Congratulations, you are ready to add a new dog to your family! While the first thing that may catch your eye about an adoptable dog listed in Fido Love is a great photo, do not choose your new Fido friend based solely on looks.
The Question to start with before any others – is “what is the best type of dog for my lifestyle”? [Read more…]
There’s been much in the news lately about the dangers of rehoming your pet through Craigslist, spurred by the sad case of Puppy Doe in Massachusetts, and too many others before her throughout states around the country.
Puppy Doe was rehomed last year through Craigslist in a “free to a good home” advertisement. These are just the sort of Craigslist ads that sound big alarm bells for those who work in animal welfare.
After 15 years in the foster, sheltering and rescue world, I’ve been fortunate to work closely with some incredible people and organizations – like the extraordinary all-volunteer rural community shelter Adopt-A-Pet in Shelton, Washington; the innovators in city-based municipal sheltering at Seattle Animal Shelter; the deeply compassionate folks at Rolling Dog Farm who go out of their way to help every life they can, no matter how broken or damaged these precious souls are; and the outstanding [Read more…]
Dogs adapt. Readily. Dogs as a species are highly adaptable to different environments, climates and certainly different families and homes. Dogs have evolved 15,000 years specifically to be with people and they are not especially picky about whom – an endearing quality in our Fido friends.
So long as basic needs for security, quality human companionship, shelter, food and exercise are being met – [Read more…]
Life Happens. It happens in small ways and in big, insurmountable ways sometimes, like a death or an illness in the family, the loss of a job, foreclosure of a home, or a change in living circumstances – life happens to all of us, including the 62% of American households with pets their lives.
In fact, nearly 40 percent of our Fido friends do not make it through their first year with their first family. The ties are interrupted by the large and the small human life events – where the family’s needs and the dog’s needs are incompatible.
3 to 5 million dogs each year are dropped at animal shelters, abandoned on their own, or rehomed through chance encounter – all for lack of a reliable, [Read more…]
