Do You Rescue?

If you have ever read this blog you know I am a huge proponent of rescue. Adopt a dog, a cat or ten. I have four animals in my house that are rescued for one reason or another. Three from shelters one from a friend who had too many cats. The two idiot dogs in the photos above are my current mutts. One was a rescue reject had been returned to the shelter twice because he was out of control. He was "untrainable." Guess what, I trained him, he is still a pain in the ass but he is trained an an awesome dog. The other was 2 days from being euthanized. My kind-hearted daughter dragged me 60 miles away to adopt her after seeing her on the Internet.

Things to remember if you choose to adopt a dog, they will not be perfect the minute you bring them home, They might have never been in a house, had regular food, a good place to sleep, the list is long. A shelter is a scary place, when you adopt a dog from a shelter, they were probably depressed, scared, living in a cage. Be patient. Don't give up.

My big dog Boss ran away every time he saw a chance to get out the door, my son and his friend spent many days hunting him down. He drove us crazy. Three years later, we leave the door open and he looks at us, thinks about it and does not run. It takes time.

Every good relationship takes time. We adopted Kahlua, LuLu as we call her from the Orange County Animal Shelter. She appeared to have no personality, no one was going to adopt her. She was one of many dogs in a long row of cages. Something in her eyes spoke to us and we brought her home. After a few says with the Bossman it was clear she had a personality. She was truly the perfect rescue, perfectly trained and wonderful.That never happens, but sometimes it does.

So I have had both, the plug and play dog and the OMG Shoot me dog,...I love them both. I urge you to skip the pet store and the breeder and go for that not so pretty dog, that really I have to train you dog. That dog (or cat) that will really appreciate another chance, It may take some time and some love but it will be so worth it.