A new study has highlighted what can be expected in the first six months of having a dog from a shelter if you want to adopt a new furry buddy.
Every year, around 2 million dogs are adopted from shelters in the United States. However, following the so-called “honeymoon period,” owners may experience unanticipated changes in their new partners.
This is a phenomenon in which the whole image of a dog’s behavior is not visible until they feel at ease in their homes. Although any changes can be helpful, there can also be detrimental habits, and approximately 15% of adopted dogs are returned to shelters.
Keeping track: Ohio State University researchers conducted a detailed examination of the changes in adopted dogs’ behavior throughout the first six months in the hopes of providing new owners with a clearer understanding of what to expect.
“The shelter system touches many lives, both humans and pets,” said Kyle Bohland, the study’s principal author, in a statement.
“As a result, it’s critical for us to be able to advise owners on what might or might not change in the future so they can be better prepared to deal with the consequences and, hopefully, keep dogs in homes.”
Between October 1, 2020, and June 1, 2021, the research team surveyed the owners of 99 dogs acquired from five Ohio shelters, seeking information at 7, 30, 90, and 180 days after adoption. They employed a research tool called the Canine Behavioral Assessment & Research Questionnaire (C-BARQ) to assess behavior in a standardized manner.
Participants were asked to rate 42 behaviors on a 0-4 scale, including excitability, hostility toward strangers, owners, and either familiar or unfamiliar canines, and separation anxiety. They were also asked to score their general happiness with the dog’s behavior and to keep track of any changes in their household that might have an impact on canine behavior.
Going through a rough patch: By the end of the sixth month, there was a considerable decrease in separation-related, attachment, and attention-seeking behaviors, which is good news for individuals who need to leave the house without their dog on a regular basis.
The findings, however, revealed significant increases in stranger-directed aggressiveness, chasing behavior, and training difficulty at all time periods, as well as a high prevalence of all types of aggression at various points throughout the six-month period.
“The most striking thing to me was that there is a lot of aggression among dogs in our community,” said Bohland.
“That definitely concerns me from both a public health and a human mental health standpoint, because we’ve got a lot of dogs who are struggling – and that has human implications.”
Statistical research found that some parameters, such as a dog’s size, age, and medical history, could be connected to behavioral changes.
In the case of aggression, the findings indicated that dogs that had received anti-anxiety medication while in shelters were more likely to demonstrate hostile behaviors toward strangers. This is regarded to have less to do with the dogs receiving medicine and more to do with the dogs being tough to handle from the beginning.
Staying paw-positive: The researchers believe the observed changes can be explained. According to the article, the increase in stranger-directed aggressiveness may be related to dogs becoming more protective of their new environment, while the decrease in separation anxiety may be due to feeling more safe and confident.
The vast majority of owners still thought their dogs were 10/10 good bois – after six months, 93.7 percent evaluated their dog’s overall conduct as exceptional or good, and 100 percent thought their dogs had adjusted extraordinarily or fairly well to their new homes.
“[D]espite the [aggression], people were pretty darn happy with their dogs,” Bohland explained.
“This collection of findings serves as a reminder that almost everyone has dealt with unpredictable behavior problems, illnesses, and the quirks of animal aging – and we still love our dogs.” Overall, this demonstrates the relationship that people feel with their dogs.”
The authors of the study hope that their findings will be used by veterinarians and shelters to provide potential owners with more precise information on what behavior changes to expect and, as a result, give them more realistic expectations about adopting a canine companion.
“The bottom line is that we don’t want to see dogs coming back to shelters,” Bohland added.
“A lot of what we examine stems from client inquiries. So my aim is that this will help shelter personnel and vets focus therapies that will help maintain more dogs in their homes in the long run.”
