Reducing Dog Relinquishment to Rescue Centres Due to Behaviour Problems: Identifying Cases to Target with an Advice Intervention at the Point of Relinquishment Request
Behaviour problems are a leading reason for dogs being relinquished to rescue centres across the world every year. The aim of this study was to investigate whether free behavioural advice would be accepted at the point of an owner requesting to relinquish their dog for behavioural reasons. The call...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2021-09-01
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| Series: | Animals |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2615/11/10/2766 |
| _version_ | 1797515566329626624 |
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| author | Natalie Powdrill-Wells Sienna Taylor Vicky Melfi |
| author_facet | Natalie Powdrill-Wells Sienna Taylor Vicky Melfi |
| author_sort | Natalie Powdrill-Wells |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Behaviour problems are a leading reason for dogs being relinquished to rescue centres across the world every year. The aim of this study was to investigate whether free behavioural advice would be accepted at the point of an owner requesting to relinquish their dog for behavioural reasons. The call records of 1131 relinquishment requests were reviewed and analysed to establish if the offer of free behaviour advice was accepted. The results showed that advice was accepted in 24.4% of relinquishment requests and behavioural problem was a significant predictor of whether advice was accepted (<i>p</i> < 0.001). The odds of advice being accepted were 5.755 times (95% CI: 2.835–11.681; <i>p</i> < 0.001) greater for a relinquishment request due to problems with general management behaviours compared to aggression between dogs in the home, representing 4.2% and 20.2% of overall relinquishment requests. These data suggest that owners are prepared to accept behaviour advice at the point of relinquishment request, so advice interventions could have potential to impact the levels of dog relinquishment to rescue centres. The impact of an intervention offering behaviour advice may be limited by overall levels of advice acceptance by owners and therefore complimentary proactive solutions to reduce behavioural relinquishments should also be considered. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-10T06:47:12Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-566bbc6ffc2f401197cda32512da0bdc |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2076-2615 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-10T06:47:12Z |
| publishDate | 2021-09-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Animals |
| spelling | doaj.art-566bbc6ffc2f401197cda32512da0bdc2023-11-22T17:08:46ZengMDPI AGAnimals2076-26152021-09-011110276610.3390/ani11102766Reducing Dog Relinquishment to Rescue Centres Due to Behaviour Problems: Identifying Cases to Target with an Advice Intervention at the Point of Relinquishment RequestNatalie Powdrill-Wells0Sienna Taylor1Vicky Melfi2Wood Green the Animals Charity, Godmanchester PE29 2NH, UKDepartment of Animal and Land Sciences, Hartpury University, Gloucester GL19 3BE, UKDepartment of Animal and Land Sciences, Hartpury University, Gloucester GL19 3BE, UKBehaviour problems are a leading reason for dogs being relinquished to rescue centres across the world every year. The aim of this study was to investigate whether free behavioural advice would be accepted at the point of an owner requesting to relinquish their dog for behavioural reasons. The call records of 1131 relinquishment requests were reviewed and analysed to establish if the offer of free behaviour advice was accepted. The results showed that advice was accepted in 24.4% of relinquishment requests and behavioural problem was a significant predictor of whether advice was accepted (<i>p</i> < 0.001). The odds of advice being accepted were 5.755 times (95% CI: 2.835–11.681; <i>p</i> < 0.001) greater for a relinquishment request due to problems with general management behaviours compared to aggression between dogs in the home, representing 4.2% and 20.2% of overall relinquishment requests. These data suggest that owners are prepared to accept behaviour advice at the point of relinquishment request, so advice interventions could have potential to impact the levels of dog relinquishment to rescue centres. The impact of an intervention offering behaviour advice may be limited by overall levels of advice acceptance by owners and therefore complimentary proactive solutions to reduce behavioural relinquishments should also be considered.https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2615/11/10/2766behaviourdomestic dogrelinquishmentrescue centre |
| spellingShingle | Natalie Powdrill-Wells Sienna Taylor Vicky Melfi Reducing Dog Relinquishment to Rescue Centres Due to Behaviour Problems: Identifying Cases to Target with an Advice Intervention at the Point of Relinquishment Request Animals behaviour domestic dog relinquishment rescue centre |
| title | Reducing Dog Relinquishment to Rescue Centres Due to Behaviour Problems: Identifying Cases to Target with an Advice Intervention at the Point of Relinquishment Request |
| title_full | Reducing Dog Relinquishment to Rescue Centres Due to Behaviour Problems: Identifying Cases to Target with an Advice Intervention at the Point of Relinquishment Request |
| title_fullStr | Reducing Dog Relinquishment to Rescue Centres Due to Behaviour Problems: Identifying Cases to Target with an Advice Intervention at the Point of Relinquishment Request |
| title_full_unstemmed | Reducing Dog Relinquishment to Rescue Centres Due to Behaviour Problems: Identifying Cases to Target with an Advice Intervention at the Point of Relinquishment Request |
| title_short | Reducing Dog Relinquishment to Rescue Centres Due to Behaviour Problems: Identifying Cases to Target with an Advice Intervention at the Point of Relinquishment Request |
| title_sort | reducing dog relinquishment to rescue centres due to behaviour problems identifying cases to target with an advice intervention at the point of relinquishment request |
| topic | behaviour domestic dog relinquishment rescue centre |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2615/11/10/2766 |
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