Adopt A Dog

Save A Dog’s Life — Adopt Him!

When you adopt a dog or puppy, you’re saving a life and giving an innocent dog a second chance. I’m sure you know that. Most dogs know this too and tend to show their gratitude once you get them home and they have a chance to bond with you.

At the RIGHT: Two adopted dogs have been best friends for eleven years.

For every dog adopted, that’s one less puppy sold. If people adopted enough dogs, dog breeders would have to reduce the number of dogs they bred and at some point we would end up with the right amount of dogs for the number of available homes. Happily, there would no longer be a need for the SPCA or other rescue kennels.

Don’t be in a hurry to get a puppy unless you know how to select the puppy, care for and raise him and have the time to devote to a little baby that requires your full time and attention. Depending on the breed, the puppy will be jumping all over the furniture and you, digging in the yard and nipping at the kids for the first few months until you get the pup under control and trained!

The Breeder Alternative

A great alternative is to adopt a dog at a local animal shelter like the SPCA or dog breed rescue kennel where the knowledgeable staff can guide you based on your daily circumstances. Adopting adolescent or adult dogs is a great way to save time and money and get a wonderful pet. Adopting a dog is simple but thorough and you get to pick from some truly fine stock that are already house trained and are ready for a new home. Many dogs are obedience trained to one degree or another.

Some dogs were surrendered because their owners became ill, were in an accident and could no longer care for the dog, had to move to a place that didn't allow dogs, developed an allergy to the dog, went to jail and a dozen other reasons why people give up perfectly good pets.

Dogs in shelters start life as first quality puppies. However, some end up in shelters because they developed improper behavior or temperament problems, all caused by first-owners that were either too lazy or just didn’t know how to raise and train them.

There are important questions to ask when you adopt a puppy.

Normally, almost all these dogs need is a lot of love, some training and you’ve saved s/he from euthanasia.

When you adopt a dog, regardless of what kind of facility you choose to get the dog from, temperament and aggression are the main things to be looking for. Most normal dog aggression can be dealt with but sometimes you come across a dog that has that instinct in his soul and nothing you do will change him. This is especially true if you are looking at big dogs or breeds such as Rottweilers, German Shepherds, Mastiff's or any of the other common guard dogs.

A fairly common problem with some shelter dogs is separation anxiety which is usually easy to correct with some effort on the part of the owner.

Selecting A Puppy At A Shelter

If you are determined to buy a puppy, have the time, energy and resources for it, then look first at your dog pound, kennel or local dog breed rescue group. Always try to adopt a dog or puppy from them if possible.

I should point out we mentioned adopting a puppy, but not from a breeder in this discussion. It was mentioned on the Home Page that Animal Shelters do get puppies so you can save a life and adopt a puppy from the dog pound or animal shelter just the same as an older, mature dog.

The two main thing to look for are hidden aggression and friendliness in the puppy. You can usually learn a lot by talking to the kennel staff.

You may not know anything about the pup's parents and how well socialized the little guy was. You CAN tell a lot by the way the puppy acts though. If the puppy is friendly and comes to you willingly and is not shy or nippy, chances are she has had a good start in life. If s/he has a toy and you can take it from her, that's good too.

However, if the puppy hangs to the back of the cage, ignores you, or would rather chew on a toy than come to you for some petting, you have probably got a pup that needs a lot of work to grow up properly.

Ask the kennel staff all you can about the background of the puppy. Ask if you can give the puppy some food. If so, try to take the food away from the puppy while she's eating. If she gets upset and growls, you will have work to do with her. That's resource guarding, a sign of aggression. You might want to look for another dog.

When you find the puppy that comes up to you, wants to snuggle and play, is willing to share toys and does not leap all over the cage in wild desperation, by all means, adopt the puppy!

If you decide to adopt a puppy, please visit our page on puppy training for additional information on what to do next.

Be certain you want to go the puppy route. When you adopt a dog that's a year to three-or-so years old, you are going to save a lot of headaches and time!

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