Originally Posted by jp4m2 (Post 2994049)

After seeing this thread I started wondering myself, why are so many pets in shelters ?.....After trying to do some research I found very little information was available in regards to this problem. There was one study done by The Regional Shelter Relinquishment Study sponsored by the National Council on
Pet Population Study and Policy (NCPPSP)……..Here are some stats they found……..even though it's a little dated....

Top 10 Reasons for Relinquishment*
Dogs:
1. Moving (7%)
2. Landlord not allowing pet (6%)
3. Too many animals in household (4%)
4. Cost of pet maintenance (5%)
5. Owner having personal problems (4%)
6. Inadequate facilities (4%)
7. No homes available for litter mates (3%)
8. Having no time for pet (4%)
9. Pet illness(es) (4%)
10. Biting (3%)


Characteristics of Pets Being Relinquished
In addition to the reasons for relinquishment, the study collected data on the pets being relinquished. According to the study:
• The majority of the surrendered dogs (47.7%) and cats (40.3%) were between 5 months and 3 years of age.
• The majority of dogs (37.1%) and cats (30.2) had been owned from 7 months to 1 year.
• Approximately half of the pets (42.8% of dogs; 50.8% of cats) surrendered were not neutered. Many of the pets relinquished (33% of dogs; 46.9% of cats) had not been to a veterinarian.
• Animals acquired from friends were relinquished in higher numbers (31.4% of dogs; 33.2% of cats) than from any other source.
• Close to equal numbers of male and female dogs and cats were surrendered.
• Most dogs (96%) had not received any obedience training.


The survey also revealed :

......on average, 42.5 percent of pets that entered animal shelters were submitted by animal control authorities and nearly 30 percent were surrendered by their owners. The remainder was relinquished by other sources…..

In addition, the majority of respondents--62 percent--were under 30 years of age and 52 percent had at least finished high school…….

Findings included that 30% of dogs and 6% of relinquished cats were purebred. Most animals were between 5 months and 3 years of age. Twenty-seven percent of dogs and 36.5% of cats were reported to live outdoors always or almost always....

……..Dogs were at increased risk of relinquishment if they were obtained at no cost or if their purchase cost was less than $100………. dogs obtained at no cost and with little effort are at increased risk of relinquishment. This might reflect a lack of value to the owner or a lower level
of attachment or commitment.....

Mixed-breed animals were at increased risk of relinquishment. Dogs
who came from an animal shelter, friend, or pet shop or who had been a stray were at increased risk of relinquishment compared with dogs who entered households as gifts. ………

Of the 71 reasons for relinquishment recorded in the study, 24 were classified as behavioral. Behavioral reasons accounted for 27% of the single-reason canine relinquishment's……

…… Significantly more people relinquishing dogs and cats felt that a female dog or cat would be better off if she had one litter before being spayed…….


I was very surprised that 62% of the surrenders are from young people. If moving is the number one reason for relinquishment I would venture to guess it's the younger pet owners doing so.

Also I found the "31% of relinquished dogs acquired from friends" a sad statistic. These dumped pets could have been prevented if neutering or spaying had been done ....It's just a sad situation ........

Originally Posted by jp4m2 (Post 2994049)

After seeing this thread I started wondering myself, why are so many pets in shelters ?.....After trying to do some research I found very little information was available in regards to this problem. There was one study done by The Regional Shelter Relinquishment Study sponsored by the National Council on
Pet Population Study and Policy (NCPPSP)……..Here are some stats they found……..even though it's a little dated....

Top 10 Reasons for Relinquishment*
Dogs:
1. Moving (7%)
2. Landlord not allowing pet (6%)
3. Too many animals in household (4%)
4. Cost of pet maintenance (5%)
5. Owner having personal problems (4%)
6. Inadequate facilities (4%)
7. No homes available for litter mates (3%)
8. Having no time for pet (4%)
9. Pet illness(es) (4%)
10. Biting (3%)


Characteristics of Pets Being Relinquished
In addition to the reasons for relinquishment, the study collected data on the pets being relinquished. According to the study:
• The majority of the surrendered dogs (47.7%) and cats (40.3%) were between 5 months and 3 years of age.
• The majority of dogs (37.1%) and cats (30.2) had been owned from 7 months to 1 year.
• Approximately half of the pets (42.8% of dogs; 50.8% of cats) surrendered were not neutered. Many of the pets relinquished (33% of dogs; 46.9% of cats) had not been to a veterinarian.
• Animals acquired from friends were relinquished in higher numbers (31.4% of dogs; 33.2% of cats) than from any other source.
• Close to equal numbers of male and female dogs and cats were surrendered.
• Most dogs (96%) had not received any obedience training.


The survey also revealed :

......on average, 42.5 percent of pets that entered animal shelters were submitted by animal control authorities and nearly 30 percent were surrendered by their owners. The remainder was relinquished by other sources…..

In addition, the majority of respondents--62 percent--were under 30 years of age and 52 percent had at least finished high school…….

