Humane Society of Scott County going ‘breed free’ June 1

DAVENPORT, Iowa (KWQC) - Beginning June 1, the Humane Society of Scott County will no longer be labeling dogs based on the breeds the humane society thinks the dogs look like.

The humane society said there are just as many breed typecasts as there are breeds.

While the breeds are sometimes accurate, not all are. The humane society wants to avoid families overlooking a dog based on the posted breed.

“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.

Humane Society of Scott County would rather have families spend time with the dog and ask the employees about how the dog acts while at the humane society.

“When someone comes in to adopt a dog, we want them to see the dog standing in front of them, not the dog they think they will get based on the breeds listed on an information sheet,” said Erika Gunn, director of programs at Humane Society of Scott County.

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.

For more information on Humane Society of Scott County’s ‘breed free’ initiative, click here.