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The three Cockapoo puppies were put into general adoption near end of day Friday and by the time I got into Toronto Animal Service South on Saturday a little bit after lunch, they'd all been spoken for. One had already been taken home. A couple were filling out the adoption forms for another while I was there and the last one, paperwork already done, was going to be taken home Sunday morning.

Good thing she was only spending one more night at TAS, because that last one, alone, all by herself in her kennel for the first time in her life, looked like this ...


... and if I'd thought she was going to be alone for more than a night, I would've been sorely tempted to take her home for a few days even if it meant cleaning puppy poop off the floor.

Since last I saw her a week ago, when she was shy and maybe a little scared of people, this girl's personality had already made leaps and bounds into "normal" puppy territory. While it still took a few moments before she would approach me, she no longer ran away every time I made a move towards her. I'm pretty sure if both her siblings were still there with her, their combined bravery and curiosity would have made them confident enough to approach me directly but having just lost her last companion and not understanding where or why they had gone, this little one was a little blue.




2 Comments to “The last one”

  1. SA MVH says:

    Oh no, just looked on TAS site and one of the puppies is back up.

  2. pibble says:

    You got it - I'll share. I'm in Connecticut, but I have friends all over, including Canada, who I'm sure will share as well.

    It does drive me insane that people think shelter animals are inferior. They're so ready for love and companionship, that they're often far SUperior in so many ways! It's true that many shelter dogs come in with baggage, but many don't. They find themselves in a shelter through no fault of their own. But if they did have issues, a responsible shelter won't lob off its problem on another person, they'll rehabilitate the animal and try their best to match it with a person or family that will continue to help the pet heal and grow. We have to give them a chance - they deserve it.

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A request

The reason for this blog is to help get specific dogs adopted from TAS but equally important is to try to normalize the idea of shelter dogs being just as good and just as desirable as any other dogs including those which are regularly merchandised by backyard breeders, puppy millers and those few remaining pet store owners who still feel a need to sell live animals. The single greatest stigma shelter animals still face is the belief that shelter animals are substandard animals. Anyone who has had enough experience with shelter animals knows this is untrue but the general public hasn't had the same experiences you've had. They see a nice dog photo in a glossy magazine and too many of them would never think of associating that dog with a dog from a shelter. After all, no one abandons perfectly good dogs, right? Unfortunately, as we all know, perfectly good dogs are abandoned all the time.

The public still too often associates shelter dogs with images of beat up, sick, dirty, severely traumatized animals and while we definitely sometimes see victims such as these, they are certainly not the majority and, regardless, even the most abused animals can very often be saved and made whole again.

Pound Dogs sometimes discusses the sad histories some of the dogs have suffered. For the most part, though, it tries to present the dogs not as victims but as great potential family members. The goal is to raise the profiles of animals in adoption centers so that a potential pet owner sees them as the best choice, not just as the charity choice.

So, here's the favour I'm asking. Whenever you see a dog picture on these pages you think is decent enough, I'd like you to consider sharing it on Facebook or any other social media sites you're using (I know many of you do this already and thank you for that). And when you share it, please mention that the dog in the photo is a shelter dog like so many other shelter dogs waiting for a home. If we can get even five percent of the pet buying public to see shelter dogs differently, to see how beautiful they are and how wonderful they are, and to consider shelter dogs as their first choice for a new family member, we can end the suffering of homeless pets in this country.
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