‘Tenants who have pets often stay’

Greyhound return rates are up and adoption numbers are down, but one potential ACT policy could see things turned around, says a rehoming agency.

Greyhound return rates are up and adoption numbers are down, but one potential ACT policy could see things turned around, says a rehoming agency.

Pets across the board were having difficulties finding homes, caused by a combination of inflation, cost of living, and landlord restrictions on potential adopters.

However, one greyhound facility said the ACT Party policy to introduce a 'pet bond' could help counteract the hesitation tenants feel when deciding to introduce a furry friend into their family.

Daniel Bohan, stakeholder coordinator at Greyhound as Pets (GAP) NZ, said it was not difficult to tie changes in adoption rates back to the costs hurting household incomes.

"The cost of living has impacted greyhound adoption agencies with reduced adoption rates and increased return rates ... we have seen a slight increase in returns," Bohan said.

However, the restriction on tenants was also a major contributor to the dropping numbers, he said, adding that it was constantly a barrier for potential adopters, who were forced to wait to own a home before adopting.

"So many people have come up to me just gushing over the dogs.
Some of them almost like tearing, because they wanted the greyhound so bad, and they were just waiting, saving every penny till that day when they could buy a house."

There would need to be change if there were going to be serious changes in adoption rates, Bohan said.

"You know, you probably won the lottery that first time by finding a rental that would allow you to have your dog or your greyhound with you.
But winning the lottery twice in a row? I mean, that's a harder ask."

The 'pet bond', proposed by ACT in September during the election campaign, would allow landlords to charge a higher bond than the usual four weeks' worth of rent to cover for damage caused by pets.
The party said this would allow "genuine negotiation" between landlords and tenants and increase the number of rentals allowing pets.

While the policies were announced as a part of several policies to tackle the housing shortage, Bohan said it would have positive impacts on adoption agencies too.

"I think that many greyhound owners would love the opportunity to have their pet introduced, and if a reasonably increased bond made that happen, I think a lot of people would be really excited by that prospect."

However, he suggested just one alteration.

"It would probably be very practical to have a greyhound discount on that bond, because, of course, greyhounds are the ultimate apartment dogs," Bohan said.

"If the ACT party ever gets that bill across the line, David Seymour," he said, "I would be happy to organise a posse of greyhounds to come down to Parliament and help celebrate the signature with you."

SPCA NZ scientific officer Dr Alison Vaughan said they were experiencing similar issues with adoption across the board.

"Part of the challenge for SPCA and other shelters is that we've seen adoptions really slow down.
So we're seeing animals staying for longer in our care, and that only means these animals are waiting longer to find a home.
But it also means we're getting increasingly limited space for incoming animals," Dr Vaughan said.

While she would not outright support the proposed ACT Party legislation, she appreciated political parties looking to make changes in the rental space.

"We know there has been a crisis on this point," Vaughan said.
"SPCA really applauds the goal of making it easier for responsible tenants to own pets, and we will work with the government to ensure that policies are introduced to effectively result in fewer barriers."

But there could be more than legislative change needed, she said.

"What we're also advocating for is for landlords and property rental agencies to consider pets negotiable.
There are actually a lot of advantages to these properties being open to pets.
We know that tenants who have pets often stay."

Another adoption agency, Nightrave Greyhound, said they were above the curve, managing to find homes for their dogs despite economic downturns.

"After May, we started to see the adoption numbers coming up and up again, which is really good and we've had a really good November, probably our biggest, our third biggest month ever, including Covid times," director Rachel Rae said.

"What we are seeing is that people do seem to have a returning sense of confidence and their job security and the economy in general, perhaps in housing as well."

However, any possibility of greyhound racing being banned, as it was floated with the Labour government, would not be immediately possible with current adoption rates, she said.

"If they were going to shut down greyhound racing, in order to look to look after the welfare of not just the dogs but also the people that are involved in the sport, they would have need to have looked at a rolling shutdown, where there was a planned and managed approach over a number of years," Rae said.

If racing was banned immediately, Rae believed it would take three to four years to house every dog in the industry at the current adoption rate.

She also backed the 'pet bond', which she thought would be a "great step for pet owners".