Pets as gifts – the same old xmas rot

Over 30 years ago, Dogs Trust coined the phrase “A dog is for life not just for Christmas®”. This slogan is now a registered trademark belonging to the charity and despite being more than three decades old, still forms the basis for their xmas promotions (or lack of) this year;

To help discourage people from thoughtlessly buying dogs as Christmas presents, the charity’s 17 Rehoming Centres will stop rehoming dogs from 19th December to 2nd January. People will still be able to visit the centres and reserve a dog, but will not be able to take it home until the New Year.

But on what ‘scientific’ basis do they close over xmas? Thirty years on, they must have studied this by now, right?

New research carried out by Dogs Trust, the UK’s largest dog welfare charity, has revealed that 1 in 5 parents would still consider buying their child a dog for Christmas.

um. ok.

With the average Christmas present lasting just four weeks before being discarded by its bored recipient, the charity fears that puppies bought for Christmas will experience a similar fate and is urging people to ‘think life’ when taking on a dog.

I’m sorry, what? Because people still get pets as gifts, and kids get tired of toys, we’re making the leap to pet abandonment. Which would be fine; if it were true…

But it’s not. And we know this because people have done actual studies on the factors surrounding pet relinquishment:

The collection and analysis of data have confirmed some widely held impressions previously derived from anecdotal information, such as the finding of relinquishment studies that problem behaviors increase a pet’s risk of being surrendered to a shelter. At the same time, they have contradicted impressions long accepted as shelter dogma, such as the belief that animals given as gifts are at greater risk of relinquishment than those acquired in other ways.

Replacing Myth with Math: Using Evidence-Based Programs to Eradicate Shelter Overpopulaton

Some proper you know, science, from the US in 2000 ‘Characteristics of Shelter-Relinquished Animals and Their Owners Compared With Animals and Their Owners in U.S. Pet-Owning Households’ showed that contrary to popular belief, “dogs who came from an animal shelter, friend, or pet shop or who had been a stray were at increased risk of relinquishment compared with dogs who entered households as gifts”. I know, surprising huh? What were the other factors for risk of ending up in the shelter? “Dogs who soiled the house, damaged things, were overly active, or were reported as fearful.”

So the ‘gifting’ of the pet wasn’t so much of a problem as… well, actual problems. In fact, the being a gift offered the pet a protective effect, with pets more likely to stay in the home.

Given that the Dog’s Trust is located in the UK, we should probably look at a study there. The RSPCA UK put out a 75 page report on the issues surrounding companion animal welfare in 2007 ‘Measuring animal welfare in the UK (Pet animals)‘. Their take on biggest problems leading to dog relinquishment?

Many unwanted dogs are purchased as puppies and are signed over to the RSPCA when they are between two and four years old. This can happen for a number of reasons including owners becoming bored of the dog once it’s an adult, owners being unable to cope with behavioural problems caused by inadequate training, and owners failing to make long-term plans for the care of the dog. The number of healthy dogs put to sleep could be reduced with a combination of simple, practical actions. Microchipping would assist with locating pet owners and could reduce the number of strays. Neutering of dogs could prevent unwanted pregnancies and help control the size of the dog population. The provision of suitable information and guidance from pet sellers could also improve the welfare of the animal concerned.

Noticeably absent? An epidemic of ‘gifting’.

Now, I’m not actually promoting the idea that we encourage people to make animal gifts – I personally think something that poops and wees and needs lots of attention, should be a joy one inflicts on themselves. But we need to understand that the overwhelming majority of people who do give pets as ‘gifts’, aren’t just springing the pet on an unsuspecting relative; more often they’re getting the pet for the whole family, or that the person who is getting the pet is heavily involved (or is at least consulted) during the process.

What’s more, the idea that ‘gifting’ is a core factor leading to pets ending up in the shelter, rather than the quality and capability of the home, is completely ignoring the true causes of animal relinquishment – a lack of owner education, a lack of early training, the pet not being desexed, unrealistic expectations of pet ownership and the owner’s personal issues. We can be positively addressing many of those issues during our adoption processes.

The idea that animal shelters should close their doors in December in case parents OH NO! bring a pet home a pet for their families during the xmas holidays – when screening processes work throughout January to November as a way to protect pets from bad homes – is well, a bit backward really. And if the best junk science you can find for doing so, is crudely associating kids getting tired of Barbie and Lego with companion animal ownership, then maybe its time to let go of this catchphrase that’s keeping your shelters full to the ceilings throughout those xmas weeks and instead let pets go home.

Times they are a-changing

Thankfully Dog’s Trust are one of the last to hold on to this unhelpful shelter mantra. Dr Marty Becker over at PetConnection sorting the jewels from the junk ‘Christmas puppy? Maybe it’s NOT a bad idea’, proposing that maybe the holidays is the *perfect* time to get a pet. While the ‘Home 4 the Holidays‘ promotion is now into its 11th event and is looking to this year rehome 1.5million animals. This year.

The holidays are our biggest opportunity to go toe-to-toe with other sources of companion animals – we should want all the great owners to visit and adopt. Refusing adoptions during this time and instead sending them off to pet shops, while maybe feeling like a moral victory on our part, isn’t actually based on any proof of better outcomes for animals, or science that pets adopted during the holidays are any more likely to be relinquished than those acquired at other times of the year. It’s simply the same old xmas rot.

See also: A pet is for life, not just for xmas
and: Busting the holiday adoption myth