My Hypothesis

1.) Education of dog breeds for potential pet owners I think would help reduce animal return and surrender in animal shelters. Along this education, I still propose a matching system, paper based if technology is scarce and a short questionnaire for each potential adoptee. The point would not be to restrict which dogs can be with who but find the right fit for both animal and parent. If the potential adoptee does not like/bond with any of the choices picked for them then they could look around for another potential pet or come back when a match is found.

  2.)

• Who: Animal shelters or organizations 
• What: Provide a matching system for adoptees to potential pets
• Why: To reduce the return of animals in shelters and achieve the goal of less animals in shelters

 3.) If a system is put in place to match owners to the appropriate pets than less animals should get returned. 

  4.) Interviews:

• Lily Richard is a college student who volunteers at faithful friends animal shelter and relocation center. You might have seen her as an adoption advisor at the Petsmart event on archer every Saturday from 11am-5pm. Lily has had her share of adoption successes, but she has also had adoption failures when an animal is returned to the organization. People fail to realize that dogs and cats have different personalities and have different needs than their other furry friends. I spoke to her about a potential interest in a matching system, an updated version of the one used at faithful friends, and she liked the thought. The only issue she raised was the breed education because though a general personality, temperament and lifestyle do exist for every dog not every individual dog falls into this category. She liked the idea the most in regards to puppies because they end up getting surrendered more often. Often times people see a puppy and forget it grows up or that it poops and has needs like a human child would.
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• Odalis Martija is a mother of three who raised her children with animals constantly around them. She bought her animals from stores and breeders, which can be looked down upon due to supporting puppy mills, but she gave each dog a loving forever home. I asked Mrs. Martija about my concept to which she said that for uninformed individuals would be a great solution to my problem. Unfortunately, to people like herself, she has a vast knowledge of dog breeds and only prefers purebred dogs because at least you now where they are coming from. She told me that you know you found your dog ( any animal in general) when you look in there eyes and you see their soul. Which I can't deny is warranted since that is how I picked my dog, but basically she emphasized the importance of physical interaction with a potential pet. She also suggest that I look into potential adoptees financial stability, which is an important component to getting a new pet (Vet bills, food, toys, flea and tick medication, ect).
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• Brian Van is a college student who lives with animals in his apartment that are not his own. His roommates constantly foster dogs and have two small dogs of their own. He told me that my idea would be an upgrade to current shelter regulations in Miami- Dade (he is from south Florida). He said " They try their best with the money they get from the state and donations, but neglect to consider the proper use of where the money should go." Speaking from his Economic and Anthropology majors he mentioned that there is not enough resources to meet the demands the animal populations need to survive which leads to millions of animal euthanasia every day all over the country. My idea might help reduce how many animals get killed, but only if its an adoption standard. From his point of view money is all that matters at the end of the day and so my idea must appeal to that ideal.
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•  Rebecca Langford is a mother, nurse and animal lover, but she had the unfortunate experience of returning an animal. She went to adopt a dog and after weeks of searching found Brandy, a 3 year old whippet  mix. She immediately bonded with Brandy, and within the hour took her home, renaming her Constance. When they got home everything was great at first till Rebecca found out that Constance didn't like children and of course this was an issue due the fact that she had a newly turned two year old running around. I told her about my idea and she said that knowing about a breed would have been so important to her since, in her case, Whippets need to be gently handled and are sensitive to yelling which are two things her child excelled at. It caused her stress knowing that she let down Constance and her daughter, who was so happy to have a friend because the animal shelter did not mention or consider her home environment during the adoption process. "I think this has the potential to do great good, and allow for animal owners to know more about their potential pet".
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• Maria Berenger is the assistant director of an animal service that deals with stray pets or lost pets. She works with relocating animals through Facebook and Instagram to their owners or getting set up to be adopted. A problem she noted in our conversation was animal neglect and the trauma it caused the animals she rescues off the streets. My idea would reduce animal dumping in popular places like the Redlands in south Florida, by preventing irresponsible people from getting an animal, let alone being near one. She saw the potential of my idea and thinks that I should pitch it to animal rescues and then build up to major animal shelters. Since this is a hypothesis, it must be tested to see if my idea can truly do what I claim.

        5.) I did not think too much about the financial aspect as I did in these interviews. I focused on funding in the singular animal shelter, but not of nonprofits such as the ASPCA, who helped form regulations for shelters and adoption protocol. This is a topic I have brought up before, but only because I care about this issue and all those animals getting affected as the results of our actions. I did not know how bad rejection had on an animal until hearing some of the stories that my interviewers had told me. Shelters aren't funded properly and killing animals is actually more expensive than keeping them alive, kind of like people in prison getting sentenced to the death penalty. Space is an issue, money is an issue, and though a clear solution to clear out the shelters will most likely never come, but  to make an impact on this community happens with individuals everyday. This idea can work but only if a deal can be made that can satisfy both financial needs and show results.