People often think that if a dog has wound up at a shelter after living in someone else’s home, it’s because he didn’t make a good pet. Maybe he kept soiling the carpet, they assume, or was aggressive, or just didn’t know how to get along with people. Or maybe he’s a wallet emptier due to ongoing health problems. In other words, the dog is believed to be damaged goods. But that’s very often not the case.
All too frequently, dogs are given up because of something about the people whose homes they live in. Perhaps the novelty of having a dog has worn off. There are even very expensive purebred dogs who were raised properly by their breeders and are very well trained — but they were impulse buys that people felt comfortable disposing of. Then there are cases where a household’s children have grown up and gone to college, and the dog was “the kids’ pet” and therefore has outlived his so-called usefulness.
Sometimes a change in a household’s circumstances forces relinquishment of the pet. In certain cases, the dog’s owner has died. Or a new baby or elderly parents have arrived, and the dog’s people love their pet but realize they simply will not have the time to devote to him. Or after having the dog for quite a while, maybe even a year or two, someone in the home develops a pretty severe allergy to the animal after having been fine around him. It happens.
In yet other instances, people move from a place where pets are allowed to an apartment where they are not, and they have no choice but to give up an animal they adore. It may even be that someone is getting married, and their fiancé is allergic or is simply too afraid of dogs to live comfortably with one.
The point: Don’t assume shelter dogs are behavioral or health rejects. If you see a shelter dog who seems like he will be a good fit in your home, chances are high that he will be. He’s available not because of intractable problems but because whoever was taking care of him had a change of heart or a change in circumstances.
