Ready for a Walking Buddy?
Adopt from your local shelter and everyone wins.

By Sue Lay

During this time of economic uncertainty, many families have found themselves in the unfortunate circumstance of having to re-home their beloved family pets. Local shelters have always taken in animals who have nowhere else to go. If you go to your local shelter, you may be surprised to find that there are many house-trained, well-socialized older dogs, cats, and small animals available for adoption. Many pets come to shelters after having lived with the same family their whole lives. Other pets have bounced around from family to family or shelter to shelter and are simply waiting to find the right person to take them home. Pets are as unique as people, so it can take some time to find a suitable family or person for every pet.

If you’ve decided to take a pet into your home, animal shelters provide a huge variety of animals to choose from. When making the commitment to adopt a pet, it’s best to consider some things beforehand. What is my lifestyle? Would a high-energy dog fit right in when I go for my daily run or jog at the park? Or maybe I want a companion for hiking in the Gorge (on a leash, of course). Maybe a cat would be best since I can’t walk around as much as I used to. Virtually any shelter dog would give their right paw just for the opportunity simply to stroll around the neighborhood with a new family, sniffing along the way.

People who travel a lot for work or pleasure should spend some extra time considering whether to adopt a pet. If the answer is yes, it’s important to think about what kind of pet to adopt. If you have the resources to hire a pet sitter or a dog walker, then you can easily welcome a pet into your home. If you travel within the region, many dogs are great at traveling in the car and love visiting the beach or mountains. However, other dogs find it challenging to be in a new place or go for long rides in the car. But that’s what great about shelters — there is usually something for everyone — from home-bodies to weekend backpackers.

Many people with children think about adopting a pet to include in the family. Not all pets will fit right into a new family. Dogs, cats and small animals that go into a new home with small children may or may not have previous experience with kids. The ideal pet family pet has lived with kids before and seemed to enjoy it, or is quite young and will be able to assimilate provided adequate training and education. Owners who surrender their pets to a shelter can often supply a wealth of information about their pet that can then help a new family know what to expect. For a pet who has no known history, you may not know what to expect. In these cases, it’s best to consider the apparent personality of the pet, what staff and volunteers at the shelter have observed about the animal, as well as the type and breed of the animal for clues about what the animal might be like in the home.

The best part about adopting a pet from a shelter is the pure joy in knowing you have not only saved a life, but you have given a home to wonderful, loving creature who will offer you unconditional love and companionship. Ask anyone who has adopted from a shelter and they will tell you — it’s as if the pet knows what you have done for them and they are grateful for the chance to be with you and love you every day.

If you think you’re ready to adopt, many shelters have online postings of their current residents so that you can look at the animals online before going in person to meet a few. Take a few minutes to look at who is currently at your local shelter — you may fall in love.

Go prepared. When you start looking, make sure you’ve considered: your lifestyle, what kind of animal you are looking for, how much time and money you’re willing to spend on a pet, and that the commitment to take home a pet is a serious one that ideally will provide years of companionship and love for you and your pet.

RESOURCES
Animals available for adoption:
www.petfinder.com or www.oregonhumane.org

Oregon Humane Society training and behavior classes:
www.oregonhumane.org/pet_training/overview.asp

Other local shelters and animal organizations:
www.oregonhumane.org/services/animal_organizations.asp

Sue Lay is the Training and Behavior facility coordinator at the Oregon Humane Society (OHS). She lives in Portland, OR with her husband and two fabulous rescued dogs. One is from OHS and the other was rescued from Hurricane Katrina.