Our dog Howl is part Mastiff (He's the one in the dog coat, below.) and we thought it was important to get a dog that was about his size. Having seen him interact with several other dogs, I also thought we needed a girl...but I wan't set on this. We also needed her to get along well with children since there are plenty in our neighborhood (and we are hoping to have some our own). My friend Sara had found her two dogs on Petfinder and I thought I would check it out. I kept putting it off because I wasn't ready for a new dog. I was certain that I did NOT want a puppy. They annoy Howl, Maury (the cat), they have to be potty trained, and they chew. When Howl was a puppy he ate a table, wood, like a whole quarter of it, the couch, a blanket, and my favorite black stilettos. There were countless other things, he was a terror. He refused to be potty-trained. He ate a bag of rat poison. He wouldn't sleep. There's so much more I could tell you, but I will sum it up with, he is the worst puppy I have ever had. Four years later, he is a great family dog but I was not ready to go through all of that again. The other reason being, adult dogs have less chance of being adopted. I just don't get it! I only see perks to a pretrained dog! :-)
I didn't just want to stop by the pound because I knew I would want to take them all home, but I definitely wanted to get one from the pound. I figured I had better have a plan. Petfinder was great. I put together a list of dogs that I thought would be compatible with our family, called them to find out if I could bring Howl along and went for a visit. I was so excited that they let me bring Howl to see if the dogs would play well together. He rejected all of the dogs but one, and it was the one at the top of my list, Toffee, a Rottweiler/Lab mix. She is two years old, it appears that she is pretrained, if not, she has caught on quick, she is roughly the same size as him, and is very, very sweet.
A few other things I learned while I was there...
- Over 25% of the dogs taken to the shelter are purebred. My friend adopted a Yorkie and a Daschaund, with all of their papers. While they come and go all year, the best time to pick up a purebred dog is in January or February. Alot of people get these dogs for Christmas presents, then realize they don't have the time and/or energy for a pet.
- Our shelter, as do many others, keeps a wishlist. Just let them know what kind of pet you are looking for and they will call you as soon as one comes in.
- The adoption fee covered getting Toffee spayed, her vaccinations being up-to-date, a bag of food, a month of pet insurance, and more.
- Our shelter runs a different special every month. This month Large Male Dogs were $25 off. Not only that, they were offering a discount if you wanted more than one animal. They had two beautiful golden retreivers that you wouldn't have wanted to seperate.
- The shelter I went to was very clean and the animals were well cared for. It wasn't as glum and hopeless as shelters I have visited in the past. I was very impressed. It was also much nicer than many pet stores that I have been to.
To sum it all up, my experience was much better than anticipated and we have a great new family member. I still wanted to take all of them home, but I am aware that trying to provide enough love and attention to more than three animals is probably more than we should try to take on. If you are looking for a new addition to your family, check out Petfinders. I have put the search tool to the left of this post!
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