Dog Acquisition in Lower-Income Communities as Consumer Behavior: An Exploratory Qualitative Study

Introduction: This qualitative research article examines the nature of the decision-making processes used by people to acquire dogs in low-income communities compared to how people in middle and upper socioeconomic communities make this decision. Methods: We explored the preferences, thoughts, and concerns that influenced decisions of a convenience sample of 40 respondents who acquired dogs or puppies within the last 2 years. Sixty-five percent of respondents (N = 26) described living in or near poverty, while 35% held middle or upper socioeconomic status. To elicit detailed accounts of their decision-making process, a semi-structured interview was administered. Results were subjected to qualitative data analysis to identify different features of the acquisition process and to compare these features by respondents’ socioeconomic status. Results: Most respondents described similar ‘stages’ in dog acquisition as consumers making other high-involvement purchases: recognizing need (mulling), information-gathering and evaluating (creating criteria sets, sourcing pragmatically, and encountering decision triggers), and adjusting to new dogs post-acquisition. Aspects of acquisition were extended or attenuated, and more complex than predicted by models built for inanimate products. Social class influenced some but not all stages of dog acquisition. Conclusion: Findings from this analysis support advertising and wide dissemination of adoptable dog information. A community engaged model of sheltering including non-judgmental adoptions, community veterinary and behavioral pet support, and building trust could increase local dog adoption.