Chow Chow Welfare

Calls & Emails Received
Number of Homeless Chows & Chow mixes reported
Reasons Chows were homeless
Grants paid
Homeless Chows by state   

Calls & Emails received:		1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005
Information, questions		2	48	95	96	229	303	395	458	431	358	265	196	220
to report homeless Chow Chows & mixes*		194	260	415	540	982	1337	1673	1888	1996	1775	1303	1265	995
adoption/purchase inquiries						152	483	623	574	603	538	474	345	237
Total Calls & Emails		196	308	510	636	1363	2123	2691	2920	3030	2671	2042	1806	1452
Total Homeless Dogs Reported:	Chow Chows	314	431	521	600	1160	1496	1751	2016	1950	1558	1623	1619	1198
	Chow Mixes		8	21	29	165	177	419	505	710	709	*	*	*
Chows Homeless or Unwanted because:		1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005
Strays, owner unknown		45	60	94	110	246	371	421	445	494	322	333	306	261
given up by owner, reason unknown				66	53	64	65	155	217	240	187	170	160	78
in shelters, reason unknown				53	46	109	229	199	390	244	194	248	252	189
sold at auction		74	24		2	5			8
authorities removed from owner		55	27	54	5	23	39	32	23	16	22	56	58	15
owner moved		17	35	55	75	89	148	194	188	198	166	145	154	131
landlord problems		2	2	3	16	28	21	15	22	21	14	16	19	10
owner evicted or home destroyed			12	21	7	20	9	16	10	8	13	16	23	90*
fights with other dog		4	10	22	28	50	37	68	57	44	36	55	39	25
abandoned @ clinics, boarding kennels, etc.		4	8	9	15	16	36	24	17	25	8	11	13	8
chases cats, pets, livestock			1	9	4	9	9	10	16	11	13	14	6	7
behavior problems, runs away, etc.		2	7	10	13	15	14	22	15	8	18	13	11	7
bites		16	18	21	37	47	57	58	62	48	33	40	18	15
family has allergies, asthma		4	4	7	13	15	22	17	11	13	15	19	13	11
dog isn't good with kids			10	22	16	37	34	31	32	32	38	27	26	9
expecting/just had baby, scared about dog		2	4	8	14	5	7	5	10	8	7		3	1
worried about dog with kids						16	7	18	15	14	12	7	13	14
expecting/just had baby, no time for dog			3	8	2	9	5	5	5	15	3	5	3	6
divorced		2	6	1	10	12	19	16	16	15	15	14	13	11
owner's illness or death		2	18	21	22	64	52	68	102	93	121	100	124	76
breeder couldn't sell		1	9	2	10	36	23	40	56	63	30	20	28	11
owners left dog in yard when moved		1	3	4	2	22	26	26	20	24	25	38	21	9
owner went to school or military			1	1	2		4	3	4	5	5	11	1	6
owner went to jail or rehab				1	3	2	3	13	5		5	2	9	4
don't want or "no time for dog"			17	17	36	70	113	96	110	109	86	97	63	56
job requires travel, no time for dog					1	6	8	4	2	6	3	6	5	3
owner would like to travel					1	3	2	2	2		1			2
petstore or kennel closed					13
breeder doesn't want					6	8	1	11	9	21	7	15
shelter closed						11	1	6		13	6	1		7
neighbors complaining						22	7	2	31	11	2		6
"I have too many dogs"				1	1	11	15	15	13	12	4	2	13	15
"I can't take care of or can't afford"				4	2	19	29	30	10	30	39	36	29	22
family or friends don't like				3		5	6	2	15		2	2	3	1
"dog is too much work"			2			4	10	3	2	3	1			1
insurance company doesn't like Chows							3	2	1	8	6	6	6	11
no yard or place to keep							8	2	2	5	6	4	4	2
separation anxiety, fear of storms							6	4	7	8	8	7	9	5
dog has medical problems				1		3	3	7	6	11	11	10	11	5
dog became pregnant						1	1					1
too big for house, no room								4	4	4	3	2
"dog needs more space"								3	3	1	1		4
dog is too old								1
getting a different dog								1
opening day care business								3	1		1	3
dog is too playful								2		3		4		3
going on vacation								1
kids let dog loose too much								2
doesn't want hair in house								1
not good watchdog									1
won't breed or not good enough to breed									3		1
just had yard landscaped											1
dog not active enough											1
has more dogs than city allows												23
pushed out of car												3		5
stray in shelter, owners know but won't reclaim												10	6	2
over legal dog limit													52
building new house, remodeling house														1

Notes about these statistics:

• Calls & emails -- refers to calls/emails rec'd by the CCCI Welfare Hotline number at 608-756-2008 and the chowwelfare.com email addresses.  Calls and emails are only counted once per situation.  
  
• Information/questions -- refers to all contacts seeking information not directly related to a homeless dog, i.e. grooming, training, "how long do Chows live?", etc.  
  
