Reply to Adopting an older dog?

Forum Index » Pets

Reply to "Adopting an older dog?"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous]OP, we have adopted two older dogs.  The first was by accident - we adopted a lab (mix) from a local rescue that brought dogs up from SC on a transport.  The dog we picked was supposed to be 3 yrs old (and 75 lbs and the perfect running partner).  We had just lost our beloved golden to cancer at 10.5 yrs old, and we wanted a young dog for our children (then 7 and 5) to grow up with.  So the dog arrived on transport, and it was clear from the start he was not 3 (more like 8), not 75 lbs (weighed in at 96lbs - 20 lbs overweight), and not the perfect running partner because he was arthritic.  The rescue said we could return him to SC if we wanted...um, no, not back to that high kill shelter, thank you!  He turned out to be the most wonderful, delightful, loving, appreciative dog.  He brought such a calm, loving presence into our high-energy household.  He was great with the children, great with other dogs, great with our rabbit, great with everyone and everything.  We had him for 2.5 wonderful years, before he died of a brain tumor.  Those 2.5 years were fabulous, though, and I was grateful every single day that he walked into our lives.

One special thing he did was to serve as a welcoming presence for a whole string of foster dogs, whom we started to adopt after we saw how he had been saved by being brought up from SC.  A month before our sweet lab died, we took in an 11 year old golden as a foster.  Within a day, it was clear that he belonged with us too.  Although we sadly only had them together for a month, it was a wonderful month of sweet white faces and so much love.  We now have just the one golden, and we know, based on statistics, that our chance of having him more than a year is pretty slim.  But it's been wonderful and so, so special to have his sweet loving appreciative old-boy snuggles.  Like his brother (for only a month), this guy loves his bed, he loves his routines, he loves the attention we give him.  He had a crappy life of abuse and neglect for way too long and now he is in heaven and so happy to show how appreciate he is.

Our children are extremely understanding and philosophical about the short time we have our animals.  They get that when you adopt an older dog, they don't live forever.  But a year to an 8 and 10 yr old (which our children are now) is a very long time, so even if we get to keep this guy for a year, it will feel like a long and wondeful time, as did the 2.5 yrs we had our lab.  And in the process, the children see a model of taking in those in particular need.  They are learning life lessons that i hope they will continue to demonstrate for all of their lives as pet owners themselves.[/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics