I have been a busy blogdog this week. Petfinder’s “Adopt a Less Adoptable Pet Week” is dwindling down and this will probably be my last post about it. So far we have met a “less adoptable” cat, discussed “adoptable” in the animal world as a term akin to “supermodel” in the people world and even explored what a Petfinder listing for yours truly might read like. Tonight we’d like to get back to the point…making a case for opening your homes and hearts to my “less adoptable” friends. You may call them whatever you like; special needs, seniors, shy, shelter shocked, it doesn’t matter. Just don’t paint them with such a narrow brush that you don’t allow their true colors to come through. Visit as many pets as you can when looking to adopt, and look for a connection instead of a breed standard or particular size or age. The dog that you don’t think you want is usually the one that needs you the most.
I have been an only dog for a while now and some same species company might be nice around here. I am not picky—a girlfriend to gab with, a nice strong boy dog to protect me, or maybe even a sweet senior who will make me look like a pup again. Maybe I’ll just browse a little on Petfinder right now. There are a lot of new friends for me here…uh-oh…hold on just a minute. Whoa Puppy!!! Who is THIS handsome hunk of a sporting breed????
My man Case, looking for love in sunny California.
Now this is the exactly kind of “case” I had in mind! His name is Case! Can I keep him Mom? This 6-year-old German short-haired pointer, despite his rugged good looks and soft eyes, would also fall into the “less adoptable” category. I may be part cougar, but at my age of 9 I think his age of 6 sounds perfect! Even so, his age, size and mild manners make him statistically “less adoptable”. Just listen to his personal ad…er, umm I mean “Petfinder listing.”
Case is a 6-year-old neutered male whose world got turned upside down when he was left at the shelter, and he needs some time to adjust to what has happened. He’s a little uncertain right now, afraid of some noises, and a bit clingy. We’re recommending that any children in the home be 13 or older. Case is a handsome fellow who likes to go for rides in the car – in fact, he’ll hang around the car looking hopeful! He’s house-trained, behaves nicely in the house, and enjoys running around outside with the two female dogs in his foster home.
I remember LoJack being described a lot like this fellow. They called it shelter shock for him because after a lifetime with a family he didn’t understand where he was anymore. LoJack was clingy too but Mom loved that about him and the shyness melted away into what Mom termed “polite gregariousness” very soon after he settled in here. Mom loved a lot about LoJack, remember how he inspired the whole “This Good That Bad” fundraising thing? LoJack loved her a lot too and people would beat a path to Case’s door if they knew what was like to be loved like that. He just needs someone to bring him out of his shell and make him feel at home, because he WILL be home. See Mom? He sounds perfect!!!!!! I know it does not say it verbatim but I can read between the lines, he is clearly looking for a worldly and mature black Labrador to love him. Trust me, I speak dog.
Oh darn, Case is in California. Mom said “no, too far.” That’s what she said but I know he really is too much like LoJack and she is not ready yet. Hhhmph. Fine, I’ll stop with the Petfinder ads and maybe take out a personal ad of my own, then. “Single black female seeks a male dog of any color. Size really doesn’t matter….”
Still, I can’t believe that none of those west coast girl dogs, oops I mean “families” out there have not snapped up this fellow. Just look at this centerfold, oh yea I mean “avatar”. Whatever. There was never a better case for “less adoptable” than my man Case. Doesn’t make him any less of a dog and it doesn’t mean he has any less love to give.
That is why we say, Adoptable, Schmadoptable! Click on Case’s photo to view his complete information, or contact his rescue angels, who so want him to find his forever home, at:
First of all, I would like to thank everyone for reading and sharing our post about “less adoptable” pets earlier this week. It was part of Petfinder’s “Adopt a Less Adoptable Pet” Challenge. We don’t have any new information yet on the gorgeous orange and white DSH cat we featured, Woody, but we hope he gets a new home as a result…and soon! He has done more than his share of “time” in that adoption center cage in NJ. If you missed it, you might want to go back and take a peek, especially at the third paragraph where we explain a little more about what the terms “adoptable” and “less adoptable” mean to the world and to us. At the end of the day, those terms are nothing more than labels and “adoptable” is truly in the eye of the beholder.
After that post, we heard from a lot of families who were grateful for the opportunity to have all kinds of special dogs and cats in their lives. Many of them never even gave the “special needs” or challenges these animals had a second thought. Their eyes, and ultimately their hearts, went straight to the good in them.
