Adopting A Dog
Many people have gone through the pain of having a puppy enter their life. House training, destructive chewing of everything, incessant barking and howling. Raising a puppy and eventually having it turn into a pleasant, well mannered dog is quite an accomplishment in many cases. My own best friend was once unceremoniously dumped at a shelter. It has always been difficult for me to understand. He is kind, gentle, well behaved, and more than anything wants to please me.
I came across an interesting group today which encourages people to adopt "senior" dogs, rather than a puppy. They call their group The Senior Dogs Project. Here are a couple of their testimonials:
-
Thank you, people who dumped my dogs at the shelter!
I wanted to say 'thank you' to the people who dumped the two dogs I now call my own at the shelter. Because of you, I have been blessed. Let me explain:
-
Dog No. 1 came to be mine almost seven years ago, when I went to the shelter and saw him there on the last day before he was to be euthanized. According to the notes, he was an owner turn-in because 'the wife' was pregnant and they 'didn't have enough time for the dog.' The notes also mentioned you and 'the wife' were afraid that the dog -- a whopping 50 pounds -- might hurt a newborn, even though I don't think I've ever heard of Border Collies doing that. (Maybe you misunderstood... they said 'herding,' not 'hurting.')
THANK YOU SO MUCH! I took him home and found him to be the politest dog I've ever met, and, having had dogs all my life, that's saying a LOT. He was housebroken, he was gentle, he learned to heel off-lead, sit, stay, down-stay (timed him at half an hour, unmonitored, on three seperate occasions). I can tell him to get into the tub and bathe him without needing to drag him, restrain him, or wrestle him -- no collar, no lead! When we go hiking, parents stop and tell me my dog is better behaved than their kids. (Are you ever going to walk by with your six-year old, who will probably want to pet this gentleman, and think -- 'Hmmm, that looks an awful lot like my old dog?')
This dog is so striking in looks and obedient in manner that I've had a Nutro rep tell me he should be their poster dog. And he CAME this way -- I didn't have the puppy phase, the teething, the housebreaking, the gawky phase. He's always been this graceful, polite, amazing dog who gets along with dogs, cats, kids (he would have been great with your kid). Thank you SO MUCH for giving him up!
-
Dog No. 2: After a few wonderful years with Dog No. 1, I started looking to add another furkid to my family, since I have the room and the love. After seeing a purebred languishing in a shelter for weeks and subsequently calling about her, the shelter staff told me NO ONE had come out to see her (because she wasn't a puppy?). According to the notes and to the shelter staff who were there when you dumped her, you didn't want her anymore because she 'didn't get along with your other dogs.' I'm not sure what that means, because I took ten minutes to watch her, and she seemed terrified of everyone -- people AND dogs AND cats.
I brought her home and she perked up when she met my other dog. My cats told her that she wasn't going to boss them around, and boy did she pay attention! It was a wonderful treat to find out she was housebroken, that she didn't destroy a dang thing (I do so like these older dogs!), she was calm and snuggly, and played with my dog, and my friend's dog, and she smiles and wags her entire body when I come home. At night, she curls up next to my other dog. She dances for me when she sees the leash, and she's turning out to be an awesome walking and running partner. When she's not excited about going out, she's a complete and utter couch potato, and I feel like I have the best of both worlds.
In fact, I think I have the best dogs I could possibly have -- and all without housebreaking, potty training, chewing, digging, puppy obedience classes, and the rest. All I did was come pick them up when you dropped them off, and pay a pittance of a fee (how much are Maltipoos and Cockapoos and Labradoodles nowadays?)
So THANK YOU! people who dumped my dogs at the shelter. You'll never know what you gave me -- because you probably had no clue what you were giving up. But the dogs are home now and safe and loved, and will be for the rest of their days. I think, if they could, they would pass along their thanks to you, too......
-
-
The website address for this wonderful group is: http://www.srdogs.com/
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