Findings included that 30% of dogs and 6% of relinquished cats were purebred. Most animals were between 5 months and 3 years of age. Twenty-seven percent of dogs and 36.5% of cats were reported to live outdoors always or almost always....

……..Dogs were at increased risk of relinquishment if they were obtained at no cost or if their purchase cost was less than $100………. dogs obtained at no cost and with little effort are at increased risk of relinquishment. This might reflect a lack of value to the owner or a lower level
of attachment or commitment.....

Mixed-breed animals were at increased risk of relinquishment. Dogs
who came from an animal shelter, friend, or pet shop or who had been a stray were at increased risk of relinquishment compared with dogs who entered households as gifts. ………

Of the 71 reasons for relinquishment recorded in the study, 24 were classified as behavioral. Behavioral reasons accounted for 27% of the single-reason canine relinquishment's……

…… Significantly more people relinquishing dogs and cats felt that a female dog or cat would be better off if she had one litter before being spayed…….


[B][U]I was very surprised that 62% of the surrenders are from young people. If moving is the number one reason for relinquishment I would venture to guess it's the younger pet owners doing so.

Also I found the "31% of relinquished dogs acquired from friends" a sad statistic. These dumped pets could have been prevented if neutering or spaying had been done ....It's just a sad situation ........

Originally Posted by Wylie's Mom (Post 2995431)

Okay folks, this is a good discussion, but I can hardly read it bc there are so many mis-quotes and improper use of quotes (which I'm going to try to fix if I can figure out what is what).

Please, PREVIEW your posts to check quoting accuracy. If you don't know how to use quotes, please ask for help, or don't use them as the result is not only too difficult to read - but makes it appear as though people typed something they did *not* type at all (and this actually refers not to just this thread, but is happening all over the board lately).

Thank you so much, it would be so helpful if everyone previewed their posts before hitting submit :)!

Originally Posted by livingdustmops (Post 2995558)

Sorry, I know how to use quotes but I don't know how to fix when it doesn't work...boo hoo!:(

Originally Posted by red98vett (Post 2995573)

My dog is a pervert.

Originally Posted by livingdustmops (Post 2995558)

Sorry, I know how to use quotes but I don't know how to fix when it doesn't work...boo hoo!:(

Originally Posted by aasfjal

TEXT IN HERE

Originally Posted by red98vett (Post 2995573)

Repeat after me ......then let's say it together Cindy.....

E.D.I.T. Button

Originally Posted by QuickSilver (Post 2995578)

Sorry, couldn't resist. :D Just for the record, red98vett didn't say that... at least, not on THIS thread.

Originally Posted by MeganS (Post 2995585)

Cindy, the problem with your quote was that you bolded the [/ of the last QUOTE bracket. The quote should look like this (without the spaces):

[ QUOTE = aasfjal ]

TEXT IN HERE

[ / QUOTE ]

Which results in:



I hope that helps a bit. :)

Originally Posted by jp4m2 (Post 2995612)

Cindy, your correct in your statement in that the younger group of people wanting pets will have many changes taking place in their lives which is why they do such a huge percentage of the surrender ......The fact that they tend to be more mobile and they are adding children to their homes may account for several of the 10 reasons for surrendering a pet. The moving, landlord problems and not having time to name a few......

Does this mean that if someone in their twenties comes looking for a pet that in all probability this pet will end up in a shelter??......

The 31% of the dogs being surrendered are coming from friends was also surprising......That may fall into line with the stat that a significant number of pet owners are sadly believing that a pet should have at least one litter.....Now they have to place those pups so friends may feel obligated to take a pet when they may have not been looking.......What a terrible situation......

Originally Posted by QuickSilver (Post 2995649)

Just remember all yorkies are dogs, but not all dogs are yorkies... meaning that while young people may constitute the majority of surrenders, that doesn't necessarily mean that most young people surrender their pets.

I mean maybe they do, but it's not clear from that stat. [/math nerd]

Originally Posted by QuickSilver (Post 2995578)

Sorry, couldn't resist. :D Just for the record, red98vett didn't say that... at least, not on THIS thread.

Originally Posted by QuickSilver (Post 2995761)

<puts on lecture pants>

There are two ways that number could be misleading. First, we are looking for the % of people under thirty who have pets and give them up. What we have a stat for is, of the number of pets surrendered, how many belonged to people under thirty.

One quick way to look at this is to look at the breeds of dogs currently in shelters - this does not necessarily reflect the ratio of breeds out in the world.

Here's another way. Let's be optimistic and say that only 1% of people surrender their dogs. In that case, even if people < 30 surrender at almost twice the rate of people of people > 30, any given person < 30 with a pet is very unlikely to surrender.

Or this way. Let's say that people < 30 are much more likely to adopt dogs than people > 30. For the sake of example, let's be extreme, and say they are ten times more likely to adopt dogs. In that case, all other things being equal, people < 30 would be surrendering 10x as many dogs as everyone else. In that case, the fact that surrendered dogs were 2x as likely to be from a person < 30 would actually speak very well for the young'ns: it would show that as a group, they were LESS likely to surrender than older folks.

