I have always been a dog-lover. My fingers long to give tummy rubs and ear scratches. I used to have a fur-sibling growing up. Rocky. A scruffy, disobedient, spoiled rotten Maltese. He lived until the ripe age of 19 years old! At the time, I had already moved out. And then I married someone who wasn’t a dog-enthusiast, so we pursued other life goals – settling in to our careers, wrangling 3 kids, and traveling. As the youngest kid is now fairly independent with daily self-care, I figured now is the moment to re-visit having a dog in the family. Here’s the journey so far.
Convince the family
I have been preparing my husband for this moment for years now, by talking about it, getting him used to the idea. There is not much need for convincing now. With my kids’ now being able to take care of the dog and eager to have one, my husband is now out-numbered 4 to 1.
Decide to buy or rescue
As a first time dog mom, I felt more comfortable adopting a rescue, since I knew the dog would have been vetted through a vet and often a foster family. We would have some idea of the dog’s personality (to make sure the dog wasn’t aggressive towards kids) and health. The main reason I decided to be patient and wait for a dog through a rescue shelter, is of course, to give a second chance life to a dog who’s been through tough times.
Visit a shelter
I took my kids to a local shelter to check out the dogs. This gave us a chance to play with a dog who needed some exercise, and to check out their personality. The dog in the photo above was too jumpy, strong, and large. A dog like him would like knock over my parents, who would likely help care for the dog. While I want a furry companion so so badly, I also very much want to avoid taking my one of my parents to the ER for a fractured hip, so our search has been focused on a smaller sized dog. After the visit, I noticed that my black leggings were covered with blonde fur hairs. This helped me realize that I would like low-shedding dog.
Finding the dog
Upon advice from my dog-mom friends, I started getting recommendations of local rescue shelters and following them on social media. “They post photos of dogs all the time on their accounts.” Well, finding a small dog who appeared to be low shedding (poodle or poodle-mix) was one thing. Then applying for the dog is a whole detour journey. This required filling out my personal information, job, experience with dogs, and 2-3 references. Then, I had to wait for the references to reply to surveys or phones calls. By the time an application was complete, my small size-low-shed-appearing dog had already been adopted, or was not a good fit for my family per the foster parent’s opinion. By end of one week, I had applied to NINE RESCUE SHELTERS! Here they are listed below in case you are looking, too. Any of them will be super grateful for a donation.
- Providence Animal Center
- To Love a Canine Rescue
- All 4 Paws
- Home at Last
- ACCT Philly
- Lucky Dawg
- Philly Rescue Angels
- Justice Rescue
- Angel’s Retreat
What I want to be when I grow up
After seeing so many senior dogs (10yo or older), who still have so much life left to live, and yet are remain passed over for adoption year after year, I found my calling in retirement. I would love to find a home with a fenced year and foster 2-3 senior aged dogs or dogs of any size (and without all the kid clutter and hopefully a minimalistic to clean, I won’t mind the shedding as much, so can toss out that requirement, too!) who have been in the shelter system for a while. We’ll keep each other happy and healthy! It’s an evidenced based decision! Research shows that dog owner ship lowers blood pressure, protects from the risk of heart disease, and boosts immunity.
The sequel
I keep checking and refreshing the social media pages, waiting for a new dog to be added to the roster. I’ve also been checking the rescue’s websites or whatever platform they use to show the dogs’ profiles. I hope I can write a part 2 of this blog post soon, to share the start of our life journey with a furry family member.
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