Summary: New findings from Indiana University suggest ways animal shelters can refine the adoption process to match people with the right dog more effectively.
Source: Indiana University
Psychologists from Indiana University who study partner choice have applied their methods to another meaningful relationship: selecting a dog.
Their study, published in the journal Behavior Research Methods, indicates that stated preferences do not always predict which dog people will adopt — a phenomenon that could be used to improve pet adoption practices in shelters.
Researchers collected field data at a working animal shelter and analyzed how visitors’ stated preferences compared with the dogs they ultimately chose. Their findings could help shelters match adopters with dogs more efficiently and reduce mismatches that lead to returns.
“Our results show that people’s verbal descriptions of their ideal dog don’t always align with the dog they adopt,” said Samantha Cohen, who led the research while a Ph.D. student in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences at IU Bloomington. “Focusing on a smaller set of high-impact traits rather than every stated preference may make the adoption process more successful.”
Cohen carried out the project as a volunteer adoption counselor in the lab of IU Provost Professor Peter Todd, who is a co-author on the paper. In that role, she frequently observed adopters choosing dogs different from the ones recommended based on their stated criteria.
“Only some desired traits tend to be fulfilled above chance, which means these traits may have a larger impact on selection.”
To investigate which attributes most influence choice, the team categorized dogs by 13 characteristics: age, sex, color, size, purebred status, prior training, nervousness, protectiveness, intelligence, excitability, energy level, playfulness and friendliness. They surveyed 1,229 visitors to the shelter about their preferences and tracked the choices of 145 people who completed an adoption.
The findings echo earlier work in speed-dating research led by Todd, which showed people’s stated romantic preferences often diverge from their selections in practice. In the dog adoption context, while most visitors listed multiple preferred traits — friendliness being the most commonly cited — adopters tended to choose dogs consistent with only a handful of attributes, such as age and playfulness. Traits like coat color or purebred status exerted less influence than people expected.
The study also highlighted the role of appearance and immediate impressions. Cohen noted that looks and initial attractiveness frequently influence choices in the same way they do in human dating situations.
Cohen highlighted several practical challenges for prospective dog owners and shelters trying to optimize matches:
- Focusing on “the one”: Adopters who arrive with a narrow idea of a perfect dog can overlook suitable alternatives. For example, someone seeking a large, low-shedding, loyal companion might fixate on a particular breed and miss a mixed-breed dog that meets the same needs.
- Mismatched descriptions: Adopters and shelter staff often use different terms to describe the same dog. This applies to subjective traits like obedience and playfulness as well as seemingly objective features like color, creating confusion during selection.
- Context-dependent behavior: A dog that seems playful in the shelter environment may behave differently at home; in a small apartment, playful behavior could be perceived as destructive. New owners may misinterpret shelter behavior without experience.
- Performance under stress: Shelters are stressful settings for animals. A dog’s behavior in a noisy shelter may not reflect its typical temperament at home, so choosing based solely on in-shelter performance can be misleading.
Based on their results, the researchers recommend that shelters emphasize the relatively few traits that most strongly predict adoption choices when helping visitors. They also suggest practical interventions to reduce stress and present dogs in more typical conditions, such as temporary foster visits or calmer meeting spaces, so an animal’s usual friendliness or playfulness can be better observed.
Cohen also cautioned about relying exclusively on online listings, where adopters must trust someone else’s descriptions. She advises that users focus their search filters on the most important traits to avoid excluding potential matches based on less consequential preferences.
Funding: The study received partial support from an Indiana University Graduate and Professional Student Government Research Award.
Source:
Indiana University
Media Contacts:
Elizabeth Rosdeitcher – Indiana University
Image Source:
The image is in the public domain.
Original Research:
“Stated and revealed preferences in companion animal choice.” Samantha E. Cohen and Peter M. Todd. Behavior Research Methods. DOI: 10.3758/s13428-019-01253-x (closed access).
Abstract (summary)
The researchers investigated the stated–revealed preference gap in the context of dog adoption by comparing what people say they want with the dogs they pick in a shelter setting. Using field data and newly gathered observations, they found considerable overlap between adopters’ stated preferences and how they rated chosen dogs. However, there was little correlation between adopters’ perceptions of a chosen dog’s behavioral traits and independent in-shelter evaluations, indicating it is challenging to predict which dogs will satisfy adopters’ preferences. The study also assessed which commonly recorded factors affect how quickly dogs are adopted. These insights can help combine experimental and big-data approaches to better understand real-world choice behavior.