we learned absolutely nothing from desmond’s adoption listing–because he totally ignored it once we met him. we ignored the fact that it basically told us he was needy and whiny and high energy and ravenous. we totally pretended not to see any of that, but i’m so glad we did.

I agree that your regular readers will assume that this is meant to be somewhat humorous, like much of your witty writing. But what about the people who stumble upon the post with a simple web search? Say, by looking for “should I adopt a dog”?

Just thinking.

Actually, Greyhound adoption is one of the oldest and best organized of breed rescues. Before Greyhound adoption, Greyhounds were a disposable commodity that were simply destroyed when they no longer had use. People who used them for profit made no attempt to find homes for them. In the early 1980’s, people began to be aware of what happened to Greyhounds when they could no longer race, and that they make fantastic pets. The Greyhound adoption community is one of the largest networks, if not the largest, in the country, and maybe even the world. There are something like 20,000 NGA Greyhounds born every year, versus less than 200 AKC Greyhounds (this is going off the last I’ve read, and it’s not guaranteed exactly accurate, but it’s a ball park statistic for comparison) and that’s a lot of NGA Greyhounds that are going to need homes. They have to be organized, good at reading potential adopters and good at knowing their dogs to get them placed.

Bella had no description at the humane society. I would have put something like “would prefer a quiet home” to mean “anything above a whisper will scare this dog into hiding and trembling for four hours”.

Daisy was in a foster home but her description was so vague and general I didn’t even notice her or have her on my short list. When the dog I wanted was already adopted, the coordinator steered me towards her and it has truly been a perfect fit.

I do try to offer real-world support to adoptive families (and let them know that I am always, ALWAYS available to discuss training or behavioral issues with the fosters), but so far only one of them has ever taken me up on it. I just pretend that’s because my fosters have been 100% perfect and problem-free (riiiiight)…

It’s a very fine line between being helpful and being off-puttingly pushy. A lot of people get turned off rescue because they think adoption applications are too intrusive, or rescue volunteers are unreasonably demanding, or any number of other things. And a lot of people are unwilling to seek help until something that started as a very minor issue blows up into a severe behavioral problem expressed via long-practiced habits — i.e., a problem that gives headaches to the pros. On the one occasion where I tried to broach the subject with a first-time dog owner in my neighborhood whose Corgi was beginning to show some leash reactivity, I got rebuffed pretty soundly. Quite possibly I just botched that interaction, but I don’t know that people would generally be receptive to being told “here’s how you should handle your dog.”

I think the best you can do is put the information out there where people can find it (go bloggers go!!) and let them seek it out for themselves if they’re interested. And lead by example — I’ve never had any luck proselytizing, but when people see my dogs being exceptionally well-behaved (on the rare occasions this actually happens) or doing training exercises in public, THAT’S what gets them to ask “so, how do you do that?”

Good question! I wonder if something like a “Doggy Translator” would be cute enough to not deter people. Maybe having a paper at the rescue/shelter that says “I would make a great running partner…that means I need to be able to run at least 30 minutes each day!” and “I love cuddling, so expect this lovey girl to never leave your side…”

Because, as people have mentioned, the phrasing can be misleading but it can also be what sells a dog to us. If I hear that a dog is a jumper, I don’t care. That’s not on my “do not adopt if..” list. But if I see the words “chooses her friends carefully…” it makes me wonder…

It would be nice if dogs came with a disclaimer checklist: Chases cats: YES. Chews expensive things: YES. Pees in the house until trained otherwise: DEFINITELY. But we all love to see past those things when we fall in love with a dog 😉

Very true… those blurbs get people in the door (much like a real estate ad), but after that it’s a whole new ball game. 🙂