Choosing to adopt a dog is a noble decision, but for one animal shelter in Florida, there was still one major concern – people still seemed to be choosing a dog based on their breed and not the animal’s personality. The team at the shelter felt that they weren’t able to find homes for animals that were fully capable of adapting to a loving home.
So the team decided to get creative.
They created Pawgwarts, a clever take on the school that Harry Potter and his friends attended in the fictional acclaimed book/film series, and using the schools four main houses – Gryffindor, Slytherin, Ravenclaw, and Hufflepuff – they crafted a unique way to showcase the various personalities that lived in their halls.
While they don’t use a sorting hat, they did bring in Diane Andersen to design a test that helps determine which house their dogs will be placed into. Stephen Bardy, executive director at Pet Alliance Orlando, explained to The DoDo:
“Our animal behaviorist, Diane Andersen, (and Harry Potter guru), created a test using toys that represent different qualities of each house. The dogs are tested individually similar to the Sorting Hat process in the novels. In our case, the dog’s choice of toy indicates his house, not the Sorting Hat — but we do have one on hand.”
Their most popular house at this time is Hufflepuffs, which makes sense considering how kind and gentle animals can be. They’ve also reported a decent amount of Slytherins and Gryffindors, with the least popular house being Ravenclaw.
The shelter has reported that the sorting has helped boost adoptions compared to the same timeframe last year.
“The idea has created a lot of buzz and definitely an increase in walk-in traffic,” Bardy concluded. “We only implemented it a couple weeks ago but we are trending higher on adoptions over this time last year.”
They are planning on continuing Pawgwarts and continue to keep helping animals find new homes. For those that already own a dog at home, the shelter has created an online quiz to find out what house their dog belongs in. Check that out here!
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