Help me adopt a dog!

semala · Jun 13, 2005

I'm not completely sure this is where this needs to be posted.. If not, I'd appreciate it if someone could move it where it needs to be.
My boyfriend and my sister both live with me. My sister has a cat and my ex husband left me one of our cats. Now my boyfriend wants a dog. I hope some of you can help me with that..
We live in central Georgia, but can travel to a nearby state. Size and breed doesn't matter so much, but personality does. We need a dog that will be able to bond with him and be affectionate. We need one that is already house trained. We do have a very large yard but only a small portion (about 9'x10') is fenced in and our house is actually very large with an open floorplan and little furniture so has plenty of room for running inside. He doesn't work so will be able to spend a lot of time and energy on a dog. The dog MUST be tolerant of cats. We really don't want a puppy and would prefer a young adult or full grown dog.
I have several reasons for coming here rather than a shelter or adoption program. First is I used to be a member here. I had to reregister for this post, but I remember how wonderful you all were, and I know some of you are dog lovers as well as cat lovers. I'd rather help you guys out over someone I have absolutely no ties with. Second, shelter workers generally can't get the know the dogs they're passing out. I'd rather know the personality of a dog before I get it, to help everyone adjust better. Third.. I don't have the time or energy to go visiting prospective dogs since I work 50+ hours a week now and he can't because he can't drive.
If anyone knows of a dog that we might be able to bring home, please let me know either through a PM or a post here. Thank you all very much.

beckiboo · Jun 13, 2005

Originally Posted by semala

I'm not completely sure this is where this needs to be posted.. If not, I'd appreciate it if someone could move it where it needs to be.
My boyfriend and my sister both live with me. My sister has a cat and my ex husband left me one of our cats. Now my boyfriend wants a dog. I hope some of you can help me with that..
We live in central Georgia, but can travel to a nearby state. Size and breed doesn't matter so much, but personality does. We need a dog that will be able to bond with him and be affectionate. We need one that is already house trained. We do have a very large yard but only a small portion (about 9'x10') is fenced in and our house is actually very large with an open floorplan and little furniture so has plenty of room for running inside. He doesn't work so will be able to spend a lot of time and energy on a dog. The dog MUST be tolerant of cats. We really don't want a puppy and would prefer a young adult or full grown dog.
I have several reasons for coming here rather than a shelter or adoption program. First is I used to be a member here. I had to reregister for this post, but I remember how wonderful you all were, and I know some of you are dog lovers as well as cat lovers. I'd rather help you guys out over someone I have absolutely no ties with. Second, shelter workers generally can't get the know the dogs they're passing out. I'd rather know the personality of a dog before I get it, to help everyone adjust better. Third.. I don't have the time or energy to go visiting prospective dogs since I work 50+ hours a week now and he can't because he can't drive.
If anyone knows of a dog that we might be able to bring home, please let me know either through a PM or a post here. Thank you all very much.

One suggestion is Petfinders. They list a lot of dogs that are fosters, so the "parents" will know if they are good with cats, etc. Best of luck!

dicknleah · Jun 13, 2005

Petfinder.com is a wonderful resource for finding adoptable pets. 2 of my dogs came from there.

tnr1 · Jun 13, 2005

Originally Posted by semala

I'm not completely sure this is where this needs to be posted.. If not, I'd appreciate it if someone could move it where it needs to be.
My boyfriend and my sister both live with me. My sister has a cat and my ex husband left me one of our cats. Now my boyfriend wants a dog. I hope some of you can help me with that..
We live in central Georgia, but can travel to a nearby state. Size and breed doesn't matter so much, but personality does. We need a dog that will be able to bond with him and be affectionate. We need one that is already house trained. We do have a very large yard but only a small portion (about 9'x10') is fenced in and our house is actually very large with an open floorplan and little furniture so has plenty of room for running inside. He doesn't work so will be able to spend a lot of time and energy on a dog. The dog MUST be tolerant of cats. We really don't want a puppy and would prefer a young adult or full grown dog.
I have several reasons for coming here rather than a shelter or adoption program. First is I used to be a member here. I had to reregister for this post, but I remember how wonderful you all were, and I know some of you are dog lovers as well as cat lovers. I'd rather help you guys out over someone I have absolutely no ties with. Second, shelter workers generally can't get the know the dogs they're passing out. I'd rather know the personality of a dog before I get it, to help everyone adjust better. Third.. I don't have the time or energy to go visiting prospective dogs since I work 50+ hours a week now and he can't because he can't drive.
If anyone knows of a dog that we might be able to bring home, please let me know either through a PM or a post here. Thank you all very much.

