A few months back, I brought home a Dog Rescue Society adoption dog.
I feel like I was allowed to rush into it without enough cooling off time. I saw a dog rescue adoption advertisement in my local paper, I took to one photo of one of their dogs and the image stuck in my brain. The next day I happened to be traveling past the kennels with some spare time in hand. I was tempted and I took a look around and I just couldn’t say no to one dog I saw, despite the fact that he was only a mongrel of doubtful origin and and must have been greatly cross bred.
But, how could you say no to such a cute dog with such wide sad eyes, sitting alone in a pen waiting for someone to come and pick him up. Animal shelter rescue operations know how to pull at your heartstrings – they cant help wanting to help the dogs to find a home, it is human nature. Nevertheless, I should have thought twice before I went in for this dog rescue adoption. It really was not a wise choice for me.
You see, dog adoption rescue is all well and good for the first week or two. The dog I got was really friendly and followed my every move around the house.
The trouble is that it was a little bit older than I wanted. After a week it dawned on me – I would have to take care of this dog for the rest of its life. I already have a Doberman – not the easiest or smallest of dogs – and I would have to train this second dog, take care of it, and keep it out of trouble all of its life.
Now with a puppy this would not have been daunting, but this dog had not been schooled at all. It did not have a clue about training, and would not even answer to its name.
One of my friends told me that I could take the dog rescue adoption dog back, and give up on the whole thing, but I did not want to do that. I felt like the poor dog had already been through too many things. Although this dog was only about three years old, it had by all accounts already been in the kennels a year back, and had been found wandering on the road.
I think that dogs are more like humans than we would like to think, (even mongrels!). They are affected by the way that they are treated. If they are treated like property, shuffled around, and not allowed to bond to anyone who owns them, they will develop serious nervous problems. It seemed to me that if I returned this pooch to the dog rescue adoption center just as it was getting used to me, I would be betraying it. I would be damning it to a life of misery. It was already so insecure that it would not let me out of its sight all day around the house.
However, after a while I did manage to drum some basic obedience training into the mongrel. My Doberman Pinscher helped. I think this was because the new dog could see the obedient responses my Doberman gives to my command.
Then, my luck came when I met a friend while out dog walking about three months back. We had walked together several times since I had him, and from the start, she had really taken a fancy to him, and him to her for some reason. However, she had her own dog and no inclination to take on another.
I was at first surprised that this time we met she had no dog with her. Soon after we got talking she explained her sadness that her pet had lost all appetite and had virtually stopped eating over a period of about two weeks. She had taken the animal to the local vet, and he had found a cancer which was well advanced. In only a little over a fortnight her dog had died, and now she was walking alone and very much wanting for canine company.
When I realized her grief – and don’t underestimate the depth of grieving which can occur for a dog – I really wanted to help her, and I knew that I now had a much better behaved dog due to my training of him than the animal I had taken on. That mongrel was no longer a liability on walks or likely to run-off in an uncontrolled fashion. He was no longer uncontrollable and at risk of causing an accident, or misbehaving out of control.
So, I offered her the chance that she might take him on, and she was delighted. The first while he was on loan to her, but that soon changed, and now I doubt she would give him away for any amount of money!
Finally, though, I would like to say that I am a quiet kind of a guy. It takes a while for me to get to know people.
However, in handing over that mutt I got to know that lady rather well. It created a common bond between us, which became a friendship. Well, I have to say we are really enjoying each others company now. It could just be that I didn’t truly get that dog away out of my life at all. It may be I just got me a life partner… and that dog never left at all… not bad eh! That’s dog rescue for you!
Written by Steve Evans