Adopting a Shelter or Rescue Dog

Nov 15, 2008 by Mom

Are you interested in adopting a dog from a rescue or shelter? We applaud you! The number of abandoned, surrendered and abused dogs in need of loving homes is staggering and there just aren’t enough homes to go around. Anyone can buy a dog from a breeder or pet store. We can’t say there’s anything wrong with finding your new dog this way, it’s just not our first choice. Triple think your idea to purchase from a pet store. You can pretty much bet the farm that these dogs are from a puppy mill which means they can be very sick. Their health problems may not be visible until weeks or months after you take your new pet home.

Some people have the idea that adopting a dog from a rescue or shelter is no different than buying a used car and that all you’ll wind up with is someone else’s problems. We don’t believe that here at Riley’s Place! We believe you can wind up with one of the very best dogs in the world when you give a rescue dog a home of it’s own and a family to love.

We’re glad you came to visit us and we hope that you’ll find lots of helpful information on rescues and adoptions. Our hope is that we can help to give you good information that will help you make informed decisions no matter where you are in the process. We’re not asking you to believe everything we say. We hope you will do your own research and that this is one of the stops you make along the way. To make things interesting, we’ll also talk about important other topics involving dogs, like dog health and safety, training and behavior.

No matter how you find your new family member, how you do it isn’t as important as why you do it. Before you take that big step (and it is a big step!) please think hard, consider every angle you can think, do as much research as possible, and take puppy steps all the way. This is not a decision that should be made like you make impulse purchases at the store. Lives truly do depend on the end result. Not only the dog’s but yours and your family’s as well.