IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/ajecsc/v85y2026i3p371-379.html

Pandemic Pets: How the Demand for Dogs Affects In‐Home Domestic Violence During COVID‐19

Author

Listed:
  • Erika A. Davies Rodriguez
  • Zachary Rodriguez

Abstract

During the COVID‐19 pandemic, Dallas County, Texas implemented a 52‐day shelter‐in‐place order, forcing residents to remain at home. Using daily crime reports and animal shelter intake data, we study the effect of household pet outflows on in‐home violence. We find that the shelter‐in‐place order is associated with increased in‐home assaults, particularly against women. The way pets exit households matters, as we find fostering pets mitigates in‐home violence, while owner surrenders are associated with increased assaults during the order. These results highlight pets as a previously understudied factor in domestic violence dynamics and suggest that coordinated policies integrating animal shelters, women's shelters, and law enforcement could improve safety. By facilitating safe pet placement, such interventions may allow victims to leave abusive households more freely, reducing family violence and protecting both humans and animals.

Suggested Citation

  • Erika A. Davies Rodriguez & Zachary Rodriguez, 2026. "Pandemic Pets: How the Demand for Dogs Affects In‐Home Domestic Violence During COVID‐19," American Journal of Economics and Sociology, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 85(3), pages 371-379, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:ajecsc:v:85:y:2026:i:3:p:371-379
    DOI: 10.1111/ajes.70031
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/ajes.70031
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/ajes.70031?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Clifford W. Cobb, 2025. "Mastery, Equality, or Reciprocity? Ambiguities of Human–Animal Relationships," American Journal of Economics and Sociology, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 84(4), pages 591-598, September.
    2. Alexander Cardazzi & Bryan C McCannon & Brad R Humphreys & Zachary Rodriguez, 2024. "Emotional Cues and Violent Behavior: Unexpected Basketball Losses Increase Incidents of Family Violence," The Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization, Oxford University Press, vol. 40(2), pages 267-288.
    3. Richard J. Cebula & Gigi M. Alexander & Richard C. Hollingsworth, 2025. "Economic Factors That Influence Geographic Differentials in the Percentage of Families Who Own Dogs: An Exploratory Empirical Study for the United States," American Journal of Economics and Sociology, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 84(4), pages 621-625, September.
    4. Ermelinda Rodilosso, 2025. "Not Commodities, but Living Beings: A Critique of Animal Commodification," American Journal of Economics and Sociology, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 84(4), pages 627-631, September.
    5. Dhaval Dave & Andrew I. Friedson & Kyutaro Matsuzawa & Joseph J. Sabia, 2021. "When Do Shelter‐In‐Place Orders Fight Covid‐19 Best? Policy Heterogeneity Across States And Adoption Time," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 59(1), pages 29-52, January.
    6. David Card & Gordon B. Dahl, 2011. "Family Violence and Football: The Effect of Unexpected Emotional Cues on Violent Behavior," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 126(1), pages 103-143.
    7. Lin-Chi Hsu, 2017. "The Timing Of Welfare Payments And Intimate Partner Violence," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 55(2), pages 1017-1031, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Cai, Qingyin & Li, Qingxiao, 2026. "Emotional shocks and consumer spending," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 241(C).
    2. Alexander J. Cardazzi & Brad R. Humphreys & Bryan McCannon & Zachary Rodriguez, 2020. "Blaming The Ref: Understanding the Effect of Unexpected Emotional Cues on Family Violence," Working Papers 20-11, Department of Economics, West Virginia University.
    3. Eduardo G. Minuci & Alexander Cardazzi & Candon Johnson, 2026. "Should more teams “trust the process” of tanking?," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 44(2), pages 408-425, April.
    4. Mavisakalyan, Astghik & Otrachshenko, Vladimir & Popova, Olga, 2024. "Natural Disasters and Acceptance of Intimate Partner Violence: The Global Evidence," IZA Discussion Papers 17172, IZA Network @ LISER.
    5. Alexander Henke & Lin-chi Hsu, 2020. "The gender wage gap, weather, and intimate partner violence," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 18(2), pages 413-429, June.
    6. Flynn, James & Meyers-Richter, Noah & Nencka, Peter, 2025. "Soccer’s Record on the Road: The Effect of Late-Night Sporting Events on Fatal Car Crashes," IZA Discussion Papers 18050, IZA Network @ LISER.
    7. Clay Collins, 2026. "Emotional Cues, Election Outcomes, and Intimate Partner Violence," Eastern Economic Journal, Palgrave Macmillan;Eastern Economic Association, vol. 52(1), pages 107-135, January.
    8. Chen, Shuoyu & Collins, Clay & Collins, Ivy, 2025. "Discrimination and subjective player ratings: Evidence from China," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 103(C).
    9. Gedikli, Cigdem & Popli, Gurleen & Yilmaz, Okan, 2023. "The impact of intimate partner violence on women’s labour market outcomes," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 164(C).
    10. Jones, Benjamin A., 2022. "Dust storms and violent crime," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 111(C).
    11. Brad R. Humphreys, 2023. "Professional Sports Subsidies and Urban Congestion Externalities: Assessing 50 Years of Failed Urban Economic Development Policies," Eastern Economic Journal, Palgrave Macmillan;Eastern Economic Association, vol. 49(4), pages 457-474, October.
    12. Brad R. Humphreys & Jane E. Ruseski, "undated". "Legalized Sports Betting and Mental Health," Working Papers 24-04, Department of Economics, West Virginia University.
    13. Kaitlyn M. Sims & Yang Wang & Barbara Wolfe, 2024. "Estimating impacts of the US EITC program on domestic violence," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 22(4), pages 1483-1513, December.
    14. Berthelon, Matias & Contreras, Dante & Kruger, Diana & Palma, María Isidora, 2018. "Violence during Early Childhood and Child Development," IZA Discussion Papers 11984, IZA Network @ LISER.
    15. Travis Richardson & Steve Bickley & Ho Fai Ben Chan & Benno Torgler & Shamsunnahar Yasmin & Tim Pawlowski, 2026. "Emotional driving: Reference-dependent emotions and risky driving behavior after sporting events," Papers 2606.18805, arXiv.org.
    16. Piette Durrance, Christine & Wang, Yang & Wolfe, Barbara, 2024. "Do mandatory waiting periods for abortion increase intimate partner violence?," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 98(C).
    17. Berthelon, Matias & Contreras, Dante & Kruger, Diana & Palma, María Isidora, 2020. "Harsh parenting during early childhood and child development," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 36(C).
    18. Grönqvist, Hans & Niknami, Susan, 2014. "Alcohol availability and crime: Lessons from liberalized weekend sales restrictions," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 81(C), pages 77-84.
    19. Vivek Shastry & D Cale Reeves & Nicholas Willems & Varun Rai, 2022. "Policy and behavioral response to shock events: An agent-based model of the effectiveness and equity of policy design features," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 17(1), pages 1-21, January.
    20. Karle, Heiko & Schumacher, Heiner & Vølund, Rune, 2023. "Consumer loss aversion and scale-dependent psychological switching costs," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 138(C), pages 214-237.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:ajecsc:v:85:y:2026:i:3:p:371-379. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=0002-9246 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.