on shelter dogs. To prevent rehoming of dogs we need to get an understanding of why dog owners need to rehome their dogs, how they choose which dog to buy or adopt, as well as how the dog-rescue organizations choose the new owner. Therefore, this study was done using two questionnaires aimed at people that have given their dog a new home and people that have adopted dogs from shelters, and a survey to rescue dog- organizations. All together 333 responses were collected from the two questionnaires, while two organizations responded to the survey. The questionnaires consisted of questions with closed options, and some were open questions. The survey only consisted of open questions. The data was put in excel to produce relevant tables. The open questions were read through and compiled manually. Reasons for rehoming dogs were mainly because of unwanted behaviour (30%), followed by, among other things, children entering the family (15%). The results showed that dog owners mainly should have been more careful when choosing a dog, not focusing at appearance and provided themselves with enough information before buying a dog. Furthermore, seeking professional help at the onset of problem behaviour was also shown important. These things would contribute to a reduction in rehoming of dogs. It was also clear from the results that it is important that the organizations write an as detailed description as possible in the advertisements and provide the interested adopters with as much information as possible, as 34% of the respondents did not feel like the description matched the dog they adopted and as 7% did not feel like the description matched the dog at all. Dog behaviour knowledge also turned out to be important due to the understanding of dogs and the reduction of dogs being rehomed. In summary this study therefore shows the importance of the right dog and owner, and that future studies needs to be done regarding evaluation of behaviour of rescue dogs to optimize the ownership and being able to provide them with what they need.