The Door County Humane Society wants you to make sure your pandemic adoption doesn’t become a rental as restrictions have been eased and people are leaving home more. There have been reports of some shelters around the country seeing heavy increases in returned pets that were adopted since the pandemic began, but that trend has yet to hit locally. Marketing Coordinator Shaina Allen says they’re happy to report that they’re not seeing high numbers of adopted pets returned, but recommends you do extensive research and questioning at the adoption appointment when you do take home a companion. 

Allen says that after you adopt that animals’ behavior can be different at home than the shelter, so as they get more comfortable they often let their personality shine. This can present you with new challenges, and perhaps be overwhelming. Allen suggests you take it slow and introduce your pet to a little bit of their home at a time. 

While it can feel defeating to no longer be able to take care of your pet, Allen says it can be for many reasons and that it’s okay. However, you should call the humane society to learn what resources you can use to get the animal in the right hands. According to PetPoint, a database that collects data from over 1100 animal welfare organizations nationally, this April 15,906 dogs were surrendered by their owners which is an 80 percent increase from April of 2020 when many shelters reduced operations. The 2021 April number is still significantly below April of 2019, when 20,289 dogs were surrendered.