Risk Factors for Dog Relinquishment to a Los Angeles Municipal Animal Shelter Emily D. Dolan1, Jamie Scotto2, Margaret Slater1 and Emily Weiss1

1Shelter Research and Development, Community Outreach, American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals 2Spay/Neuter Operations, Community Outreach, American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals

Introduction and Objective•OwnerrelinquishmentisadriverofcanineshelterintakeintheU.S. •Accountedfor23%ofcanineshelterintakeatSouthLAshelterin2014.

•Whydopeoplerelinquish? •Traitsofthedog(ex.size,age,behavior) •Generalcharacteristicsoftheownerandthehousehold(ex.allergies,livingsituation) •Lowincomeisoftencitedasariskfactorforrelinquishment,yetthemajority ofpeoplewithlowerincomesdonotrelinquish.

•Littleisknownabouttheprocessleadingtorelinquishment(e.g.,householdbarriersandoptionsconsidered)

•Withinacommunitymarkedbyhighpoverty,whatriskfactorscontributetodogrelinquishment?

SurveyMethod•ConductedattheSouthLosAngeles/ChesterfieldSquaremunicipalanimalshelter

•Servespovertydensecommunity •Openadmission

•Areyouheretogiveupyourpet?•Relinquishergroup:n=166dogs •Aftersurvey,offeredachoice:eitherproceedto sheltertorelinquishorgotosafetynetprogram to see if they could help

•Controlgroup:n=125dogs

•Samegeographicregion

•AccessingtheshelterforS/NatASPCAclinicormobileclinic

Conclusions•Manyrisksforrelinquishmentinthishighpovertycommunity=problemswhereassistancecouldlikelypreventtherelinquishment. •Cost,notablymedicalcosts,weremostcommonly citedandreportedassomethingthathadchanged in the household

•Relinquishersreportednotknowingaboutalternatives torelinquishment

•Almostallrelinquisherschosetopursuehelpwhenit wasoffered

•Theoddsofrelinquishingweregreaterwithhigherstressinthehousehold

•Theoddsofrelinquishingwerelowerwhenownerwasemotionallyattached •Mostreportedatleastsomeattachment

•Providingaccessible,community-specificalternativestorelinquishmentmaybeawaytoreduceshelterintakeofdogs

ResultsWhoWeSurveyed

Bothgroupswere:•PredominatelySpanishspeaking

•2/3ofpeoplewereemployedeitherfullorparttime

•90%wereaged18-59

•Themajorityofrespondents: •werenotonpublicassistance •werefemale •hadahouseholdincomelessthan$30,000peryear •renttheirhomes •hadatleastahighschooldiplomaorGED

AmongtheRelinquishersOnly

Primaryand/orsecondary reason forsurrender

MentionofCost

Cost + medical/other

Cost onlyn=23 (14%)

Cost + non-medical

Housingn=10 (6%)

Behaviorn=4 (3%)

Othern=10(6%)

Medicaln=46 (28%)

Notice to comply

n=19 (12%)

Spay/neutern=3 (2%)

No MentionofCost

Behaviorn=8 (5%)

Medicaln=6 (4%)

Housingn=26 (16%)

Othern=7 (4%)

Hasanythingchangedrecentlyinthehouseholdthatcontributedtothedecisiontobringthispettotheshelternow?

•Inabilitytopayforcarefrequentlycited(76.9%)assomethingthathadchangedinthehousehold

•81%ofRelinquishersreportednotbeingawareofwaystogethelp

•Relinquishersinfrequently(16%)reportedattempts to re-home

•96%ofallrelinquisherschosetopursue SafetyNetservicesinsteadofrelinquishing

140

120

100

80

60

40

20

0AmerIndAsianWhiteBlackHispanic

Relinquisher

Control

124

109

30

144

82 3 2 1

140

120

100

80

60

40

20

0Can’t pay for care

Numberofrelinquisherschoosingeachoption

Landlordissues

Behavior issues

Moving Lackoftime Newchildren

123

29

11 10 83

Beforeyoucameintoday,didyouknowaboutanywaystogethelpforyourdog?Pleasecircleallthatapply.

90

80

70

60

50

40

30

20

10

0Notaware

of any

percentrelinquisherschoosingeachoption

Free S/N Free vaccines

Free vet services

Safety Netservices

Freebehaviortraining

80.7

15.79.0

7.21.8 0.6

Beforeyoucameintoday,didyoudoanythingtofindyourdoganewhome?Pleasecircleallthatapply.

90

80

70

60

50

40

30

20

10

0Firstthing

tried

percentrespondentschoosingeachoption

83.7

15.1

2.4 1.2

Friend/family Rescue Shelter Online Flyers Publicplaces

1 1 1

Multi-VariableAnalysisControlledforincome,education,sex,dogage,wherethedogwasliving,numberofotheranimalsinthehouseandbeingonpublicassistance.

AmongtheRelinquishersOnlyCONTINUED

Lowstress–1

Stress–2

Stress–3

Stress–4

Moststress–5/6

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8Odds ratio

1.0

1.6

4.9

7.9

8.0

Oddsofrelinquishmentweresignificantlyhigherwithgreaterreportedstressinthehomeoverthelast3months

Neutral

Agree

Stronglyagree

0 .1 .2 .3 .4 .5 .6 .7 .8 .9 1.0Odds ratio

Oddsofrelinquishmentwerelowerwithgreateremotionalattachment

8.0

0.2

0.4

Nosignificantassociationbetweenrelinquishmentand:

•whetherthedogbehaved asexpected

•thedogwasmorework thanexpected

Results Results