What’s Causing a Million Dogs to be Relinquished to Shelters Each Year?

The choice to relinquish a dog to a shelter is often one that weighs heavily on the pup parent. It is in most cases seen as a last resort, and often one they’d rather not have to make. While I want to remain sensitive to anyone who has had to make that decision, it’s important to discuss the main reason why so many dogs are relinquished to shelters. Understanding the “why” behind relinquishment can hopefully help reduce the frequency! Some estimates put the number of dogs relinquished to shelters at around 1 million per year (roughly 3 million end up in shelters overall, but I want to focus on relinquished dogs). Let that sink in for a moment… Roughly 2,700 dogs PER DAY are being relinquished to shelters. In this video, we’ll dive into the data from two different studies that aimed to pinpoint why dogs are relinquished. My hope is that understanding this data can help us individually and as a society make more informed and healthy decisions with our pets. Here is what we will cover: -The problem behavior reported during a relinquishment -How many surrendered dogs received training? Both formal & informal -Additional statistics about dogs ending up in shelters -What we can do to reduce the number of dogs being relinquished to shelters If you're needing help with your dog's behavior, please sign up for 30 Day Perfect Pup! It is 100% free (no credit card required) and covers topics like potty training, biting, leash walking, and more! Sign up free here:

You can listen to What’s Causing a Million Dogs to be Relinquished to Shelters Each Year? online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

What’s Causing a Million Dogs to be Relinquished to Shelters Each Year? is an episode from The Perfect Pup by Devin Stagg from Pupford.

This episode is 00:15:41 long.

This episode was published on Nov 1, 2022.

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