Unless someone here has a dog they are looking to rehome....your best bet is a rescue group. I understand you are concerned about going to a shelter...however, rescues do try to find out as much about the dogs as they can. I recommend contacting one close to you. Explain to them what you have said here and see what they recommend.

http://www.petfinder.com/

jen · Jun 15, 2005

Originally Posted by semala

ISecond, shelter workers generally can't get the know the dogs they're passing out.

Well I must disagree here, some shelters take the time to get to know their animals. Maybe there is a Humane Society or Rescue shelter near you that does also. A pound probably doesn't take the time to know the animals. My shelter has about 50 dogs and 150 cats and we have staff for each and we know every single one of those animals as if they were our own. We have a behaviorist evaluate them and sometimes, if the animal is having a hard time or is really old or sick, we take them to our own homes to live until a permanent home is found. Try the rescues and humane societies, alot of those dogs come in as owner surrenders and honestly, many are great,
well-behaved animals who were brought in for really stupid reasons or no good reason at all.

Petfinder.com is great too and they have a free classified section as well so you can search there for people who have to rehome their dogs. I see purebreds on there all the time if you want one.

jen · Jun 15, 2005

If you search petfinder.com in your area, there are a bunch of shelters that come up. If you click on a specific animals description, some have long detailed descriptions of the dogs attitude and behavior and everything. You can usually tell that way if the shelter takes the time to get to know the animals.

Also, Golden Retreivers and Labs are the common breed of "family" dog. Especially Goldens, just all around gentle, loving and fun.

Check this one out and go from there, that looks like a good place and they seem to have good knowledge of their animals:
http://www.petfinder.com/pet.cgi?act...=0&tmpl=&stat=

esrgirl · Jun 15, 2005

Petfinder also has classified ads for dogs and cats (and everything else). Most of the ads are placed by families who can no longer care for their pet for whatever reason.

Fostering rescues are a great resource too- that's how my mom found her wonderful dog Maggie a few weeks ago. The fosterers had had her for sometime and were very familiar with her temperment, her likes and dislikes, etc.

susanmly · Jun 16, 2005

I have a lab and a lab mix that I got from the shelter, and they are both wonderful with my cats. In fact my youngest cat would rather hang out with the dogs then he does with the other cats.

weloveellie · Jun 20, 2005

I would have to agree with everyone else here. www.petfinder.com is a great way to find a pet. That is how I found my dog Sammy (Golden Retriever). He is a great dog and loves Ellie.

There are a lot of great dogs at shelters that need a good home. Good luck!

semala · Jul 4, 2005

I'm very sorry it's taken me so long to update this.. I've been working an awful lot and have had a lot of other events in my life. We did end up adopting a dog, though! After two weeks of playing phone tag with different foster parents, I finally got someone to switch with me and let me have a Sunday off so that I could go to an adoption fair. My boyfriend fell in love with a big black lab who was incredibly sweet, but far too puppyish and active for us. I was leaning towards a german shepherd/lab mix who was already housetrained but didn't seem too terribly intelligent otherwise. We finally decided on a catahoula leapord/australian shepherd mix that is incredibly sweet and has only chased the cats a few times when he happened to see them running. He's 65 pounds and has had heartworms in the past, but so far his only downside is that he detests car rides. Thanks to everyone for all your advice!

Help me adopt a dog!

semala

TCS Member

Thread starter

beckiboo

TCS Member

dicknleah

TCS Member

tnr1

TCS Member

jen

TCS Member

jen

TCS Member

esrgirl

TCS Member

susanmly

TCS Member

weloveellie

TCS Member

semala

TCS Member

Thread starter

Latest Posts

Connect with us