So, last time I wrote about our first rescued dog. This time I would like to say why adopting dog from the shelter is much more beneficial than buying one from the breeder or, what I find the worst option, buying one from the pet shop.
Dogs were always in our family, since I was a little girl. I don’t remember much our first dog – a German Shepherd lady as she passed away when I was 3. After that it took my parents some time before they were ready to have another companion. And a lot of my whining. Finally the day came and it was more of a lucky coincidence if anything else. Our aunt, who had a couple of Dobermans, just became a lucky owner of 6 puppies. Knowing the parents very well, their character and conditions they had, my parents decided it’s the right place to have a dog from. So a cute, little, chocolate lady Doberman arrived on my 8th birthday. As you can imagine, I was in heaven.
I just didn’t realize, how much work and attention puppy needs. Tina, as we named her, was a wonderful addition to our family. She was loving, protective, beautiful, funny and most of all, spoiled. These were times without Internet and behavioural knowledge was mostly not existing, dogs were trained only for police or military forces. We truly believed that love and more love will do the thing. It did, she was the most happy-go-lucky Doberman I know but also doing whatever she felt like. We made about every possible mistake owners can make, while raising her.
When she passed away we adopted the adult dog from the shelter. And as many before us we were wondering – what is wrong with him, if he ended up locked in the cage? How much time will it cost to ‘bring him back to normal’. How surprised we were to find out that all what he needed was just few days of a good and peaceful sleep, good food and … that’s it! There was nothing wrong with him although he was 4, he adjusted to our lifestyle almost immediately, was eager to learn everyday what the rules are and ready to please us with his obedience. And he was grateful; you could sense it every single day.
Visiting a shelter was a pretty traumatic experience for me, seeing all these abounded dogs, crying for attention or being too depressed to be bothered. That’s why I decided whenever I would like to welcome a dog in my life, it will be a rescued one. So far I have never regretted and after the first one, I took another 2 from the shelter.
Those dogs really know what it is like to be saved. They all, doesn’t matter the background, go through the enormous trauma, when end up in the shelter. Most of the dogs in the shelter are victims of us, humans, irresponsible, ignorant and lazy. I really too often feel ashamed of the human kind. However, if you think about having a dog, you can make a difference.
Our Bosfor, when we were adopting him, was already second time in the shelter. Very scary to adopt then? Not at all. First time, woman who took him, called the same evening saying that the grandma is not happy cause he’s too big and she wants to return him. When she was told shelter is not a retail shop and she can’t exchange dogs for whatever reason, she brought him back, saying he’s aggressive. So we were taking potentially aggressive, adult German shepherd with the unknown past. Have we lost our minds? No! We just immediately felt in love with Bosfor and saw the desperation in his eyes. He really needed to get out of there! He was scared, skinny and you could tell he was slowly giving up. As soon as we came to pick him up, he knew (6th sense?) he’s ours forever, jumped into the car and was ready to do whatever we told him, just not to disappoint us. And he is like that since then. And for the last 5 years he never ever showed any sign of aggression.
We didn’t have to spend time on toilet training; adult dogs will most of the times not do their business in the place they live. We didn’t have to teach him how to walk on the leash. We didn’t have to teach him to let us know, once he needs to go out. We didn’t have to neuter him as most of the shelters do it as soon as the dog arrives to avoid possible new offspring.
There are many reasons why to adopt an adult dog. Most of them could be found online. What I wanted to share with you is the real life experience. And to convince you – there is nothing to be scared about! The quality of love you receive, is unbelievable and as the former owner of the dog from the puppy and few adults from the shelter I can risk and say that the kind of love you get is much stronger from the rescued ones.