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[RC] [RC] Our Two Puppies, Part Two - Deanna German

I admit to not reading part 1 since I got an inkling it was about having to
euthanize a beloved dog. I just can't read those, it tears me apart.

But I did read part 2 and this jumped out at me:

Howard wrote:
There were hundreds of dogs and cats everywhere. And, then, we found the puppy
section. Oh, my. Puppies. Little, itty bitty puppies, and, aren?t they just the
cutest things you ever did see. My wife and I had found our section in the
Humane Society. Puppies!!!!


If you want to truly save a dog's life, resist the puppies. Puppies get
adopted most easily. Resist the small dogs, they are the next most
adoptable.

If you want to truly save a dog's life, get a big, black dog or a veteran
(over 7) dog. Those are the ones no one wants. All the big, adult dogs are
hard to place.

It's hard to find fault with adopting a dog from a shelter, but when an
adoption doesn't work out, one or more of these things happened:

- The dog was acquired on impulse -- it's generally not good to decide to go
and just "pick one" (or two or three), particularly after the death of a
beloved family member. Instead, take time to think about how a new dog will
fit in to your lifestyle and take time to research breeds.
- There was little understanding of the breed or breeds if it's a mix (why
people are surprized that a Border Collie mix has endless energy or that a
retriever mix likes to carry the dirty underwear around the house in his
mouth is beyond me)
- There's no committment to training (all shelter dogs have issues and some
you might not discover until in the company of other dogs, or people in
hats, people with sunglasses, your boss who you want to really impress, etc.
-- the good news is that most of the time it's just another training issue).

To dispell a common myth, unfortunately waaaaay too many purebreds wind up
at shelters, especially the most popular breeds. The reason you don't see
many of them is that most shelters let purebred rescue take them. I've seen
Labs, Goldens, Dalmations, Rotties and even an Italian Greyhound.

Good luck with your new family members, Howard. And don't worry about the
female your wife picked out. I have a feeling she'll be able to hold her own
just fine. :-)

Deanna

PS - And to keep this endurance related, my shelter rescue and re-home dogs
often accompany me to rides. :-)


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