Thankful For Your New, Old Friend
One of my favorite quotes is by Suzanne Clothier from Bones Would Rain from the Sky: Deepening Our Relationships with Dogs... In it, she states “There is a cycle of love and death that shapes the lives of those who choose to travel in the company of animals. It is a cycle unlike any other. To those who have never lived through its turnings and walked its rocky path, our willingness to give our hearts with full knowledge that they will be broken seems incomprehensible. Only we know how small a price we pay for what we receive; our grief, no matter how powerful it may be, is an insufficient measure of the joy we have been given.”
Well, November is national Adopt a Senior Pet month. A senior dog, according to veterinarians, is any dog older than 7 years old. IMO, there is no greater act of love, than opening one's hear and giving a home filled with affection, abundance and attention to a senior dog… and although people are all often too afraid to adopt a senior pet for whatever the reasons may be… they shouldn’t.
The truth is that most are house trained and not teething so they won't chew on your shoes or the furniture… Older dogs are instant companions… they’re ready for a walk, car trip, or for the matter, pretty much any other thing you’d like to do… and most are great at giving love… believe me when I tell you they’re extremely grateful for the second chance they’ve been given.
For those that do wind up in a shelter, the issue is usually with the person or family surrendering the dog, and it usually isn’t the fault of an older dog. Sometimes senior dogs are given up because of the death of the dog’s fur-parent, or a young family moves to a new apartment where the dog can’t follow, or there’s the birth of a new baby with an insane grandmother in the family… or like during a pandemic, there’s the loss of a job or a change in the work schedule… but no matter what the reason, its heartbreaking…
But also pay attention… some of them, all too many of them, are there because of man’s inhumane, self-centered, disgusting behavior… and the sad reality is that some have never ever known kindness or received the touch of a loving hand or a hug or a kiss on the snout… and the opportunity for a chance to make a difference should outweigh any concern and provide the absolute assurance that its not only the best thing to do, but the right thing to do.
So, a way to think about a senior adoption is that you're giving an animal whose path was once that of dying in an animal shelter, a new fate. My experience has been that although a senior dog may bear a few scars they don’t let their past keep them down or hold them back from building new relationships. Dogs have a way of forgiving and forgetting
The truth is that one day we all hug our last hug… A dog has one purpose… to love… and in what could be their last years, they deserve yours…
Do good, feel better… go adopt at https://lifelineanimal.org or https://bestfriends.org or at any of the thousands of others in the US… you can also find one near you at https://shopforrescues.com/pages/dog-rescue... and after you’ve chosen to create the best future for both you and the angel who’ll actually rescue you, come back to https://shopforrescues.com and purchase whatever you need or want or your new family member and we’ll donate 50% of the gross sale this holiday season to the shelter/rescue where you adopted.