Monday, April 4, 2011

Share a shelter pet

This is my first blog hop I'm hosting.  Really this is a trial run seeing as how I have one follower, and that is my old foster mom.

So this week, please share a shelter pet with us.  It can be one that you know personally or one you are advocating for from your local shelter.

Here is mine:

Meet Pearl!

Sweet Pearl has been in a shelter for a year and a half.  That is a long time.  A very long time to not have a family, to not have a comfy couch or bed to sleep in, a long time to not belong to somebody.  Pearl is super sweet and has the sweetest disposition.  She loves belly rubs and long, leisurely walks.  She has a tough look about her, but she is a total teddy bear.

So who is your shelter pet of the week?

And if you link up, grab my button!

I shared a shelter pet!

Please remember when linking to link to your blog post to include the permalink, not just a link to your blog.  Thanks!




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BBD of the Week

My friend, Katie, wrote up a great paragraph from the dog's perspective about being a big, black dog. She knows all too well about the plight of the big, black dog because she is one of the countless, dedicated volunteers who spends hours each week helping dogs find their perfect families. My favorite thing about Katie is her sense of humor. If you ever meet her, she'll crack you up. Anyway, she likes to pick a "Project Dog," who she'll sit with in the lobby or outdoors to tell anyone who crosses their path about that particular dog. Katie is partial to black dogs because she has seen the way they get passed over for the other homeless dogs. Recently, she tried to organize a "lock-in/sit-in" for Wayside until we got all the dogs adopted. Sadly, her idea was shot down by the powers that be! I'm hoping that one day it will happen.

Big, black dogs have the most difficult time finding homes. When I tell people this, they are always surprised to hear it, but it is true. Walk through the aisles of homeless dogs in your local animal shelter; I'm betting the good majority of them are black. Sad, but true! I'd like to share the short paragraph Katie wrote about BBDS (Big Black Dog Syndrome)! Enjoy!

"I, like many of the dogs in shelters across the country, have what I hear people refer to as "Big Black Dog Syndrome." Have you heard of it?

BBD Syndrome describes the very real statistic that big black dogs like me have the hardest time and are the last to be adopted out of a shelter. For whatever the reason, whether it's because we don't photograph as well, or we look spooky, or our black color is just too monotone, people just pass us by. Our fluffier, lighter colored dog friends sometimes just fly out the door with new adopters, but as BBD’s, we are left to wait and wait for someone to come for us. Truly, most people don’t even stop to look at us in our kennels. It is so depressing for us - because if you would only stop to look, you would see how truly beautiful we really are."


So find a big, black dog and give him/her some love.  But only if you ask the owner and the dog first.  We want you to be safe too, you know.

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puppies suck

Puppies suck! Okay, really, puppies don't suck. I honestly don't hate puppies. I mean, who hates puppies; you know, aside from Direct TV.

I really don't have anything against puppies. The reason I'm saying that puppies suck is because I hate when we get a bazillion of them in who all promptly get adopted leaving the older dogs to wait and wait to find their forever homes. I know some people come in looking specifically for puppies, but if we don't have any, they'll look at our adult dogs or at least older puppies. Honestly, not much is cuter than a puppy. In fact, I think they rate up higher than babies. I've seen some UGLY babies in my time, but I don't think I've ever seen an ugly puppy. I can't tell you how many people come into Wayside wanting to adopt a puppy they've seen only to leave with a wonderful, adult dog because we didn't have any puppies left. It just makes my heart swell! With an adult dog, you know the dog's personality. Many times they are already very well behaved, and a good number are already housebroken. Of course, you'll have to take their housebroken status with a grain of salt, because they will need a period of adjustment to settle into their new home, family, and schedule. Many of our dogs are owner surrendered animals, so this means we know about how they do in a home, with kids, other animals, etc. Plenty of them are surrendered for reasons that have nothing to do with them. One all-to-common reason is that their family is moving and can't take them with. Don't get me started on that one because I have no patience for that excuse. Sometimes they are surrendered because the parents are getting divorced. Sometimes the family hasn't done research on the breed of dog. See? All reasons that have nothing to do with the dog's behavior. Now we do sometimes have dogs surrendered due to behavior issues. Most of these are minimal and are often the fault of uneducated owners. Wayside has several trainers who volunteer countless hours to work with and rehabiliate these dogs. They are always happy to share tips and tricks to help with problem behaviors.

So please don't bypass a loving, adult dog without taking the time to look, truly look, at all they have to offer!

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Welcome to the Shelter Dog's Blog

Welcome to The Shelter Dog's Blog

Hi! Welcome to my new blog. I'm planning on using this blog to highlight some of the longterm doggie residents of Wayside Waifs. If you aren't familiar with Wayside, get acquainted here: http://www.waysidewaifs.org/. My name is Shilo, and I was surrendered to Wayside when my owner lost her job and her house was foreclosed on.  My sister was separated from me and quickly adopted, but sadly I had to what much longer for my forever home.  The staff at Wayside don't know what the trigger was, but after I went home with somebody, it was very apparent that I had separation anxiety.  I went through two different homes before a lady on staff decided to foster me to work on my anxiety.  Long story short, I now have a new home where I am very loved and somebody is home most of the day everyday.  My old foster mom asked me to start this blog to highlight some of the long term dogs at Wayside and help people to understand the importance of not only adopting a pet instead of buying one, as well as the importance of spaying and neutering your pets. 

I'm hoping this blog will be a sounding board in order to share some personality traits, quirks, tricks, and general information about some of our dogs who have had to call Wayside home longer than they would have liked. My heart has a particular soft spot for the black dogs. Nobody can really say why, but the black dogs tend to stay in shelters longer than other dogs. I'd say a huge majority of the dogs at Wayside are black or mostly black. I'd even venture to say as many as 60-70% of them are black. Being a black dog myself, I think everybody needs one!

And the myth that you can't get a purebred dog at a shelter is just silly. My foster mom has three dogs, and two of them are purebred dogs. All three of them came home with the intent that she was just fostering them. That makes her a three time "foster flunkie!" That is okay; she wears that title well.

I hope you'll come back and visit! I'll update soon with some of my favorite Wayside dogs. See you soon!

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