Our black dog after 9 months
Mungo is doing fine. In fact, I wasn't going to make an update for him this month, as there's not much to tell. His seasonal shed seems to have tapered off, thank goodness. He has started marking almost like a normal dog - I say almost because at least once I've seen him lift his leg against a tree and nothing came out, and then he put his leg down and leaned forward to empty his bladder in the way he has done previously. Not trying to be crude, but he still has his quirks.
There's a dog park about ten minutes' drive from our house that he enjoys visiting. He doesn't necessarily play with other dogs there. He does sometimes, but he seems to like just sniffing around the large enclosure even more. We've also taken him to "doggy day care" at a popular kennel, but we aren't sure how much he likes that, since he always acts scared when we drop him off with the staff, and we don't stick around to watch how he behaves when released into the enclosure. The kennel was recommended to us by staff at the vet clinic, and I'm sure they take proper care of the animals, but I suspect he's simply happier in our company any time.
What really prompted me to make this post was an article in this month's electronic newsletter from the microchip company. It talked about how black dogs often get passed over at shelters. The day we adopted Mungo, one of the shelter staff there remarked on this same tendency. I did a Google search just now and turned up more links than I expected: here's a whole website devoted to getting dark-colored dogs adopted, and here's a recent New York Times opinion piece defining "black dog syndrome." Apparently, despite not being documented in any statistical study, it has been noticed by a lot of people, and it applies to black cats, too.
Any acquisition of a pet should of course be thought through very carefully, but if you are planning to adopt an animal, please consider getting a dark-colored one, or at least don't rule them out!
There's a dog park about ten minutes' drive from our house that he enjoys visiting. He doesn't necessarily play with other dogs there. He does sometimes, but he seems to like just sniffing around the large enclosure even more. We've also taken him to "doggy day care" at a popular kennel, but we aren't sure how much he likes that, since he always acts scared when we drop him off with the staff, and we don't stick around to watch how he behaves when released into the enclosure. The kennel was recommended to us by staff at the vet clinic, and I'm sure they take proper care of the animals, but I suspect he's simply happier in our company any time.
What really prompted me to make this post was an article in this month's electronic newsletter from the microchip company. It talked about how black dogs often get passed over at shelters. The day we adopted Mungo, one of the shelter staff there remarked on this same tendency. I did a Google search just now and turned up more links than I expected: here's a whole website devoted to getting dark-colored dogs adopted, and here's a recent New York Times opinion piece defining "black dog syndrome." Apparently, despite not being documented in any statistical study, it has been noticed by a lot of people, and it applies to black cats, too.
Any acquisition of a pet should of course be thought through very carefully, but if you are planning to adopt an animal, please consider getting a dark-colored one, or at least don't rule them out!