A  Dog  By  Any  Other  Name  Kristen  Auerbach  Liz  Finch    

Liz  Finch  Director  of  Na6onal  Programs    Best  Friends  Animal  Society  

 lizf@bes@riends.org    

Kristen  Auerbach  Director  of  Animal  Services  Pima  Animal  Care  Center  

Tucson,  Arizona    

Kristen.Auerbach@pima.gov  

Your  assump6ons  are  your  windows  on  the  world.  Scrub  them  off  every  once  in  a  while,  or  the  light  won’t  come  in.”  

–  Isaac  Asimov  “

Part  I:  Introduc6on  and  History  

Why  Do  Shelters  Use  Labels?    

•  Data  collec6on  •  Shelter  soSware  •  Commonly  understood  way  to  

talk  about  dogs  

Why  Are  Labels  a  Problem?    

•  Guesses  cause  confusion  and  false  expecta6ons  

•  Labels  nega6vely  impact  all  dogs  

•  Subjec6ve  breed  labels  present  false  informa6on  as  fact    

Star6ng  Points  

•  We’re  not  saying  there  is  no  such  thing  as  breed  

•  75%  of  dogs  in  shelters  are  mixes  of  two  or  more  breeds  

•  Community  members  look  to  animal  welfare  professionals  as  experts  on  pets  

•  Removing  breed  labels  and  using  a  “mixed  breed”  label  are  two  different  things    

Breeds  Are  Made  by  People!  

•  Most  breeds  recognized  today  are  no  more  than  300  years  old  

•  Breeds  are  created  by  people  and  are  historically  specific  

•  Standards  change  over  6me    

•  Trivia  ques6on:  When  were  golden  retrievers  first  iden6fied  as  a  breed?    

Trivia  Ques6on:  

When  were  golden  retrievers  first  iden6fied  as  a  breed?    

Doggie  DNA  

Doggie  DNA  

Looks  Don’t  Equal  Behavior  

Part  II:  The  Research  

Scoe  and  Fuller  Study  1965    

These  two  4-­‐month-­‐old  puppies  come  into  your  shelter.    What  do  you  label  them?    

Meet  the  Parents  

The  Later  Genera6ons  

“None  of  the  72  puppies  in  the  total  F2  popula6on  showed  an  exact  resemblance  to  either  parent  breed.”      REMEMBER:  Only  basenji  and  cocker  spaniel  are  present  in  these  puppies’    DNA  history.    

2008:  Who  Said  It?    

“In  most  shelters  across  the  U.S.,  the  majority  of  dogs  are  mixed  breeds  of  unknown  parentage.  Nevertheless,  it  is  common  prac6ce  for  staff  to  guess  a  dog’s  breed  based  on  appearance.      “This  ‘best  guess’  is  used  to  iden6fy  the  dog,  although  the  actual  pedigree  is  unknown.  The  problem  is  that  breed  iden6ty  elicits  behavioral  expecta6ons  on  the  part  of  the  new  owner,  even  though  researchers  have  found  enormous  behavioral  variability  within  all  breeds.”  

American  Shelter  Dog  

“In  most  shelters,  cats  are  rarely  iden6fied  by  breed.  Instead,  they  are  labeled  as  Domes6c  short,  medium  or  

long  hairs.  So  why  not  describe  our  dogs  in  a  similar  way?”

– Dr. Amy Marder

The  Consequences  of  Labeling  

Our  Parents’  Genera6on  

What  names  have  you  heard  used  to  talk  about  mixed-­‐breed  dogs?    

“It is far better to grasp the Universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring.”

– Carl Sagan

Recent  Research  

The  Breed  Guessing  Game  

•  900  pet  professionals  watched  one-­‐minute  videos  of  20  dogs  

•  DNA  tests  done  prior  to  study  •  Par6cipants  asked  to  assign  a  

breed  or  breed  mix  to  each  dog  •  Study  reviewed:  

•  Accuracy  of  visual  breed  ID  •  Agreement  among  experts  

The  Breed  Guessing  Game  

•  More  than  10%  of  respondents  thought  seven  of  the  dogs  were    “probably  purebred”  

•  More  than  19%  of  respondents  thought  the  other  three  dogs  were  “probably  purebred”  

•  Fewer  than  50%  of  respondents  included  a  breed  detected  by  DNA  results  in  14  of  the  dogs  

The  Breed  Guessing  Game  

•  More  than  half  of  respondents  agreed  on  predominant  breed  in  only  seven  dogs  •  Visual  ID  did  not  match  any  

breeds  iden6fied  by  DNA  tests  in  three  of  those  dogs  

•  More  than  half  of  respondents  agreed  on  predominant  breed  in  only  three  dogs  

•  No  majority  guess  in  13  dogs  

The  Breed  Guessing  Game  

•  In  the  dog  with  the  highest  concentra6on  of  breeds,  none  of  the  respondents  correctly  iden6fied  any  of  the  breeds  in  the  mix  

Nature  vs.  Nurture  

“…  expecta6ons  of  breed  are  likely  to  influence  treatment  of  a  dog  …  and  expecta6ons  of  how  to  treat  a  dog  are  likely  to  influence  choice  of  breed.”  

