External link: Gunter LM, Gilchrist RJ, Blade EM, Reed JL, Isernia LT, Barber RT, Foster AM, Feuerbacher EN and Wynne CDL (2022) Emergency Fostering of Dogs From Animal Shelters During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Shelter Practices, Foster Caregiver Engagement, and Dog Outcomes. Front. Vet. Sci. 9:862590. https://doi.org/10.3389/fvets.2022.862590
Shelter Procedures During Pandemic
Category
Process / Procedure
% of Shelters
Behavior
Routine behavioral assessment
52.63%
Dog-dog assessment
57.89%
– One-on-one with another dog
45.45%
– Combination of one-on-one & group interactions
45.45%
– Group interactions
9.09%
Behavior personnel on staff
41.60%
Veterinary
Stopped or reduced number of spay-neuter surgeries
63.16%
Reduced number of in-house veterinarians
36.84%
Reduced partnerships with outside veterinary clinics
15.79%
Did not require spay-neuter surgery before adoption
26.32%
Adoption Procedures
Meeting requirements
– Humans in the household
10.53%
– Dogs in the household
21.05%
Meeting location
– Meet at shelter
84.21%
– Meet at foster caregiver’s home
42.11%
Paperwork location
– Completed at shelter
94.74%
– Completed with foster caregiver
26.32%
– Completed with shelter, remotely
78.95%
– Completed with foster caregiver, remotely
5.26%
Adopted dog pick-up
– Inside the shelter
94.74%
– Drive-through, at shelter
52.63%
– At foster caregiver’s home
57.89%
Adoption Process:
Nearly 90% of organizations did not require all family members to meet the dog prior to adoption.
Only 21.05% of shelters required meetings between any resident dog(s) and the shelter dog.
Foster Care Practices:
Novel approaches to foster animal pickup were implemented during the pandemic.
The most common approach was drive-through style (36.13%).
Other approaches included:
Caregiver going inside the shelter (31.73%)
Outdoor pickup with staff (28.38%)
Other methods (3.76%)
Foster Caregivers
Number of resident dogs (% of foster caregivers)
Caregiver’s Relationship to the Shelter
Fostering type
Number
%
0
1
2
3
4+
No prior relationship
New community member
Puppy
52
3%
71.15
21.15
5.77
1.92
0.00
Dog
622
37%
74.60
18.33
5.14
1.29
0.64
Prior relationship
Shelter volunteer
Puppy
16
1%
62.50
18.75
12.50
6.25
0.00
Dog
67
4%
70.15
19.40
4.48
5.97
0.00
Returning community member
Puppy
72
4%
80.56
12.50
6.94
0.00
0.00
Dog
146
9%
69.86
15.75
4.11
2.74
7.53
Returning foster caregiver
Puppy
187
11%
28.88
15.51
27.27
17.11
11.23
Dog
400
24%
43.75
29.00
11.00
12.00
4.25
Staff
Puppy
44
3%
0.00
34.09
20.45
20.45
25.00
Dog
80
5%
10.00
20.00
13.75
27.50
28.75
Finder / owner
Puppy
0
0%
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
Dog
16
1%
43.75
18.75
18.75
0.00
18.75
Overall
1702
100%
56.52
20.68
9.93
7.58
5.29
Age: The average age of foster caregivers was 36.01 years old.
Resident Dogs: Puppy caregivers were more likely to have resident dogs (57.14%) compared to adult dog caregivers (39.67%).
Shelter Resource Level and Caregiver Relationship:
Low-resource shelters: Relied heavily on caregivers with prior relationships (78.79%).
High-resource shelters: Utilized a larger proportion of new community foster caregivers (60.63%).
Foster-to-Adopt Rates:
Moderately resourced shelters: Had the highest foster-to-adopt rate (43.77%).
High-resource shelters: Had the second-highest foster-to-adopt rate (32.84%).
Repeat Fostering: 25% of foster caregivers fostered more than once during the four-month data collection period.
Dog Outcome
Positive Outcomes
Adoption: Over 83% of fostered dogs and puppies were adopted, primarily from foster homes or with minimal shelter time.
Very low-resource shelters had lower adoption rates (43.01%), compared with shelters at other resource levels (over 80%).
Transfers: 9.45% were transferred to other organizations.
More puppies were transferred out (15.02%) than adult dogs (7.82%).
Very low-resource shelters had higher transfer rates (49.46%), compared to low (6.58%) or moderately (1.67%) resourced shelters.