All of this got me thinking….what if I wasn’t in this family? What if I wasn’t Mom’s pet? My family found me in a fancy mall pet store. Had the shopkeepers there taken the time to get to know me (like shelter workers , rescuers and fosters do) and been concerned about finding the right match for me, they would have told Mom more about what she was getting into. I think the little sign on my cage, or perhaps my Petfinder listing if I ended up lost or on the street any time during my life, might have read like this if someone else wrote it:
It's true, I'm a little shy...
Shady is an 8 week old, scared, purebred Labrador. She is small for her age and will remain so because she was taken from a filthy puppy mill crate and her mother much too soon. Then she was schlepped out to NJ on a big truck with a hundred yappy dogs. As a result she does not enjoy car rides and will whine and howl pathetically for the duration of even the longest car trip. Shady is also pretty sloppy due to her puppy mill experience and does not bother to squat when she pees and tracks readily through her own waste. She will cower and pee on-the-spot at any noise, even something as quiet as the sound of a dish clanking. Shady won’t let anyone get even a wink of sleep at nigh unless she can curl up on top of you. She is terrified of almost everything the first time she sees it and so far she has not seen much.
She will be afraid of some things forever, and bark incessantly or hide whenever she sees them, like: lawn flags, the vacuum, the mop, the broom, goldfish in a bowl, yellow rubber gloves (pink is fine) and dozens of other random household items. Shady runs very fast at the site of these kinds of things so you better have a very high, private and secure fence. Any time she leaves the house to go anywhere (the vet, a visit to a friend, a store) she will regress and any progress you make toward these fears will evaporate (so FORGET any kind of offsite dog sitter—ever). You will never be free to travel for more than a day or so. Forget about leaving the house on the fourth of July ever again too, because without sedation and company Shady is likely to fling herself out a window in panic at the sound of even distant fireworks. Basic obedience will elude her for her entire life no matter how hard you try. Her only hope against separation anxiety and failure to housebreak is to find a family able to adapt to her fears and with an older, more mature dog that has the patience to teach her to pee OUTSIDE and how to play, trust and cuddle.
Ah, yes! Mom found the secret, it's in the BONES...
Let’s pause for review….as the beholder, do I sound very adoptable to you? Probably not. Most people probably stopped reading after “cower and pee”. Now, read what Mom wrote when I asked her to write my sign or listing:
Shady is a loveable petite Labrador puppy who mostly just wants to follow, love and be loved. She will trust you and any pets you have to protect her from harm and in return will be by your side her entire life, ready to snuggle and smooch on a moment’s notice. She learns quickly from other dogs in the household and will do whatever they do without question. Despite rough beginnings in a puppy mill crate, she will remain freakishly resistant to any virus or infection that plagues the other dogs or fosters on the house, thus cutting your medical costs by at least one-third. Shady can be a little nervous at times, but she thrives on routine and having a nice clean bone at the ready will go a long way to calm her when there is a disruption in the schedule. She is a bit of a homebody and thinks the whole world is this house and yard and that is just fine with her. Shady adores all adults, children and dogs she meets. She greets them gently and makes them feel welcome by cozying right up wherever they settle. She will be an ideal host to any foster or newly adopted pet that moves through here for any length of time. She will also be an ideal companion as your other dogs’ age, keeping them company in the toughest of times and looking out for them to the end. She will miss them when they are gone, but make comforting you after their loss her top priority.
(Hey! Mom, you left out the part “Shady will eventually evolve into a celebrity blogger!” That’s OK, I guess, I think that evolution is still in progress. Hee hee) You see? Now all of a sudden I am ready to be someone’s best friend and totally “adoptable!” Hey! Mom, you left out the part “Shady will eventually evolve into a celebrity blogger”. As one Fran Drescher might say “Adoptable, Schmadoptable!” Well, I guess the point is, you have to be honest when describing what a dog or cat needs when they are looking for a new family. All animals might not be ”adoptable” to everyone but we are all adoptable to someone. We are probably just what that someone needs, we just need the chance to find them. People need to know what they are getting into for sure and the pet needs to be protected from a mismatch. How can you possibly describe what they will get in return? That is much harder to convey in any tiny listing or sign. Just tell them to keep reading around here, or any of the 100 plus blogs on the Blog Hop and they’ll learn soon enough. So, what if your dog or cat wasn’t your own? If you were fostering them, what would you tell prospective adopters about them?
Shady’s Mom, Melissa, is the director of marketing for a firm in NJ by day, and a blogger an entrepreneur by night. She still has good days and bad days since losing two of her dogs last year. She knows they would be proud of her efforts to help animal rescue through her “This good. That bad.” products. Please come back and visit us soon and if you are in animal rescue, contact us to learn more about how we can help you fundraise.
