Finding your ideal pet at a shelter

Lifestyle-based screening programs result in more successful adoptions.

You can drink holiday cheer if you like, but Jacquie Bossert of San Diego prefers to pet hers. Last year, her husband had a stroke, then a family cat died, so in December the couple went to a cat shelter and adopted another tabby, Missy. "We needed a holiday spark right about then," she says.

Historically, the holiday season was a time when people impulsively and unrealistically bought furry gifts, many of which soon were abandoned or brought back to the shelter. It got so bad that in the past 10 to 15 years, many shelters halted pet adoptions during the holiday season (and plenty still do).

But recent research shows that things have changed for the better, largely because more shelters screen clients today. "We're in the business of saving lives," says Mike Arms, president of the Helen Woodward Animal Center in Rancho Santa Fe, Calif. "If people are going to buy a Christmas pet for little Johnny or Jill anyway, I want them to visit a shelter instead of a backyard breeder or pet store." In 1999, he launched "Iams Have a Heart: Home 4 the Holidays," an adoption drive now at more than 2,000 shelters.

Bossert admits that she thought twice before adopting. "A part of me thought, 'Why are these two older people offering assisted living for a cat?' Now, I know," she says. "Missy was the best gift we could have gotten for one another. It turned out to be a perfect match."

In an effort to put some science behind the shelter matchmaking service, certified applied animal behaviorist Emily Weiss, senior director of shelter behavior programs at the ASPCA in New York City, created Meet Your Match, which uses color-coded tags to match people with pets. Adoption counselors at participating shelters learn to evaluate the personalities of the dogs, which she calls "canine-ality." Depending on their canine-ality scores, moderate-energy dogs are given an orange card, calmer canines are purple, and the intense, high-energy dogs -- Weiss calls them Donald Trump dogs -- are green. People fill out a survey and are scored by color, too. Type A personalities who happen to also be experienced dog owners, for example, are green. And, ideally, they are matched up with green dogs. Other shelters use similar systems.

Lois Tiedeken of Peaks Island, Maine, met her match at the nearby Animal Rescue League. Tiedeken filled out a lifestyle survey, then she was given an orange ticket. She was told that although she could adopt any pooch, those with orange-colored cards would suit her the best. Grady, a1-year-old miniature poodle, had an orange card. "I'm impressed with how this works," Tiedeken says. "Grady turned out to be exactly the kind of dog that I wanted."

Weiss reports that participating animal shelters reduce their return rates by half, and they increase adoptions -- sometimes even doubling them. "The program really forces people to think about the kind of dog they want," Weiss says. (A "feline-ality" program has just launched, as well.)

Not all shelters have an organized program like Meet Your Match, which is why Arms advises: "Prepare your own list of attributes you desire for a dog or cat before you go to the shelter. Do you want a cat to snuggle with? Or, do you want an athletic dog that you can go jogging with?"

Even with science on her side, Weiss concedes that there is the intangible love connection.

It's a kind of kismet only Dr. Dolittle would understand. Bossert says Missy the cat made the choice, purring and cozying up to her husband. Tiedeken also felt she had an instant bond with Grady, but having the shelter confirm her instinct was important.

"It wasn't long before I felt thatI had had Grady his entire life," she says. "Maybe we were really meant for one another."