Not necessarily saying this is true, just that statistics are tricky. A great little read is "How to Lie With Statistics". Very eye opening (and short).

Originally Posted by red98vett (Post 2995808)

<snip>... my yorkie ... <snip>... is ... <snip> ... a perv.

Originally Posted by livingdustmops (Post 2995814)

I could be wrong but I assumed (I know...I know:p) that the question was asked how old the people were that dumped their animals at the shelter and of the number dumped 62% of the people were under 30.

I worked for a car manufacturer...haha I understand how marketing people can take information and twist it....:p

Originally Posted by QuickSilver (Post 2995837)

Be careful what you say! Ha ha, okay, I'm just being evil, red98vett's dog is a total cutie, it's not her fault she's been hypnotized by the raw sex appeal of a toy gorilla.

livingdustmops, I assumed that as well - it's just that that doesn't mean that 62% of people under thirty dump their dogs.

Amazon.com: How to Lie with Statistics (9780393310726): Darrell Huff, Irving Geis: Books

Still a classic.

Originally Posted by Nancy1999 (Post 2995842)

You could, for example, also say that their study indicated most of the people who turned dogs over to rescues had a high school education. Does this mean you shouldn't place home with people who've had a high school education or that you would be better off placing them with people who hadn't graduated high school? Of course not, it just means that most of the people turning a dog over to rescue had graduated high school.

Originally Posted by livingdustmops (Post 2995550)

********************

Excellent information and I am a big believer in stats...I have watched people on YT give their opinions on many things in rescue without looking at the total picture but I believe many people on YT have been turned down because of age.

It is a known fact that Yorkies do not always like children...not all but generally speaking it is a view of the breed, Yorkies are very difficult to housebreak, Yorkies are companion animals and need attention and the list could go on.

So a 20 year old comes to rescue and wants a "baby"...the odds are this persons life is going to change radically in the next 5 to 10 years (travel, dating, husband and children) and many of these life changes do not work well with Yorkies and a number of Yorkies are turned into rescue because of no time, house breaking issues and they are nipping the children.

The amazing thing to me is that I never considered getting a dog at 20...I was having to much fun and certainly do not want the responsibility of a dog or picking up dog poop. I also do not have $$$ to take care of a dog. I so wish young people would think out their lives a little longer than what is going on the next day and stop being selfish with an animals life - 62% turned into shelters/rescue.

I realize some young people can handle it but come on, 62% can't and I really wonder what was in the breeders heads who placed these dogs.

Originally Posted by Britster (Post 2996579)

I do agree that MOST young people would NOT be able to care for a dog. I am 20 years old this year and got Jackson in December 2008 at 18 years old. It was the BEST decision I ever could have made. Yes, I am young but clearly this dog is the love of my life and not just some puppy I thought was cute and passed it on to my parents to handle. Jackson is my full responsibility, my best friend, my buddy, my pal, I train with him every day, we're hardly ever apart, we spend many days and hours at the dog park, we walk nearly every day. He's truly my pal and I could NEVER part with him ever. He is my first "child" or my first love, whatever you wanna call it. He's my boy and nothing will ever change that. Yes, I am most likely going to get married, have kids, have a different career within the next 10-15 years but Jackson is guaranteed to ALWAYS be a big part of that. I could never disclude him from my life, he means the world to me. However, I think that when most people see my applications I've filled out for dogs in the past, they immediately skip past it because of my age yet I would give another dog a WONDERFUL loving home. When I was looking for a second dog through rescue, over 95% of people I emailed never even responded to an application OR email I sent about a specific dog. I would send a long detailed email describing me and Jackson, our life, what we do, if that dog would fit in, etc.

I do totally agree that most people my age would in no way or form be responsible to own a dog. None of my friends would. I put a lot of time into this dog but he's all worth it to me. So I do totally understand why rescues have to be strict with this. I just wish it was looked upon more as a case by case basis thing, but a few yorkie rescues I've seen are "must be 25 years old" etc. Alot of people are married and may already have a child before they're 25 so sometimes I think that's really unfair to just make that a staple rule. I know a ton of adults in their 30's who don't treat their dogs half as good as I treat Jackson at 19 years old.

Originally Posted by MaddiesMommie (Post 2997104)

Britster, I know you are an excellent mommy to Jackson so this is no way directed toward you.;)

I do understand though why rescues would be discouraged at the thought of giving a dog to someone as young as you. I think most people in their late teens and early twenties will experience major changes over the next 5-6 years. Plans change, people get married, some move, or go off to college and sometimes a dog doesnt fit into the new plan.

I had NO intention of getting married at 20 and moving to Johnson City to live in an apt with my high school sweetie. But I did. I know there are the exceptions, a few young members here are excellent furparents. But when placing a dog that may have already come from an unstable situation, a rescuer has to ask themselves is it worth the risk.