• Mixes -- as of May 2000, CCCI Welfare stopped providing assistance to Chow mixes because of limited resources.  Mix contacts were not fully tallied after that date.  Beginning in 2003, mix contacts are no longer tallied at all.  
  
• Adoption/purchase inquiries -- these inquiries were not recorded until July 1997.  

Why did our numbers increase so dramatically in 1997?  The answer is improved visibility via the web!  The CCCI Welfare website went online in November 1996.  The number of inquiries and reports of homeless Chows jumped immediately and continued to rise throughout 1997 resulting in a more than 100% increase in contacts across the board.  

2002 demonstrates the first significant decrease in homeless Chow contacts and numbers of homeless Chows since we began keeping records!  This is the beginning (we hope) of a long-awaited decline in rescue numbers that correspond with the decreasing Chow population in general, a number that peaked in 1989 when the AKC registered over 50,000 Chows and the breed ranked #6 in popularity.  

2005 marked another significant decrease in numbers of homeless Chows.  Approximately 40-50 Chows were left homeless as a result of Hurricane Katrina and other disasters.  

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Grants paid to rescue volunteers toward the 
medical care of homeless Chow Chows awaiting adoption:

1999		$ 2,787.25
2000		$ 3,247.56
2001		$ 5,400.25
2002		$ 4,534.50
2003		$ 5,194.85
2004		$ 6,390.45
2005		$ 3,257.75
2006	so far	$ 4,254.43

Homeless Chow Chows by state:

	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005
Alaska	3	1	2	2	0	0	0	0
Alabama	16	9	29	29	15	7	15	6
Arizona	19	28	23	30	20	24	22	19
Arkansas	3	9	6	14	11	11	10	11
California	113	130	182	199	120	192	181	102
Colorado	11	11	12	21	12	9	6	7
Connecticut	9	11	11	5	3	19	23	13
Delaware	4	6	6	1	5	7	7	3
Florida	62	94	100	126	124	139	165	115
Georgia	21	51	37	33	32	37	61	32
Hawaii	0	0	1	0	1	0	0	0
Idaho	13	17	12	3	5	5	3	1
Illinois	137	167	230	142	117	75	70	45
Indiana	84	79	95	88	53	89	104	59
Iowa	5	13	11	4	6	14	9	4
Kansas	5	11	16	5	2	12	9	4
Kentucky	27	28	36	24	12	25	21	27
Louisiana	16	12	8	16	15	12	8	54
Maine	7	3	12	5	5	4	4	4
Maryland	31	24	26	14	25	57	29	26
Massachusetts	19	14	16	23	12	15	12	7
Michigan	83	91	119	153	96	84	51	49
Minnesota	20	22	30	32	25	19	19	9
Mississippi	4	9	8	6	4	9	9	2
Missouri	34	46	39	30	26	15	17	23
Montana	6	4	5	3	5	1	9	0
Nebraska	4	4	2	3	2	2	5	4
Nevada	8	9	6	10	11	11	4	4
New Hampshire	7	4	11	11	5	27	1	6
New Jersey	89	71	57	55	37	41	74	38
New Mexico	4	3	8	7	12	1	1	0
New York	125	77	124	112	93	88	81	63
North Carolina	49	60	75	98	65	51	49	41
North Dakota	0	0	1	1	1	0	0	0
Ohio	45	101	104	108	93	77	85	57
Oklahoma	4	9	19	4	9	2	13	13
Oregon	4	4	6	9	11	18	44	9
Pennsylvania	63	63	62	53	73	86	56	55
Rhode Island	0	4	2	6	1	4	4	5
South Carolina	19	24	41	22	17	15	24	23
South Dakota	4	0	1	1	1	0	0	1
Tennessee	24	32	36	48	34	28	51	38
Texas	108	104	129	83	74	54	70	50
Utah	4	3	4	5	3	6	2	2
Vermont	4	6	4	3	5	4	1	4
Virginia & Wash DC	39	56	37	72	34	60	32	33
Washington	12	9	27	10	7	7	7	35
West Virginia	7	19	8	18	9	14	13	16
Wisconsin	60	104	86	109	63	68	54	33
Wyoming	7	0	3	1	2	0	3	0
Location not specified	40	71	70	74	93	72	59	42
Canada	14	21	19	18	28	22	20	3
Other foreign countries	0	3	2	1	0	2	2	4

Notes about these statistics:

• Counts of homeless Chows by state were recorded beginning in 1998.
  
• Our record of homeless Chow Chows by state is only somewhat representative of the actual numbers of Chows in need in their respective states.  To shelters in some states, primarily southern and rural ones, rescue is still a new and under-used resource.  In states where there is an active Chow rescue group such as Texas and Illinois (as of 2001), people in need of assistance often call the respective group rather than contacting CCCI Welfare.  

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