All My Children Wear Fur Coats is pleased to introduce Dr. Karen Griffin. She is the Founder and Executive Director of The Dog Rehoming Project. Karen Griffin, PhD is a research scientist in the field of shelter dogs and dog rehoming. She earned her doctorate in animal sciences at the University of Lincoln in Lincolnshire, England. Her research experience includes how a dog fits into a home environment, what qualifies as successful dog placement, and how to improve the likelihood that a placement will be successful. Dr. Griffin grew up with only cats and adopted her first dog, Ratatouille, as an adult. Her interest in dog rehoming was sparked by Ratatouille and he forever changed her view of the world.
The Dog Rehoming Project aims to support scientific research and bridge the gap between science and the individuals and organizations seeking to shelter, and rehome dogs. The organization has 3 primary goals. First, they aim to raise funds and provide funding to support research in the field. Second, they hope to match human, dog, and organization participants with relevant research studies. Lastly, they would like to disseminate the findings of research studies in a comprehensible manner.
In addition, Dr. Griffin places importance on educating people before they adopt, and why postadoption support is so valuable. Her study shows that shelters use lots of scarce resources to screen potential adopters. To maximize this investment, they have identified 37 characteristics that rehoming organizations highly value. In turn, 31 of these characteristics could deem an individual as unsuitable to adopt. Some of these characteristics are closely related to increased risk for dog relinquishment or human safety risk. Due to this research, The Dog Rehoming Project suggests that organizations relax their screenings and focus on educating individuals on the changes a dog will bring to their family.
Thank you to Dr. Karen Griffin and her team for all of their research! If you would like more information on how The Dog Rehoming Project is influencing the successful rehoming of dogs visit their website at TheDogRehomingproject.org.
Our pets are family too! To learn more about protecting your loved pet with a Pet Trust, visit ACT4Pets.org.