Return to Owner: A very small percentage (0.27%) were returned to their original owners.
Remained in Care: In a foster home (4.15%) or at the shelter (1.22%).
Negative Outcomes
Less than 2% had negative outcomes:
Lost in Care: 0.34%
Died in Care: 0.20%
Euthanized: 1.02% (0.54% for behavioral, 0.48% for medical) – No puppies were euthanized for behavior.
Length of Stay
Overall: Dogs and puppies spent an average of 43.35 days in the care of the organization (shelter + foster).
Foster Care:
Average: 19.52 days
Range: 0 to 176 days
Age Correlation: Age had a positive correlation with adult dog length of stay.
Foster-to-Adopt: Dogs with potential adopters stayed for 16.18 days (vs. 20.93 days for other cases)
15.74 days if the person adopted (vs. 17.37 days if the person did not adopt)
Foster Caregiver Adoptions:
Adult Dogs: Length of stay of 28.58 days if adopted (vs. 19.61 days if no adoption).
Puppies: Length of stay of 41.61 days if adopted (vs. 20.77 days if no adoption).
Only 7% of puppy foster experiences resulted in caregiver adoption.
Factors Affecting Length of Stay
Timing of spay-neuter surgery
Fostering type
n
Average length of stay
Before intake to the shelter
Puppy
1
38
Dog
443
43.59
At the shelter
Puppy
99
37.36
Dog
301
48.86
In foster care
Puppy
10
57.7
Dog
62
90.66
During a foster-to-adopt
Puppy
36
56.08
Dog
68
57.4
After leaving the shelter
Puppy
166
25.67
Dog
184
60.04
Home Meetings: Shelters allowing potential adopters to meet fosters at home resulted in shorter foster stays (13.73 days), compared to those that did not (21.95 days).
Direct Pick-up: Shelters allowing direct pick-up from foster homes also led to shorter stays (15.86 days), compared to those that did not (20.83 days).
Caregiver’s relationship with the shelter
Adopted n
Did not adopt n
Adopted (%)
No prior relationship
New community member
195
484
28.72
Prior relationship
Shelter volunteer
12
70
14.63
Returning community member
18
194
8.49
Returning foster caregiver
31
558
5.26
Staff
8
116
6.45
Potential adopter (foster-to-adopt)
634
235
72.96
New Caregivers without Dogs: More likely to adopt their fostered dog (77.39% of cases, versus 22.61% for those with dogs).
Prior Relationship Caregivers: Adoption rates varied depending on the number of resident dogs. Those without dogs adopted most often (46.15%) as compared to those with one (30.65%), two (14.52%), or three or more dogs (9.68%).
Dogs with Behavioral Needs
Behavioral Needs: Approximately 20% of foster dogs required behavioral management.
Virtually no puppies (0.62%) required behavioral management.
Bites: Bite incidents were relatively rare (1.1%) and evenly distributed between dog-to-dog and dog-to-human bites.
Dogs without known behavioral concerns were more likely to bite
Returns: 17% of behaviorally managed foster dogs were returned by caregivers. (Dogs without behavioural issues: 5.3%)
Dogs with Medical Needs
Medical Needs: A significant portion of foster dogs required medical management (32.90% for dogs, 21.67% for puppies).
Medical Returns: 4.53% of medically managed foster dogs were returned due to medical issues. (Dogs without medical issues: 1.4%)
Reason foster care ended
Puppy
Adult Dog
Adoption
39.62
62.43
Behavioral
1.08
9.02
Medical
3.23
2.1
Caregiver-related
11.33
10.15
Scheduled return by the shelter
44.74
16.3
Foster Utilization Ratio (FUR)
Factors Influencing FUR:
2019 Length of Stay for dogs 6 months and older: for each day that a shelter’s 2019 length of stay was shorter, their FUR increased by slightly more than one-third of a point.
Shelter Type: Public municipal agencies had 30 points lower FURs compared to private non-profits.
Public Municipal Agencies:
Had the lowest FUR (M = 14.52).
Experienced a dramatic increase in FUR during the pandemic (270% increase from March 2020).
Private Non-Profit Shelters:
Higher FURs compared to public municipal agencies.
High FUR during the pandemic: April (M = 48.86) and May (M = 47.48).
Pandemic Impact:
Overall increase in foster utilization in April 2020 (43% of dogs in foster care), an increase of over 30% compared to before the pandemic.