A Humane Society In Eastern Iowa Has a New “Breed-Free” Policy

You've likely heard of "typecasting" of actors, where one plays a certain type of role so well, so often, that it's often the only type they get called on to play, unable to show their talent in other ways.

A similar thing often happens when folks are looking to adopt a dog. You "hear things" about a certain breed and may form judgments about that breed when looking to adopt. You could very often be wrong and overlook a new furbaby with lots of love and joy to offer. To avoid this, the Humane Society of Scott County in Davenport is implementing a new policy. Starting today, June 1, they will go "breed-free".

They want all their good boys and girls to find the homes they deserve, so from now on, they will encourage adoptions based on the behavior of the dog and interaction with the person or family looking to bring them home, to determine the right fit. If it sounds sneaky, you should know that a representative from the Scott County Humane Society told KCRG it's as much for their benefit as for yours and the dog. They admit to sometimes mislabeling the breed based on what they are told when it's brought in.

Most of our dogs are likely mixed breeds, and visual identification of mixed breed dogs is highly inaccurate. We cannot accurately predict the future behavior of a dog based on how it looks on the outside,” said Celina Rippel, development coordinator at Humane Society of Scott County.

Sometimes a breed you think would be a mismatch for you and your family ends up being a perfect match. My family got our first dog, a beagle when I was 16, and now I've had three of them. They are a very active breed which doesn't sound like a fit for my introverted personality but they are great and definitely keep you on your toes!

The goal of removing the breed labels from dogs up for adoption is to remove any predictions on how the dog may or may not act based on the labeled breed.

You can learn more here.