May 2021

In honor of “National Rescue Dog Day”, I wanted to share a little bit more about the process of rescuing and adopting dogs.  I have so many friends that pay up to $1,000 on a designer dog from a breeder, and I’m not knocking that at all, but I wonder if people know how many incredible lifelong friends can be found at you local shelter or rescue.

Both of my dogs that I’ve had in my adult life were rescue/adoptions. First was Zeus, who, if anyone who has known me for a long time knew what an incredible dog he was. He was a Harlequin Great Dane who was so big that he was actually a candidate for the Guiness Book of World Records!  (He lost by 1.4 inches)  I got him when he was 7 months old- he was abused as a puppy, and rehomed to a family that just couldn’t handle him, so my mom ending up finding him (she rescues a lot of dogs) and knew I was lonely with JB being deployed for 15 months, so I ended up taking Zeus. What a fantastic dog he was!  He lived a full life, made so many people happy, and passed away from old age at 9.  (That’s pretty old for a Dane, especially one of his size)

Pony for Scale…

 

After Zeus passed, we were absolutely brokenhearted.  We waited a month, then decided to get a Husky.  So many people told us we were crazy, but I thankfully rarely listen.  JB and I researched Husky rescues and found TaysiaBlue.com which services the entire Midwest.  We decided on Cash, who was then 1 year old, and he had the same heterochromia as Zeus, so we figured it was a sign.  He ended up at the rescue because he was an escape artist (as Huskies tend to be) and the woman couldn’t handle him anymore.  We applied, and got approved, and Cash came home with us.  He’s an absolutely gorgeous full-blooded Siberian Husky who was already house trained. It was $300 to adopt him, and that includes all the vet work, microchipping, etc.  You know how much it costs to get a Husky from a breeder? Low end? $800. A quality pup like Cash? $1200 and upwards.  And lets not get started on vet fees and training.  Does Cash have papers? Nope. I mean, somewhere, sure. But what do I care? Unless you are breeding or showing, who gives a flip?  Anyhow, Cash is the light of our lives, and has made us (and again, so many others) happy, not to mention is kind of a tv/viral sensation with his spunky personality.  We’ve had him for 5 years now, and I honestly can’t imagine life without him.

Here’s the thing, so many wonderful dogs get discarded mainly because people are stupid. Sorry, but they are.  They think, “Oh, cute doggie!” and never think ahead of what owning a actual dog entails, or research the breed to make sure its a good fit.  So, a lot of great dogs get abandoned because they all of a sudden become inconvenient.  So they end up in shelters, and may are put down because there are some people who don’t want a “shelter dog”- they’d rather pay a ton of money for a designer dog that they can show off on instagram alongside their Louis Vuitton purse.  Or they’re concerned about them not having papers (again, what for?) or that they can breed (seriously? Are you really going to breed? It’s a lot more work than you’d think, but, whatever).   Again, not knocking buying from a breeder, but a lot of people discount the adoption/rescue option for silly reasons.

For more information on adopting and rescues, here’s a link to specific breed rescues: https://thebark.com/content/barks-breed-rescue-directory

Or just go hit up your local shelter. You may just find the love of you life like I did!