# Associations Between Adoption Discounts, Length-of-Stay, and Adoption Rates of Dogs in an Open-Admission Municipal Animal Shelter in NSW, Australia

## TL;DR

This study found that discounted adoption prices in an Australian animal shelter increased overall adoption rates, though other factors like breed and age had a bigger impact on individual adoption decisions.

## Contribution

The study provides empirical evidence on the effectiveness of adoption discounts in increasing dog adoption rates while highlighting the influence of other key factors.

## Key findings

- Dogs with adoption discounts had longer lengths of stay compared to full-price dogs.
- Temporary price-discounting campaigns increased daily adoption rates by up to 204%.
- Factors like breed, body size, and intake method were stronger predictors of adoption success than price alone.

## Abstract

Animal shelters worldwide sometimes organise promotional campaigns, including discounted adoption prices, often to relieve overpopulation when full capacity is approaching or reached. Reduced adoption prices are assumed to help animals be adopted faster. To investigate the relationship between adoption price discounts and length-of-stay (LOS) and adoption rates in dogs, data were collected over a one-year period from an open-admission municipal (council) shelter located in New South Wales (NSW), Australia, accepting stray, privately surrendered, and seized dogs. Breed group, body size, age group, coat colour, sex, intake method, and whether returned to the shelter after adoption were also considered as possible contributing factors. Discounted dogs waited longer to be adopted than full-price dogs. Gundogs, hounds, terriers, toy, and non-sporting breeds had the shortest LOS, while Staffordshire terriers had the longest LOS. Additionally, small-sized dogs, puppies, senior dogs, and privately surrendered animals had lower LOS and were more desirable to the adopting population. However, temporary price discounting overall had a positive effect on dog adoptions, with more dogs adopted per day during campaign periods than non-campaign periods. These findings demonstrate that, although other factors apart from cost are more important drivers for decision making on an individual level when it comes to adopting shelter dogs in Australia, temporary price reduction campaigns are still effective for increasing shelter exposure and higher adoption rates.

This study explored possible associations between adoption discounts, length-of-stay (LOS), and adoption rates for dogs at a municipal (council) shelter in New South Wales (NSW), Australia, over a one-year period (4 April 2023–3 April 2024). Data from 479 rehomed dogs and eight temporary promotional campaigns were analysed, considering the following factors: discount levels applied, breed group, body size, age group, coat colour, intake method (stray, privately surrendered, or seized), and return-to-shelter history after adoption. Dogs with ≥75% discount and 0–50% discount had a longer LOS compared to those without a discount (p < 0.001), likely because many discounted dogs already had a prolonged LOS prior to the campaign’s commencement. Other important LOS predictors included breed group (p < 0.001), body size (p < 0.001), age group (p = 0.004), and intake method (p < 0.001). Gundogs/hounds/terriers (purebred), and toy/non-sporting groups (both purebred and crossbred), small-sized dogs, seniors, puppies, and privately surrendered dogs had significantly lower LOS compared to their counterparts. However, when daily adoption rates were examined, temporary price-discounting campaigns resulted in substantially increased rehoming rates. In particular, Flash Sales (≤48 h) increased daily adoptions by 204% compared to non-campaign periods. One Flash Sale event resulted in higher daily adoption rates, but also significantly higher return rates compared to other temporary campaigns, highlighting a possible risk of impulse adoptions and necessitating future work with adopters to identify potentially problematic decision-making. Shelters should be aware that, on an individual level, factors other than price can be more important for potential adopters. On a broader level, temporary campaigns involving a reduced adoption price can increase overall adoption rates and therefore should be considered as part of any marketing exposure strategy for animal shelters.