Free Adoption Days: today and tomorrow.

We used to have two cats, Ginger and Bad Cat Fred, who were adopted together from people who said they were giving them up because, "you see, they shed." Really, we thought, even the long haired ones? Both poorly socialized, prob formerly feral (in retrospect), but gave us lovely companionship - and some great stories - over the course of their lives with us (about 12 and 14 years, respectively).

Now we have two rescued dogs, Maui (Golden Retriever/head case mix) and Puck (some kind of Spaniel and something else that herds) (word of advice: never name a dog Puck. Trust me. You'll slip, and then your five-year old will have a new vocabulary word ...). Two really great dogs. Hoping they'll be with us for a long, long time. Our kids love them. We love them. They love us, and we all lived happily ever after (or at least until the zombies come, but that's another story ...).

That said, this is what I have to say about animal rescue. There's a special place in Heaven for those who adopt animals (and even more so for those who adopt children). But some of the folks who work at the adoption centers would do both the animals and the potential adopters a much greater service if they'd be straight about the kind of needs these animals have. Our two cats were "wonderful, social, child-friendly" and turned out to be wonderful, but anti-social and hissed, spat at anyone who came around the corner. Our first rescue dog, Maui - "sweet natured, docile, slightly nervous but give her 6 weeks and she'd come into herself, relax." Turned out to be sweet-natured as long as you're not another similarly sized dog (ask me about the $800 Christmas tree sometime ...), clearly abused in her past life (thank God for Barb Dwyer of See Spot Stay, an EXCELLENT dog trainer, positive training all the way works), fearful of everything that moved until some intensive therapy ensued.

All our animals turned out to be great pets, but we would have been so much better prepared had we had more warning. We can't be the only family that adopted rescue animals only to find out all was not as it seemed. The race to find a home for each animal by (admittedly under-staffed, under-funded) adoption agenies does a disservice to both stressed out animals and stressed out adopters by sweeping the real stories under the rug when it's time to find families for these wonderful animals, and robs both the animals and the adopters of the chance to find a home that really is prepared and the right fit for both sides of the equation.

xoxo -

D

I completely agree with the comment that "some of the folks who work at the adoption centers would do both the animals and the potential adopters a much greater service if they'd be straight about the kind of needs these animals have." There is an obsessive type shelter near me (they turn down people routinely for having things like, you know, kids, or thinking about having kids) who had my current cat Wylie for 2 years. In 2 years they never noticed that his teeth were rotting out of his head and that maybe the pain and uncertainty of being dragged to and from his foster house to the shelter every week for TWO YEARS might have messed his mind up a bit because cats are NOT people (they're cooler, but they do have different needs in some ways).

He's toothless now (thanks $2,000 vet bill on a grad student salary) and much happier but he would have been a lot more stable and adoptable if they actually took care of him instead of anthropomorphizing him and denying him medical care. Luckily, I had health insurance when he gave me a black eye and split my face open (two separate hospital visits) because he's a little unhinged. But he adores my boyfriend (a newer addition to the household than him) to pieces and can generally be cuddled without pain or terror being involved after a four year settling-in process. They of course told me he hated men too. :P