Increasing Animal Adoptions at Shelters

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Recommended: positive and negative impacts of adoption

It was a hard day for me. My dog of almost 7 years had to be put down, and it was the first pet I had ever lost. My dad wasn’t too keen on me getting a new puppy. We started looking at other dogs and my dad found one that he thought we should get. My parents decided to take me on a surprise trip to the animal shelter to get a better look at the dogs that we wanted to adopt. As we entered the dog room, barks started to echo around us and excited dogs jumped up on their kennels to make sure we saw them. As we got to Mack’s cage, I think his puppy face must have melted my dad’s heart because he agreed to adopt him and take him home. Today, years later, I still believe adopting Mack was one of the best decisions I could have made. Through adopting Mack, I was inspired to volunteer at the animal shelter as soon as I was old enough. One day I went up just to look at animals and I realized that there were many dogs that had been in the shelter for a long time. No one was interested in adopting them because they weren’t a popular breed, or they were not the right color. From that day forward, I decided that I was going to find a way for those dogs to be adopted, so they had the chance to be as happy as Mack is, in a home and out of a shelter. By finding a way to positively promote breeds prone to indifference, unwanted color, and through establishing positive behaviors and character, animal shelters will be able to increase canine adoption.

One of the most significantly impacting characteristics on adoption success is breed preference. Because some breeds are “talked up” more than others, for example, beagles compared to pitbulls, people would be more likely to lean towards a beagle if they had to choose between those two breeds for...

... middle of paper ...

...olor and breed are not able to be changed, but by changing the behaviors of a dog, a shelter could increase the dogs appeal no matter the breed and color.

Works Cited

Woodward, Lucinda, Jennifer Milliken, and Sonya Humy. "Give A Dog A Bad Name And Hang Him: Evaluating Big, Black Dog Syndrome." Society & Animals 20.3 (2012): 236-253. Academic Search Premier. Web. 14 Mar. 2014.

Siettou, Christina, Iain Fraser, and Rob Fraser. Kent University. 2012. PowerPoint. secure.fera.defra.gov.ukWeb. 14 Mar 2014. .

DeLeeuw, Jamie L. Animal Shelter Dogs: Factors Predicting Adoption Versus Euthanasia. (2010): n. page. Web. 14 Mar. 2014. .

. N.p.. Web. 14 Mar 2014. .

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