Research clearly reveals that a majority of owners are grossly unprepared for the realities of owning a pet. The overwhelming majority of owner-released animals are relinquished because the human was inadequately prepared for the responsibilities associated with pet care. Sadly, many of the reasons given for relinquishing an animal are related to behaviors that are part of a pet's normal behavior. An inexperienced or unprepared owner is unable to understand, correctly interpret, or control the behavior. An uncommitted owner who is unwilling to work out the problems will relinquish the animal to a shelter. An understanding of an animal's socialization behavior, therefore, is key to knowing how to cope with a new pet.

Furthermore, despite repeated accusations that unsterilized animals and their resulting unwanted litters are the crux of the overpopulation problem, the majority of euthanized animals are not puppies or kittens, but "teenage" and adult animals that were acquired as pets and subsequently relinquished by their owner. Interestingly enough, the more an animal costs to obtain, the less likely it is to be abandoned. According to a survey by the National Animal Control Association (1981), over two-thirds of relinquished dogs were free to the owner. This finding is consistent with other research linking cost of an animal to abandonment rates. Dogs costing over a hundred dollars stayed with their owners an average of 36 months, while dogs obtained for free were abandoned on average after 17 months. In contrast, only 5.7% of relinquished dogs came from professional breeders and 4.7% from pet shops.

Top Ten Reasons Owners Relinquish Their Pets
Dogs	Cats
Moving	Moving
Landlord not allowing pet	Landlord not allowing pet
Too many animals in household	Too many animals in household
Cost of pet maintenance	Cost of pet maintenance
Owner having personal problems	Owner having personal problems
Inadequate facilities	Inadequate facilities
No homes available for litter mates	No homes available for litter mates
Having no time for pet	Allergies in family
Pet illness(es)	House soiling
Biting	Incompatibility with other pets