This is a Blog Hop! 186 entries so far… you’re next!
Something funny is going on around here. It started with my bones. In case I never mentioned it before, I love my bones. These are not just any dog bones, they are a special kind and brand that I have been gnawing on since I was a pup. Even when there were 3 dogs in this house I had them all to myself. That’s because I NEED them and everyone knows it. Mom calls them “security bones” because whenever I am nervous or upset I must have one with me. That means we always have to have them ”on paw”. Lately however, I notice they smell a little funny. They smell a little like…cat. Now they are cow bones to be sure so why would they smell this way?
When confronted Mom finally ‘fessed up. When she goes to the pet store to pick them up, she visits the cat adoption room. There is one cat in particular that she visits and she even plays with him and holds him once in a while! And she is allergic!!! Even though she washes her hands after the smell still gets onto my precious bones. At first this made me a little angry. Sometimes I get jealous of the stuff she does for OTHER animals like with her fancy This Good That Bad fundraising and all, but I calmed down once she showed me the photo below and told me a little more about this homeless cat who is right here in our local shelter in NJ: Woody.
Woody. He looks like a supermodel to us! He is in NJ and looking for a home. Click photo for all his info.
Woody is what some would call a “less adoptable” cat. That’s because “adoptable” is one of those words that has a very layered meaning. In the animal rescue community, we know they are all adoptable…and yet they also know that many will go unadopted. They feel the right family is out there for each dog or cat but recognize there are a lot of obstacles in making those matches. To Mom and people like her, “adoptable” means “cleared the stray waiting period and ready to go to a new home”. To a lot of folks looking to adopt it can be something more specific like “has zero human-perceived faults, is the ideal weight, height and color to fit in any people-home no matter how little time I can spend with him, anywhere in the world.” Huh? Mom explained it to me like this…”less adoptables” are really just the regular pets like any other, just like regular people are. Most of us know that on a certain level. It just has a tendency to get lost when one is flipping through available pets on the pages of Petfinder, I guess.
Let’s say there is maybe a 41-year-old size 10 (on a good day) woman like Mom listed on a web page and looking for a new home. Now Mom has good heart and can cook up a storm but also has some issues; she has to take medicine every day, she is very cranky in the morning, she tends to interrupt people, has frizzy hair with that is going gray…what’s that Mom? Did you say something? Oh yea, sorry. OK, enough of that. Anyway, up against so many other people in the world, those basic human traits alone make Mom “less adoptable”. There is nothing she can do if someone else only sees “adoptable” as a 25-year-old, single woman (also with a good heart) who happens to be a size 4 and who exercises every day, eats only the healthiest food, has perfect hair since birth and remarkable teeth and…. well, you get the idea. Think, “borderline genius-supermodel.” Do these people exist? Yes, they do. Do they deserve a good home and a happy life? Yup, sure do. But so does my Mom! Whether or not you get a forever home and find people to love you should depend on your heart, not your appearance and fears or conditions you may have. When it comes to choosing the people in our lives, there is not much clarification needed. People teach it to their kids from early childhood, you know, “don’t judge a book by its cover” and all that. Why it is different for cats and dogs-and what exactly is the deal with Woody that makes him “less adoptable”?
Woody's back paw. Defect, or part of his charm? That's in the eye of the beholder I suppose, so how do we change that?
He looks fine to me. To hear Mom tell it, he is fine. Better than fine. He is a big ol’ love of a cat; sweet, alert and friendly. Woody is like this despite being dumped in a pet carrier outside the store by his family and stuck in a tiny cage at the adoption center for many months. He still has faith in people and sees them for what is in their heart and mind rather than what they wear or what size or color they are. He has put his faith in people to help him out of this mess and a lot of people are trying to do just that. So why isn’t anyone doing the same for him? Why is no one seeing him as he really is and taking him home? The reason is something Mom did not even notice till the third or fourth time she saw him but anyone who reads his Petfinder listing will know right away…he has a problem with back feet. It does not keep him from getting around at all, he just happens to have been born a little deformed. He has a cat version of “clubfeet” sort of, maybe less severe than that. They show photos of it on hisPetfinder page and it appears all it means is that it will be hard to trim his back nails. Oh really? Well he is a CAT after all so I am thinking that goes without saying whether you have a deformity or not, am I right? He has a few other strikes against him too…the basic feline offenses such as being an adult and not a kitten, not enjoying the company of dogs (shocking, I know) and being one of millions who need a home. I think we can agree that none of these factors are his fault. His listing outlines all these precious details about him and it also says he is ”adoptable”. I believe this is a correct statement but based on his long tenure with the shelter he seems to be straddled with the unspoken title of “less adoptable.”
