The Association Blog

Just because a dog is shy or big and rambunctious does not mean he will be better or worse with children. Dr. Emily Weiss challenges you to take a hard look at your criteria for determining which animals in your care have restrictions.

I have had several shelters reach out to me recently asking for help with capacity. They are all full, and in most cases I am finding that intake is still down compared to pre-pandemic levels, but length of stays are higher. These higher stays in shelter are the drivers for a lack of empty cages. There are a variety of factors for this, and they can vary from shelter to shelter.  However, for many shelters, adoption restrictions are increasing length of stay.

For fun (don’t judge…for me it is fun) I did a global search on Petfinder.com for all dogs for adoption, and then I filtered by dogs who are tagged as able to be with children – and with just one filter, two-thirds of the dogs available for adoption were wiped out. You guys – two-thirds!  A search on Adopt a Pet yielded an even more dramatic decrease! A walk down the adoption aisle at many shelters finds many cage cards with child restrictions.

I am absolutely positive that many of the dogs that are considered “not good with kids” or “not good with kids under x age” are, in fact, quite good with kids. Staff tend to put those restrictions on dogs not because of a known history but instead because of behaviors that they surmise will be a challenge. For example, the dog is shy, or big and rambunctious.

Let me clarify that I am not suggesting that a dog with a history of aggression be available without restrictions. If a dog is truly unsafe with children, he is likely also unsafe with others and that is a blog for a different day.

Here is the thing. Just because a dog is shy or big and rambunctious does not mean he will be better or worse with children. For example, a shy dog may prefer children to adults.  As a behaviorist I have observed this many, many times. Kids are smaller so they appear less looming, and, in many cases, they are softer and slower than their adult counterparts. Dogs who came from undersocialized households may have had more interaction with children than adults.

While a rambunctious, physical dog is not right for everybody, I would argue he may be better in a home with dog-loving kids. Here is a dog who needs stimulation, enrichment, social opportunities…. If you were an animal-crazy kid like me (and chances are, if you are in this field you were), you probably have experienced extreme delight at playing with a dog who may have accidently knocked you down a time or two. The bonds made with those dogs guided me to my ultimate career – you too?

I understand where some of the bias can come from. When many kids come to your shelter they are on rocket fuel! I again ask that you think back to your youngster self and what it felt like to go to the zoo or shelter or anyplace that had 4 legged animals. My parents often told the story of losing me at petting zoo only to find me in a stall with a calf….These little buggers are over the moon – each dog and cat is like being in front of Taylor Swift! But…give them the opportunity to meet one of your fantastic dogs by sitting quietly in a room (with their family of course) and letting the dog choose to interact (or not) – and you have yourself a motivated kid who will work hard! Remember these are dogs you have deemed safe for adoption in general – I am not suggesting unsafe dogs for meet-and-greets. Some kids are soft and patient with those shy pups, some kids are completely unflustered by an occasional exuberant tail womp. Chances are those interactions will help assure you can find the right match for that family, even if it is not the first dog they meet.

I challenge you to take a good hard look at the animals in your care who have restrictions – be it no other dogs, cats, kids or something else… and determine how many of those animals have a noted history of challenges, versus behaviors that likely are not correlated with the restriction. Just by increasing your adopter pool in this way, you will impact your Length of Stay.

Instead of putting labels that will knock out a significant portion of those people searching for a dog, let’s instead make matches based on the individual family and individual dog. We can get more animals home, welcome more families into the movement and build the next generation of us!

What are your thoughts?

More from Dr. Weiss

Shelterer or Rehomer?
Let’s Get Rid of “Them”
Is it time for a new goal?
“It’s Just Not Supposed to Happen This Way”

Photo: Christy Counts