Why Do Adopters Choose the Pet They Do?
Last year, from January to May, we collected survey data from adopters at five participating shelters:
- Hillsborough County Animal Services (Tampa, FL)
- Charleston Animal Society (Charleston, SC),
- Animal Rescue Foundation (Walnut Creek, CA)
- Wisconsin Humane Society (Milwaukee, WI)
- ASPCA Adoption Center (New York, NY)
The focus of this survey was to learn what factors influenced the adopters’ choices when selecting their pets. The results are fascinating!
Appearance and Behavior
We learned that adopters were driven by different factors when selecting dogs vs. cats. Appearance was the driving factor for dog adopters, while behavior with people was most important to cat adopters. Digging deeper, we saw that puppy and kitten adopters reported appearance as the most important factor in their choice.
If appearance is an important driver, it may help us to guide folks to be thoughtful about behavior as they choose based on looks – they love the long hair of that collie mix there, so let’s dig a bit to learn what their expectations of how that pup will interact in their home, and be sure we help communicate how that dog may or may not meet those expectations.
Interaction
We learned that touching and interacting with the animal is an important factor – and drives choice more than how the dog or cat behaves in his cage or suite. This is an important item to note, as we may be able to increase adoptions by encouraging more interaction.
We asked adopters what the pet they chose did when they first met him or her. The most common answers were all interactive social behaviors – for cats they noted approaching/greeting, vocalization and rubbing, while dogs were likely to approach, lick or jump/climb on the adopter. Interesting to note that the dogs the adopters chose were likely to jump or climb on the adopter – perhaps a behavior that many in shelters work to decrease may not be considered a “bad” behavior by our adopters.
Information Sources
Another interesting finding – the information source the adopters found to be most important was by far the staff and volunteers. Let’s be sure to empower staff and volunteers with all the information about the individual dogs and cats in our care!
This research, in which the ASPCA’s Dr. Kat Miller played a lead role, was just published in the peer-reviewed journal, Animals. One of the nifty things about this journal is that it is open access – meaning it is easily available to everyone. Here is the link to the article.
Also, check out the great article the Wall Street Journal just published about the research.
Stay tuned to this blog – I am going to dig a bit deeper into some of these findings over the next few months. There are some really interesting nuggets that may affect operations and marketing at your shelter.
What are your thoughts?
Related Links:
Wall Street Journal article: “Selecting a Pet”
ASPCA Press Release: “Why Did You Choose Your Pet?”
Adopter-Friendly Adoptions
Tags: Behavior & Enrichment, Research, Research & Data, Saving Lives, volunteers
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
Kate Says:
This is really interesting! At our shelter (Lollypop Farm), I’ve been wanting to find out how many people adopt our Pets of the Week after seeing them featured on TV, radio, etc., as opposed to just happening upon them at the shelter or on our website. We’ve talked about maybe adding something to our adoption application to find out more about adopters’ animal selections — I think it’d be great to find out more.
Vera Hughes Says:
I love my dog which I got from shelter in Evansville, In. They were really good to us when I adopted her.
Christina Woods Says:
Thanks so much for the info. I am going to pass this along to my shelter. I agree that much behavior modification or programs stress not jumping up etc. but looking back at the shelter dogs I have adopted: one GSD/Malinois came right up in my face jumping and acting very friendly and out-going; another rolled on me and licked me when I was stretched out in the sun resting from a long walk as a volunteer. Not the ideal behavior but they reached out and acted differently! Thanks again.
Deena Morando Says:
Very interesting! I’ve always hesitated to completely discourage the more “polite” jumping up since these dogs are SO social. I’m glad to see that it indeed isn’t a discouraging factor for most adopters. We will continue to train the rough jumpers to exhibit a little impulse control, but this is great. Thank you!
Debbie Amos Says:
I have volunteered, and I am also in the process of adopting a dog. I really like the setup at the Arizona Wellfare League in Phoenix. They have a great website that gives a general description and picture of the animal. They also have large areas set up so you can interact with your protential pet. I set with one dog for 2 hours. They also have files with extra information that is very helpful. When I go get my next dog I will pick some out of the list on the website then take my time to visit each one long enough to get a sense of how we will bond on a full time level. I have a week spot for the shy dog,and I really don’t want a puppy,perhaps 2 to 3 years old. So this makes the intro much more usefull for me.
Debbie Babik Says:
These findings support what I have always found to be true concerning getting to know the personality of the dog. I like to include videos (sometimes quite lengthy) on the adoption websites. I figure that anyone really interested in the animal will sit and watch a 5 minite (or longer) video probably several times. They often arrive to meet the dog with a bond already formed. I show the not so polite behavior along with the good in the video whenever I can. That is the beauty of adopting an adult, the personality is already in full view.
Emily Weiss Says:
Deena and Christina – thank you for your thoughts about jumping. It is always exciting to me to find how much “we” are like “them…”
Jeff Segal Says:
I volunteer At the AZ Humane Society and I help with dog adoptions. When I’m working with families I talk to them about what type of dog they are looking for and what they will be doing with the dog. I also go over some of the breed types and what the breed is known for in energy and grooming needs. I alos look at how the families and the dog inter act whith each other. I’ve found that some families like some dogs more than others. I’ve also had families want to get a dog that the requirements were not a good fit for and I have had to tell them that the dog was not a good fit but I also tried to help them find a better fit for them and their lifestyle. I have had to tell some that the dog they really wanted they wouild not be able to get because of the requierments that were posted on the kennel card and that the adoption people would not let the adoption go through because of what was on the kennel card. Some people still wanted the dog and I had them go and talk it over with the Adoption people that would have the final say. some times they got the dog and sometimes they did not. But it is always for the good of the animals. I feel that people should do their homework and find out and know what the breeds needs are before they come in to adopt an animal.
Emily Weiss Says:
Hi Jeff! First – thank you for being a volunteer!! I appreciate you sharing your perspective. I would like to suggest that unless it is a matter of a signifinant aggression issue, that we look toward our adopters to have them determine best fit in their home. If we provide information, they can make the determinination if they can accomodate a “mis match” in their home. The Meet Your Match program works off of this philosophy – we can guide folks to dogs and cats that would be the best match to their expecations, but if they choose to bring home a pet that is not a perfect match, it is fine – as they go home with the right expecations. I wrote about my personal experience a while ago – check it out here http://www.aspcapro.org/blog/2010/04/i-was-them/
Martha Steward Says:
Wonderful article! Any means to assist in pet adoption is so important. Especially important to place the animals in the best suitable home possible. Will continue to share on Darby’s Story and More blog. Help draw awareness for the betterment of change, all adoptable animals can find their forever homes ~
Debbie Amos Says:
It has also supprised me that when some dogs come in to shelters that the breeds are unknown, that no one takes the time to check them out. We had a Catahoula come in and I looked the breed up and it supprised me. The more info the better in a lot of cases.