   “The  Relevance  of  Breed  in  Selec6ng  a    

Companion  Dog”  by  Janis  Bradley,  Na6onal  Canine  Research  Council    

     

Takeaways  

•  We  are  wrong  when  we  guess  •  We  don’t  even  agree  with  each  

other  •  Arbitrary  breed  labels  based  on  

inaccurate  guesses  have  REAL  consequences  

•  Breed  labels  impact  ALL  dogs      

   

What  About  the  “Pit  Bull”  Label?  

The  Problem  with  “Pit  Bulls”  

•  “Pit  bull”  has  no  legal  or  kennel  club  defini6on  

•  Default  descrip6on  for  many  medium-­‐sized,  short-­‐coated,  blocky-­‐headed  dogs  in  shelters  

•  Includes  American  pit  bull  terriers,  American  Staffordshire  terriers,  Staffordshire  bull  terriers  

     

The  Problem  with  “Pit  Bulls”  

•  1  in  5  dogs  with  pit  bull  heritage  breeds  in  DNA  missed  by  all  shelter  staff  

•  1  in  3  lacking  DNA  labeled  pit-­‐bull-­‐type  dogs  by  at  least  one  staff  member  

•  Lack  of  consistency  indicates  that  visual  ID  of  pit-­‐bull-­‐type  dogs  is  unreliable  

   

Pit  vs.  Lab  vs.  Border  Collie  

Pit  vs.  Lab  vs.  Border  Collie  

•  Adult  dogs  adopted  from  Arizona  Animal  Welfare  League  between  2011  and  2014  labeled  as  pit  bulls  

   •  Paired  with  lookalikes  —  dogs  

physically  similar  in  stature,  head,  coat  color  and  length  

The  Lookalike  Study  

The  Lookalike  Study  

Pit  bull  label  was  associated  with  more  days  awai6ng  adop6on  when  compared  to  breeds  of  lookalike  dogs  

12.8  

42.7  

LOS  (days)  

 Lookalike   Pit  Bulls  

Study  in  Orange  County,  Florida  

•  2014:  Eliminated  labels    •  Pit  bull  adop6ons  up  72%  •  Euthanasia  rate  down  12%  •  Length  of  stay  reduced  

615  

1056  

198  

248  

0  

200  

400  

600  

800  

1000  

1200  

1400  

2013   2014  

#  of  Ado

p6on

s  

Pit  Bull-­‐Type  Dogs   All  Other  Terriers  

                         

Study  in  Orange  County,  Florida  

A  mixed-­‐breed  dog  is  no  breed  at  all,  so  talking  about  the  breed  on  any  level  is  misleading.  It’s  6me  to  move  on  and  decide  what  we  do  with  this  info.”  

–  Janis  Bradley    Na6onal  Canine  Research  Council  

“

Part  III:  FAQs  

 “What  Breed  Is  It?”  

Won’t  the  Public  Be  Upset?  

     

Prepare,  But  Don’t  Worry!    

“We  had  several  mee6ngs  and  staff  training  sessions  to  prepare  everyone  for  what  to  say  when  people  asked  about  the  breed.  We  figured  there  would  be  a  ton  of  ques6ons  and  frustra6ons.    It  all  sounds  so  silly  now,  because  the  response  ended  up  being  no  response.      “We  get  occasional  ques6ons,  but  people  are  generally  sa6sfied  when  we  explain  why  we  don’t  know  what  breed  most  of  our  dogs  are.”    

–  Ashley  Hetzner  Capital  Area  Humane  Society  

How  Do  People  Find  Lost  Dogs?  

An owner might describe their missing dog as a Lab mix, but the shelter might’ve recorded that black dog as a pit bull mix or a shepherd mix. If the search is done purely by breed, they might not match at all, even though that dog is at the shelter or described in a found poster.”

– Dr. Julie LevyUniversity of Florida College of Veterinary Medicine

“