1 A year ago today we decided to bring home this guy. A friend of ours had done a personal rescue from a shelter in NC and brought him and his brother up North to find them homes. We went to meet him and took one look at his little face and knew he was the dog for us. We didn't realize when we got him how long it would take to work through his many fears and shyness. We still are a year later but he's such a goofy, sweet little dog it has been worth every second.
1) I’ve
learned that I am Finn’s voice. I know that seems really obvious but it
wasn’t until I had a dog that I started understanding how unaware some people
are. The first few weeks we had him were
rough on everyone in our household and it wasn’t helped by people coming up and
wanting to pet him. I can’t blame them;
he’s so darn cute who wouldn’t want to say hi.
But Finn still becomes nervous when people really focus on him; he’s
much more likely to sniff the hand of someone who isn’t making any eye contact.
When we first got him I would say to these
people, “He’s shy, he’d prefer if you don’t pet him” and they would say “No
it’s fine, dogs love me” or “I don’t mind” and proceed to move in on my shaking
dog. Finally I realized there was no
deterring these people so I now maneuver him behind me and make it clear that
he does not want to be petted.
2) I’ve
learned that people are oblivious.
Having a dog has really opened my eyes as to how some people really are
ignorant to the fact that not every dog is happily socialized. There are people who haven’t taught their
kids to ask a stranger if it’s okay if they pet their dog and seem generally
unaware that they should. For some
reason Finn is terrified of kids. He’s
scared of new people and in particular men, but a pack of screaming kids
waiting at a bus stop a block away will send into a fit of trembling. We have not figured out how to solve this yet,
and as my niece gets older and our own children come it’s something we will
need to work on. But in the meantime we
don’t allow kids to pet our dog. The one
woman that blew my mind was holding her toddler one her hip while I was walking
Finn and put him down and without even looking at me, told him to go pet the
doggie. I immediately put Finn behind me
and told her that my dog was not used to children. She said the classic line “It’s okay, he
loves dogs” and told him to go ahead.
Again I told her that it was not okay for her kid to pet my dog and she
finally gave me a look of disgust before picking up her kid.
3) I’ve
learned that people are kind. About
2 weeks after we got Finn, we found out my husband would be have to go on a
work trip for four weeks. And he’d be
leaving within days. At that point he
was still terrified of us and our building, so we were still carrying him out
of our apartment, onto the elevator and through the lobby to pee. No small feat with a 35 lb dog who was
gaining weight. A few days after he
left, I met with the trainer and Finn and I made a lot of progress. But at the time I had a long commute to a job
I hated and I was crating him during those long days. I
originally planned to pay a dog walker but I quickly realized he would be
terrified of a stranger coming into the apartment so we just had to deal with
my schedule. I would wake up and take
Finn on a long walk very early in the morning when it was still quiet but by
the time I got home the building and neighborhood would be busy with people
coming and going. I would try and wait
until later to take him out but I was always worried that he hadn’t peed in
such a long time.
I’m sure we were a sight to see those
evenings after I got home from work.
There were times I was almost crying trying to get him to pee so we
could go back to our apartment. There were times I
had to carry him to the grass because he refused to walk and a couple of times
I got peed on. I think we became known
in the neighborhood, several people would stop and tell me
stories about how their rescue dog was the same way and to give it time. There was one gentleman I passed almost every
morning with Finn and he stopped me to tell me that Finn was making progress
even if I couldn’t see it and that he was proud of me for my patience.
4) I’ve
learned that the problem with unwanted dogs is even bigger than I thought. Before we adopted Finn, I knew there was a
problem in this country with overcrowded animal shelters. I knew people were uneducated about getting
their dogs spayed and neutered, but I had no idea how big the problem was. I got these statistics from the Humane
Society:
6 to 8 million—Number of cats and dogs entering shelters each year
25 percent—Percentage of purebred dogs in shelters
3 to 4 million—Number cats and dogs adopted from shelters each year
2.7 million—Number of adoptable cats and dogs euthanized in shelters each
year
30 percent—Percentage of shelter dogs reclaimed by their owners
An
estimated 2.7 million healthy shelter pets are not adopted each year, and only
about 30 percent of pets in homes come from shelters or rescues.
While doing research on helping a
rescue dog adapt, I also learned a lot about the rescue animal population. While there are many dogs in the shelters who
were abused and/or unsocalized, there are just as many dogs who are left behind
when people have to move into new housing or who’s owners have died. There are also many puppies between 6-12 months,
sometimes purebred, who are simply dumped because they have stopped being
little furballs and become balls of liveliness instead. Sweet, loving, social dogs and their only “defect” is
getting bigger and having more energy. I'm happy that a year ago we chose to adopt and I hope more people start doing the same.
