<p>Another wonderful thing about rescue pets is that the foster homes or owners can help you find a pet who’s a good “fit” for your family. The rescue people want to find forever homes for their rescues, so they want to avoid placing a big jumping dog with people with small children, or placing an active dog with a couch potato family. </p>
<p>We both work so we’ve wanted dogs that were already housetrained and weren’t going to chew up everything because they were being left alone during the day. It’s been great to not have to go through the puppy stage. :)</p>
<p>We lost our dear shelter beagle mix to kidney failure in November, and adopted a young (2-3 yr old) beagle as our Christmas gift to ourselves. She had a number of quirks when she first arrived, but is slowly adapting and has quickly worked her way into our hearts. As Slithey found ^, it’s great to have a slightly older pet who is housetrained and not a chewer. It is sad to read about pets who have been given up because of the economy; I saw a column the other day saying people are also reluctant to get medical care for pets because of the expense…adopters should realize that it can be substantial, especially once a dog gets older and develops problems.</p>
<p>I have 2 shelter dogs now – small terrier mixes – before that we had an aussie mix from the shelter. All wonderful dogs. One nice thing about adopting from the shelter is that there are a lot to choose from, and because most of the pets are full grown, you can tell a lot about the dog’s personality & behavior before bringing it home – it makes for a good match. Of course, when I adopted terrier #2 I had to bring terrier #1 to the shelter with me, to help make the choice. So now I also have 2 dogs who are best buddies most of the time. (They are like siblings, though – they had quite a squabble over something about 20 minutes ago, but all seems to be forgiven and forgotten now).</p>
<p>My shelter dogs were each homeless before coming to the shelter – either lost by their owners or deliberately abandoned. So I have no idea what they may have gone through before being rescued. I kind of think the rescue in itself is probably traumatic, as the first thing the shelter does with those dogs is spay or neuter. But I know I have dogs who really appreciate having a warm home to live in!</p>
<p>Have one stray cat that adopted us and animal rescue helped us find our finicky boy a friend to play with when the humans are unavailable - great experience all the way around.</p>
<p>Oldest daughter volunteers at a local shelter, says the dogs are adopted much more easily than the adult cats which, as a cat lover, I find sad. An unadopted cat is spending its precious life in a tiny cage…they make such wonderful pets and are compatible with a busy lifestyle. Without our cats the empty nest would be unbearable…when our kids move from dorms to their first apartments I hope they can rescue a furry little friend from a shelter, it will make a happier life for everyone.</p>
<p>That’s another great service that most shelters provide. I’ve never worked with a rescue organization, but the SPCA is careful too. We had to fill out a 3-page questionnaire before they’d let us look at the cats, everything from size of the house to our energy level. They then assigned us to a volunteer who introduced us to four cats, based on our questionnaire. It was Sabine’s squeaky little voice that won my heart, but any of the four would have been great pets in our house.</p>
<p>I also want to give props to the animal foster parents out there. You are angels to take these great animals in, polish their rough edges, and then give them up to find their Forever Home.</p>
<p>Both of our dogs came from the shelter. They are mutts, but are sweet and adorable. Though sometimes a purebred can turn my head, I know that we will always return to the shelter because these animals are SO deserving.</p>
<p>We’ve adopted two German Shepherds from the shelter over the years. Our other dogs were purchased from breeders.</p>
<p>We were the third owner of the first who was thought to be 9 years old, but we subsequently learned she was 6. We lost her to cancer 1-1/2 years later, which I believe was accelerated because of vaccinations before we knew she had it (only sign was a limp which we attributed to an injury). </p>
<p>We were the fourth owner of the second, 4 years old at the time. He bonded with my wife, but took 1-1/2 years before he would look me directly in the eye. We subsequently learned he’s able to jump/climb a 6’ fence and likes to tree bears. I also think he can get over a 7-1/2’ fence, but he doesn’t know it yet.</p>
<p>We rescued our now 12-year-old mixed breed from the shelter 11 years ago. He was found abandoned on a country road, and had just arrived when we fell in love with him. We had to wait 7 days before he was officially available, and then, since there were several people interested in him, my daughter begged me to get to the shelter several hours before they opened so we would get him! I brought my lawn chair, a thermos of coffee and a book and waited for 2 hours!!</p>
<p>Also for anyone contemplating adopting a rescue…</p>
<p>The foster program we adopted from actually did a home visit - they came and met us at our home, checked out the house (to make sure we didn’t have safety issues for having a pet) and then, we were allowed to sign a paper for “temporary adoption” - we had 10 days where if needed, we could tell them we weren’t a good fit for each other and stop the process. </p>
<p>This was especially attractive to us - we had NEVER had any pets (after 3 kids and almost 30 years of marriage!)- this especially was key in the “go ahead” for my husband who was the most tentative on the idea of adopting a pet.<br>
(sidenote: we never looked back! We had no issues, “Charlie” was laying by our side 30 minutes after arriving and now my husband is more attached to that dog than anything!!)</p>
Absolutely! My guinea pigs also came from a rescue. The rescue now has a pig named Frankie-Lynn with an amazing story:
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<p>If you want to support your favorite shelter/rescue financially when you shop, go to [url=<a href=“http://adoptashelter.com/]adoptashelter.com[/url”>http://adoptashelter.com/]adoptashelter.com[/url</a>]. When you register and shop online at adoptashelter retailers (Amazon, Best Buy, Office Depot, and over 400 others), the shelter/rescue you selected receives 100% of the commission adoptashelter.com receives from your purchase.</p>