Investigating the relationship between canine training classes and post-adoption return rates in North American shelters

Appl Anim Behav Sci. June 2025;287(0):106654. 26 Refs

Duaa Ahmed¹, Brittany Watson, Chelsea L Reinhard, Lauren Powell²

¹ School of Veterinary Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA.; ² lrpowell@vet.upenn.edu

Author Abstract

Although millions of pets are adopted from shelters each year, a significant portion are returned after adoption which can have negative implications for pets and animal shelters. Previous studies indicate a strong correlation between behavioral issues and returned shelter dogs. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between attending post-adoption training classes and return rates. The study also looked at the distribution of return reasons between dogs who attended training and dogs who did not. Retrospective data between April 1st 2023 and March 31st 2024 was collected from three different shelters in North America (Seattle, WA; DeKalb, IL; Edmonton, AB). Of all the adopted dogs (n = 3325), we looked at which dogs attended training (n = 204) and used propensity score matching to generate a matched control group of dogs who did not attend training. The control group was matched based on age, sex, breed, shelter and intake type. The results showed no significant difference in return rates between dogs who attended training (8.3 %) and dogs who did not attend training (9.3 %) as analyzed by Pearson Chi Squared test (X2(1) = 0.122, p = 0.727). However, of all the returned dogs, those who attended training were more likely to be returned for owner-related reasons (58.8 %), whereas dogs who did not attend training were more likely to be returned for animal-related reasons (78.9 %, X2(1) = 5.386, p = 0.020). While attending training classes at animal shelters may help to reduce behavioral returns, as shown by the shift in return reasons, they do not appear to reduce return rates significantly for the general shelter population. This finding provides valuable insight for shelters to improve their resource allocation. Shelters can have a more targeted approach by providing behavioral support for dogs that are at high-risk of return, thus setting those dogs up for a greater likelihood of permanent adoption.

Keywords

Adoption, Animal shelter, Behavior, Human-dog bond, Obedience training, Relinquishment

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