Adopting A Dog From A Shelter

Adopting a dog from an animal shelter can be a rewarding experience. The new dog owner may have saved the dog from being euthanized. Sometimes, a dog seems eerily aware of this second chance. An attachment to its new owner may be a relief from being housed in a shelter, but could be interpreted as gratitude by its owner. One must remember that a dog’s feelings are not necessarily a reflection of what a human may feel in the dog’s situation.

The animal shelter may not have a history on the dog or the history they have may be inaccurate. A potential dog owner has the challenge of finding a dog that will be a good match for the family without knowing how the dog behaved in its previous home. The shelter staff only knows what was told to them by the previous owner and the dog’s behavior while in their custody. A stray generally has no known information about its background.

Though the dog shelter can share information on the dog’s behavior since it was in their custody, they may be unaware of past dog behavior problems. Many dogs in shelters are dropped off by its owners due to behavior problems often resulting from poor training though some are surrendered due to changes in housing situations. The prospective dog owner should be prepared to tackle potential problems with proper training and patience.

The goal of the shelter staff is to find homes for the dogs in their care. Most shelters make conscientious efforts to make good matches between the dogs and their prospective homes. A potential dog owner can assist this process by asking pertinent questions about the dog’s behavior towards the staff, other animals if there are other pets in the home, barking behavior, and soiling habits.

The prospective dog owner should ask what information is known about the dog’s health. Shelters may or may not know what vaccinations the dog has received. Dogs in shelters are susceptible to some communicable diseases. Any incidents of kennel cough or distemper should be disclosed. The person looking for a dog should get as much information about the dog’s health as possible, including what vaccines they may have given the dog while it was in the shelter’s care.