A Small Dog

Adopt a Small Dog from a Shelter

Posted on 17. Nov, 2008 by Jeff K. in The Right Small Dog for You, Where to Get a Small Dog

If you are a small dog lover, and I suppose you are if you are reading this, you probably already know:

“The HSUS [Humane Society of the U.S.] estimates that animal shelters care for between 6-8 million dogs and cats every year in the United States, of whom approximately 3-4 million are euthanized. At this time The HSUS can only estimate these figures because there is no central data reporting agency for animal shelters.” (Extracted from hsus.org/pets/animal_shelters.)

Taking a small dog out of a shelter and giving it a good home is important work on many levels. Obviously, it saves an innocent life. It reduces the shelter’s, (and therefore taxpayer,) costs. It reduces the workload for shelter volunteers for each dog you adopt.

Here are the positives when you adopt a dog from a shelter:

1. You get a dog that will probably appreciate his/her new home and owner even more than a dog that has never known hardship.
2. You get satisfaction from knowing you have done something worthwhile and good, namely, saving an innocent life.
3. Unless you go for a puppy, what you see in the adult dog you have rescued is generally what you get.
   • All of the dog’s physical characteristics will be fully developed and unlikely to change in the future.
   • Any adult-onset diseases or conditions, such as hip dysplasia, will have either manifested or not exist, although there are no guarantees on this issue.
   • The dog’s personality and temperament will be fully developed and easy to assess, although both might be a bit repressed by the noisy, scary (to the dog) environment of the shelter.*
4. You will get a dog that has been fully vaccinated; has had most treatable medical conditions addressed; and, has been spayed or neutered.

Here are negatives when you adopt a dog from a shelter:

1. Although your new dog is trainable at any age, you will almost always have to deal with a dog that has been through a traumatic experience. Many dogs that end up at the shelter have been through some sort of ordeal, not the least of which is abandonment. Life in a shelter is traumatic by itself. The longer a dog has been confined in a shelter, the more traumatized that dog is likely to be. As with humans, trauma almost always affects a dog’s behavior.
2. You will never know the lineage of the dog you get from a shelter. Although there are purebred dogs available at shelters, their origin is unknown.
3. Many dogs end up at the shelter because their owners’ were unwilling or unable to deal with bad dog behavior. It is possible that the dog you choose has some difficult-to-manage behavior quirk that is not readily apparent in the shelter environment. Or it may simply be the owner did not know how to train a dog. Again, every dog is trainable at any age, and some dogs will take more work to re-train than others.
4. Unless you adopt a puppy, you miss out on the opportunity to raise a dog from scratch.

Now, a word about adopting a puppy from a shelter. It turns out, most shelters have no problem adopting out puppies. A puppy’s “cuteness” sells the dog. While I believe all dogs in a shelter should find a good home, I also believe you take a bigger risk adopting a puppy from a shelter than a fully grown dog. Most of the risks should be apparent from my list of positives and negatives about adopting. If I could summarize all of my concerns with a blanket statement, it would be this:
Although you can never be fully certain about what you are getting when you adopt an adult dog from a shelter, you really have no idea at all about what you are getting when you adopt a puppy from a shelter.

True, you can try temperament testing, but several studies have shown that temperament tests are not completely accurate predictors of future behavior. Genetics play a large roll in an adult’s dog’s physical and mental fitness. Although you never know what went into the genetic makeup of any dog in a shelter, with adult dogs, generally, what you see is what you get. When bringing a puppy home from a shelter, you have really have no idea what that puppy is going to turn into when it matures.

I am not saying adopting a puppy is off limits. Be aware of the risks. The puppy you bring home may have been born to parents who were genetically pre-disposed towards disease, or physical deformity, or anti-social behavior. There are ways to mitigate the risks. First, spend plenty of time with the puppy at the shelter, and by all means, test for temperament. Second, take your newly adopted puppy to a veterinarian for a full physical evaluation. The vet may or may not be able to predict the possibility of health problems when your puppy matures, and he/she can tell whether the puppy is healthy right now. Third, start training your new puppy early and often. You should be able to ward off or reduce any genetic tendency towards anti-social behavior with a good training program.

If you go back and re-read my lists of positive and negatives about adopting a dog from a shelter, you will see that the positives far outweigh the negatives. Almost all of the negatives can be dismissed or addressed if you are a motivated dog lover and you are willing to help reduce the population of abandoned dogs. If the idea of adopting a dog from a shelter is not appealing, you can still adopt a dog by other alternatives. In the next article, I will discuss the rewards of adopting a dog from a rescue group.

*It turns out there is more to a dog’s behavior at the shelter than first meets the eye. Follow this link for an important new information on the behavior of shelter dogs. (Updated: 12-5-08)

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