Shelter Sheltie

In my last post I talked about people I know personally who've recently purchased dogs from breeders instead of rescuing dogs from shelters. My own cousin was one of those people. When his step-father recently expressed interest in a Sheltie after his mom's Cocker Spaniel passed away, he went out and bought them one, despite the fact that they didn't know much about the breed. Now they have a very young, very active, slightly crazy Sheltie that they're not sure how to deal with.

Had my cousin consulted me, I could would have found him the perfect dog, because she showed up at the shelter just a few weeks later. Her name is Laila, and she just couldn't be more precious! She's about four years old, but she's active and playful and goofy just like a puppy. She is incredibly friendly and affectionate and would make an incredible agility or freestyle dog. This precious girl was rescued from a puppy mill by the Kansas Animal Health Department, where she was clearly being used for breeding. She would have been the perfect dog for my aunt and uncle, and I'm so sad that my cousin never asked me to find her!

Check out this adorable, goofy girl. Doesn't she look like she's dancing??

Picture of the Week

Normally I only volunteer at our shelter on the weekends, but lately my free time on the weekends has been a little lacking. So on Tuesday I took some "wellness" hours off from work (four extra hours per month we can use for volunteering in the community) and went over to get caught up on some pictures. I just had to share my favorite picture of the day.

How cute and photogenic is Peaches? This sweet girl was so shy and a little scared inside her kennel, but she got outside and was a totally different dog!

While Peaches definitely took the best picture of the day, I have to say my favorite dog of the day was little Samson, since I'm extremely partial to Beagles. He is only about 8 months old and just couldn't have been much cuter, happier or friendlier--everything a Beagle should be!


I also had a soft spot yesterday for little Leo the Shih Tzu (or maybe he's a Lhasa Apso--I can never tell the difference) who was transferred from a shelter in nearby Desoto. This poor little guy looks like he's had such a rough life. He had to be shaved because of matted hair, and his underlying skin is scabbed and dry and itchy. This poor guy was clearly uncomfortable, but he just couldn't be sweeter! His video made me laugh so hard I just had to share it as well.

So many great dogs--so few families!

Small Dog Surplus

At the shelter where I volunteer and at most shelters around the country, the vast majority of adoptable dogs are medium to large in size. I don't really know what the ratio of large dogs to small dogs coming in to the shelter is--I just know that in general, the small dogs get adopted much more quickly. Here are just a few of the reasons that small dogs seem more desirable to many people:

1. They take up less space, which is especially important to people living in apartments or who have pet size restrictions in their rented home.

2. They eat less, which makes them cheaper and easier to clean up after.

3. They are easier to bring along when traveling, or to dump off on a friend or relative when traveling.

4. They can be carried easily and can sit in laps easily.

5. They are generally easier to walk on a leash, and therefore a yard or a fence is not always necessary.

6. They may have still have behavioral problems, but because their size is smaller those problems seem smaller too.

With that said, this summer there was a bizarre phenomenon at our local humane society. There were tons of small dogs, many of them purebred, who were available for adoption for at least a month at a time. Most of them were from the state seizure that happened back in early August. This is so unusual, and a fellow volunteer and I were talking about the situation and pondering the reasons why it was taking unusually long for these tiny dogs to get adopted. The only theory we came up with was that maybe the people who initially came in and applied for these dogs on an impulse (after seeing the article about them in the paper) changed their minds after thinking about it more carefully. Usually when a dog has one approved application, other people are reluctant to put in their application because they think the dog has already been adopted, even though the adoption obviously hasn't been finalized. The staff usually gives the first potential adopter on the list several days to return any phone calls, which can delay the process even further if that first person changes their mind about the adoptable dog.

Thankfully, a few more of those cute tiny dogs went home this week, but there are a handful still looking for homes. One of my favorites is Kassie, a cute little Schnauzer/Westie mix who is very shy and very sweet!

Picture of the Week

There are so many topics I've wanted to blog about lately, but for lack of more time, tonight I'm just going to post great pictures of the most unique dog at the shelter right now. Mary Jane is a Sharpei/Pit Bull mix, and she is absolutely adorable!





Like many Pits, Mary Jane is super intense and energetic, but she's easy to exercise because she just loves to retrieve! She is very friendly and extremely photogenic. I had so many great pictures of her it was difficult to choose which ones to use!

Picture of the Day

Last night I loaded all of the weekend's pictures onto Petfinder, and I just had to share some wonderful shots of one dog in particular. Benny was definitely one of the most photogenic dogs I've seen in the 10 years I've been volunteering at the Lawrence Humane Society. These were just 3 of the 5 or 6 great pictures I took of this dog--and it certainly wasn't because of my photography skills! Benny was just very good at posing and loved smiling for the camera!




One funny thing about this adorable puppy is that Benny is a girl! Her name was given to her by her previous family, who turned her in to the shelter without any explanation. They kept her in a pen in the backyard and had only owned her for a few months, which made me wonder if they actually knew she was a girl!

Benny is a super sweet and super smart little girl who will make a great pet for any active family without cats. She already knows how to sit, shake and retrieve--and she's only about 9 months old!

Plenty of Purebreds

Many people are under the impression that our nation's animal shelters are full of a bunch of undesirable mutts. I have several acquaintances who purchased a dog from a breeder and never even considered going to their local animal shelter first (and subsequently got a big lecture from me). Most rescue groups estimate at least 25% of dogs in shelters are purebred dogs. This is definitely the case at the Lawrence Humane Society as well. At our shelter yesterday I took pictures and video of 8 new dogs--2 of which were purebreds.

This is Carson. He's obviously a Pembroke Welsh Corgi. He is a happy little guy who was found as a stray.


This is beautiful little Bonnie the Beagle. Except for the tiny bit of extra weight she's carrying around her midsection, she looks like she could be a show dog. Look at that perfect pose!

In addition to Carson and Bonnie, there were at least 4 other brand new purebreds in the adoption area yesterday that I just didn't have the time to get pictures of--a Basset, a Brittany, a Dachshund, and a Lhasa Apso. Those are just the purebreds that came into our adoption area in the last week! There were already several Labrador Retrievers, a German Shorthair Pointer, and an American Pit Bull Terrier available for adoption. Our shelter frequently has Rat Terriers, Australian Cattle Dogs, Australian Shepherds, Dalmatians, Boxers and many other purebreds looking for forever homes.

The crazy thing is that I'm only talking about dogs in shelters here. I'm not even taking into consideration the thousands of adoptable dogs who are in the care of breed specific rescues across the country. There are rescue organizations for just about every dog breed known to man, with dogs of almost every age.

The point is that with a little patience and effort (and possibly a little travel), you can almost always search for and find the dog of your dreams to fit perfectly into your family!

Picture of the Day

I had to share the funniest picture I took today at the shelter. I laughed out loud when I was editing pictures tonight and this one popped up. This is Jerry.

If you look closely, you might notice that there's a biscuit sitting right on Jerry's tongue. It's almost like he's purposely showing off the food in his mouth. I probably won't use this picture for his Petfinder profile in case someone is grossed out that he's chewing with his mouth open, but I thought it was a funny picture none the less!