I am a pet store pup. I may have had a controversial start in life but I had a cushy set up for finding a forever home after that. Just knowing that cats and dogs like Woody have to go through this kind of unfair profiling is really upsetting. I am gnawing one of my security bones even as I tap these words. Animals like Woody are not the exceptions; they are more like the rule, sort of…in the same way that brainiac supermodels are the exceptions in the human race and regular people are the rule. Petfinder and BlogPaws are trying to change the rules and win the game. That’s why came together to “Be the Change” for dogs and cats scarrying the “less adoptable” mantle and came up with the idea for “Petfinder’s Adopt-A-Less-Adoptable-Pet Week” That’s kind of like someone taking on the challenge of going through all the magazines and TV shows and putting the supermodel types on the last pages and in the supporting roles far behind the ordinary people. It won’t be easy, so they need our help. From September 19-25 you will find all sorts of blog posts and press about less adoptable pets. Please participate any way you can…share links, feature a pet on your own blog, or better yet adopt or foster one of these “less adoptable” charmers.
One of the biggest differences between people and animals is that they cannot do stuff like this for themselves, The only weapon they have to change a bad situation is to win us over one at a time, like Woody won over Mom. I am here to tell you, that is taking too long. We can’t wait much longer for things to change and this funny business to end. We need you to Be The Change for us.
Note from Shady’s Mom: Don’t let Shady hear this, but our own LoJack was also considered less adoptable. By definition she herself is somewhat is “less adoptable” these days. I can only imagine what a Petfinder listing for either of them would sound like. We’ll have more on that, and a hypothetical Petfinder listing for my very much already adopted pets, on another post later this week and before the end of the Petfinder Adopt-A-Less-Adoptable-Pet Week Challenge .
This is a Blog Hop! 186 entries so far… you’re next!
We are taking part in Pedigree’s Blog Hop this week! What is that? Well I am not completely sure, so join us as we learn, won’t you? I do know that if you read on you will find out how Pedigree helps homeless animals and get a chance to make a difference yourself–just fan their Facebook page and they will donate food to a shelter. You will also get to meet new people and discover a lot of cool new blogs you should be reading. If you have a blog of your own, you can join anytime between 9/16 and 9/19/2010. So read on and get the facts right along with us.
If you were referred here from a blog hop link already, you might want to check out this post instead to see the kinds of things you can expect to see on this blog regularly. This was one of my most visited posts, ever. If you like what you read, please use the link on the left to subscribe. Now back to the “hop”.
The Facts:
Each year, more than 4 million dogs end up in shelters and breed rescue organizations. Pedigree created The PEDIGREE Adoption Drive to help shine a spotlight on the plight of these homeless dogs.
This year the PEDIGREE Adoption Drive is raising awareness for homeless dogs by donating a bowl of food to shelter dogs for everyone who becomes a “Fan” or “Likes” The PEDIGREE Adoption Drive on Facebook. So far more than 1 million bowls have been donated the goal is for Pedigree to be able to give a bowl of food to each and everyone of the 4 million dogs in shelters and rescues by the end of the year.
How the Pedigree BlogPaws Bloggers are stepping it up to Be the Change:
Special for BlogPaws West: For each blog that posts about the PEDIGREE® Adoption Drive through September 19th, PEDIGREE® will donate a bag of their new Healthy Longevity Food for Dogs to shelters nationwide.
How can you help feed shelter pets?
It’s simple: Write a post, help a dog.
Thursday, September 16 through Sunday, September 19, the Pedigree BlogPaws bloggers will host a Blog Hop, to help raise awareness for the “Write a post, help a dog” effort. we will be hosting a blog hop where you can add the url (that’s the direct link) to your Write A Post Help a Dog so that they are all in one place and we can see just how big of an impact we can have in the lives of Shelter Dogs.
This is a Blog Hop! 123 entries so far… you’re next!
Thanks for blog hopping with us! Note to our fellow bloggers: WordPress does not support the java needed to update this list auto-magically” so we will do so manually once a day.
Shady’s Mom, Melissa, is the director of marketing for a firm in NJ by day, and a blogger an entrepreneur by night. She still has good days and bad days since losing two of her dogs last year. She knows they would be proud of her efforts to help animal rescue through her “This good. That bad.” products. If she cannot adopt them all she wants to at least increase their chances any way she can. Please come back and visit us soon and if you are in animal rescue, contact us to learn more about how we can help you fundraise.
