Florida animal shelter sorts dogs into Hogwarts houses to find them a home

An animal shelter in Florida has begun sorting rescue dogs into Hogwarts houses in an act of wizardry to speed up finding them new homes.

Pet Alliance Orlando noticed that people coming to them looking for a pup often seemed to choose breed over personality.

Not wanting any of the four-legged friends to be overlooked, boss Stephen Bardy decided to sort the dogs into Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Slytherin and Hufflepuff in a bid to let their personalities shine through.

But this was not any old sorting process. The shelter created a sophisticated sorting system that tries to take into consideration aspects of the dog’s personality, just like the magical sorting hat from J.K. Rowling's novels.

Using toys to represent the different character traits of each house, the shelter presents the dogs with the toys and depending on which one it chooses places them in that house.

Just like Harry, Hermione and Ron, dogs that are sorted into Gryffindor are deemed to be kind and brave. Slytherins are shrewd and clever like Malfoy, and Hufflepuffs are intensely loyal. Dogs placed in Ravenclaw are supposedly intelligent.

Every dog gets given a house banner for its kennel so that potential owners know which house they are in. The shelter has also created a quiz for current dog owners to take to determine what house your own dog would be in.

The shelter has said that that the sorting concept has been a success so far.

“The idea has created a lot of buzz and definitely an increase in walk-in traffic. We only implemented it a couple weeks ago but we are trending higher on adoptions over this time last year.” Bardy told The Dodo.

Apparently Hufflepuff is the most popular house at the shelter, with Gryffindor and Slytherin close behind.

The shelter has yet to start sorting cats, but have said that the felines don’t seem to be as interested in dressing up as the canines.

They plan to continue sorting dogs as it has proved to be an effective way of getting the dogs a loving home.

“We want to start a national conversation about dog personality rather than dog breed,” Bardy said. “That is our ultimate goal and we think this is a fun and universal way for people to start talking!”