No One Knows Exactly How Many Dogs are Put Down in Shelters -- Range is 4 to 10 MILLION Annually
because they don't keep such statistics in the US. The Humane Society puts the number at "3 to 4 million" and they are combining cats and dogs into that number. In the 1970s their estimates were 12 to 20 million and the number of pet households has doubled.
The accepted stat is that 60% of dogs who enter shelters are put down. Canada, about 1/10th the US population, euthanizes almost 1 million dogs per year and they keep better stats. That would put the US number up closer to the 10 million.
Whatever the number it is way too many. Spay and neuter programs have been effective in reducing the number of pets without homes but without accurate statistics, we don't know how effective nor what factors are most responsible for the reduction. As they saying goes 'you can't manage what you don't measure' and I think we would do well to get past the shame and sadness and start keeping data on what works and what doesn't.
Certainly more access to low cost or no cost spay and neutering services would help. As would a crack down on amateur breeders including licensing and certification. Backyard breeders are intentionally creating dogs in a country that is killing them at a rate of 80,000 per week. And most dog owners got their current dogs free or with at a shelter with a minimal re-homing fee so the idea that you can (let alone 'should') charge $500+ per puppy should be retired. Another angle would be to charge more to register an un-neutered dog -- much more -- than a neutered one.
Another thing that is already underway is that people are moving away from the idea that they must have a "purebred" dog. The UK seems to be a head of us on this (and the UK is where the purebred thing peaked). 25% of the dogs given up to shelters are purebreds and they have a better chance of being adopted out than those considered mixed breeds but the reduction of this bias can help in two areas. First lower demand for dog breeding can reduce the number of purebred litters, and second, more people who are looking to bring a dog into their home will pick from those already on the planet.
My current 2 dogs came from "an unplanned pregnancy" where their mother's owner thought he would just "keep an eye on her around other dogs" but the first time she went into heat at about 10 months of age, an un-neutered neighbor dog jumped a 6 foot chain link fence and about 45 seconds later she was pregnant. The pregnancy nearly killed her as she was a rescue with an uncertain healthy history and not fully grown. Even nice, well-meaning dog owners can contribute to the problem.
Many dogs wind up in shelters because they are considered 'behavior problems' by their owners and that runs the whole range from being too aggressive, to being too noisy, to needing more running space than the owner has, to getting bigger than they thought they would. At least one pet store (whole other can of worms) has a new policy where they won't allow people who are intoxicated to buy puppies but intoxicated or not, far too many people buy puppies and then look to give them up within a few months. Fewer than 50% of dogs will stay with their first owners.
Dogs would be better served if we all knew more about what it really takes to create a healthy forever home for them. Expectations should be more realistic and conventional wisdom about what constitutes effective training could improve.
Whatever the exact number euthanized is, it is too high and we should do better for our best friends.
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