On selecting pets from shelters
Sasha was my first shelter adoption experience. I went in there with a list of things I was looking for in a cat. I wanted a kitten, so that I could train her on the leash and train her to travel well since at that time I lived in NC and was planning to fly home for holidays and long weekends (this was a decade ago, and there was a relatively inexpensive direct flight home). So I was looking for a kitten who didn't look like my old cat Sneakers, was a sweet little cuddle-monkey, was healthy and quiet. When I saw her in the shelter, Sasha mostly seemed to fit the bill. She was quiet, purred at me through her cage, and was a little furry brown and black puffball - nothing like my sneaker-pawed tuxedo cat... I knew she sounded a little weasy, but otherwise, she seemed to fit what I was looking for.
Of course then I spent the entire first week feeding her with a syringe b/c she was so sick she wouldn't eat and wiping her bloody and snotty nose from the repiratory infection. As soon as she got healthy, I learned she wasn't really quiet, in fact she was a very talkative little furrball who likes to say hello and tell you what she is thinking. Yes, she travels well and is somewhat leash trained. And she likes cuddles, but won't sit in laps and gets overstimualted fairly quickly during petting and will bite. And when she grew up (healthy) she turned out to be a furry body double for Sneakers, just with different colors.
So really she wasn't what I was looking for at all, but I love her all the more for who she is. Levi so far is turning out to be the same sort of experience. I was more careful picking him out of the shelter so I thought I was safe from the Sasha experience. I visited him several times over the course of a couple weeks before starting the paperwork to adopt him... But even so...
I was looking for a black lab mix, because I wanted to make sure I got a dog who was different from my Angel (she was a shepard-retriever mix). I was looking for a dog who would be dog-friendly (Angel could be dog-aggressive). I wanted a dog who was good with people (Which Angel was too but is important for all dogs). Labs are generally good with people and other dogs, and black dogs tend to be much slower to be adopted than others, so I settled on a black lab. I wanted a dog who was an 'adult' - around 3 years old or so, past the most hyper stage in Labs. And one who wasn't too energetic, obedient, etc...
At first I thought about getting another female. Then I met Levi and the idea of having a new 'man in my life' amused me. I liked that I would see him curled up in his den even when the rest of the kennel was barking. He pulled like crazy outside, he was bouncy and mouthy, but he also seemed to be potty trained and seemed to know sit already, so my training was already started... He was the right age and the right breed. I knew I was getting a dog that needed a little work, but had the basics in place...
And then I brought him home. And he peed on my chair. And he began barking. And he turned out to be between 1 and 2 rather than 3-5 that I was told intitially. And probably part Newfie. And he had roundworms. And did I mention the barking? And the whining... And he had no attention span at all. So he came with more surprises than I'd anticipated. 3 weeks into training, some of the rest of my insticts about him proved true. He hasn't had any more accidents in the house since the first day. The barking stopped (thank Merlin!) once we started training. He is eager to learn and eager to please, so he's picked up on his commands pretty quickly. His attention span is already getting better (although getting him to sit when he's distracted is still something we're working on.) After 2 days working on the finer points of walking on a leash - his pulling is already mostly gone. And the bonus I didn't even think to hope for - he isn't afraid of storms!
Of course then I spent the entire first week feeding her with a syringe b/c she was so sick she wouldn't eat and wiping her bloody and snotty nose from the repiratory infection. As soon as she got healthy, I learned she wasn't really quiet, in fact she was a very talkative little furrball who likes to say hello and tell you what she is thinking. Yes, she travels well and is somewhat leash trained. And she likes cuddles, but won't sit in laps and gets overstimualted fairly quickly during petting and will bite. And when she grew up (healthy) she turned out to be a furry body double for Sneakers, just with different colors.
So really she wasn't what I was looking for at all, but I love her all the more for who she is. Levi so far is turning out to be the same sort of experience. I was more careful picking him out of the shelter so I thought I was safe from the Sasha experience. I visited him several times over the course of a couple weeks before starting the paperwork to adopt him... But even so...
I was looking for a black lab mix, because I wanted to make sure I got a dog who was different from my Angel (she was a shepard-retriever mix). I was looking for a dog who would be dog-friendly (Angel could be dog-aggressive). I wanted a dog who was good with people (Which Angel was too but is important for all dogs). Labs are generally good with people and other dogs, and black dogs tend to be much slower to be adopted than others, so I settled on a black lab. I wanted a dog who was an 'adult' - around 3 years old or so, past the most hyper stage in Labs. And one who wasn't too energetic, obedient, etc...
At first I thought about getting another female. Then I met Levi and the idea of having a new 'man in my life' amused me. I liked that I would see him curled up in his den even when the rest of the kennel was barking. He pulled like crazy outside, he was bouncy and mouthy, but he also seemed to be potty trained and seemed to know sit already, so my training was already started... He was the right age and the right breed. I knew I was getting a dog that needed a little work, but had the basics in place...
And then I brought him home. And he peed on my chair. And he began barking. And he turned out to be between 1 and 2 rather than 3-5 that I was told intitially. And probably part Newfie. And he had roundworms. And did I mention the barking? And the whining... And he had no attention span at all. So he came with more surprises than I'd anticipated. 3 weeks into training, some of the rest of my insticts about him proved true. He hasn't had any more accidents in the house since the first day. The barking stopped (thank Merlin!) once we started training. He is eager to learn and eager to please, so he's picked up on his commands pretty quickly. His attention span is already getting better (although getting him to sit when he's distracted is still something we're working on.) After 2 days working on the finer points of walking on a leash - his pulling is already mostly gone. And the bonus I didn't even think to hope for - he isn't afraid of storms!