Consider Rescuing a Dog (or Cat)

What is the major cause of death for perfectly healthy dogs and cats? Being hit by cars? Accidentally ingesting something poisonous? Being attacked by another animal? Nope.

Euthanasia.

Five to seven million dogs and cats enter shelters yearly and three to four million are euthanized. That’s nine to ten thousand dogs and cats per day.

We lost our yellow Lab two years ago to cancer. We were dogless since then but something was missing from out lives, so we decided to get a new pooch. We wanted a friendly, gentle little mutt, not barky and low maintenance. Did we go to a breeder? No. We visited three shelters and here’s who we found:

We named him Hank and he adapted to us immediately. He’s sitting on my lap as I am writing this. Hank is two years old, housebroken, happy, sturdy, loves to go for walks, likes people and is very low key for such a little dog. He rarely barks. In fact we thought he might have had his vocal cords removed until we heard him bark the second day he was home.

We went to two shelters, just missing out on two dogs we would have gladly adopted  and almost didn’t go to the third shelter where Hank was kept. I’m so glad we did. He’s not much to look at, but that’s fine with me. I would not trade Hank for any other dog on the planet.

Out of the 78 million dogs and 86 million cats owned in the United States, only 20 to 30 percent are adopted from animal shelters and rescue facilities. If you’re considering getting a dog or cat, please check out your local shelters first. You will find an animal that will enrich your life.