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Blaze, a skinny little Beagle, is a real charmer. He was adopted at the TAS/Adopt-a-thon along with nine or ten other dogs from TAS South, East and West by some wonderful families, some who lined up even before the store opened on Saturday. Now that's dedication.




So that's the good news.

The bad news is that some people went home empty handed and that's unfortunate. The popularity of this event has kinda caught every one off guard and I hear some people in line weren't happy about the way it was organized. It's hard, though, because TAS staff absolutely have to meet the adoptive families in person before any dog can be adopted out to them and obviously the family will want to meet the dog. We don't want to discourage people from coming out in case the first few meet and greets don't work out but at the same time, making people wait around only to be disappointed is no fun either.

Right now, I can only remind people that while these events spotlight a very select group of dogs, there are plenty of other dogs waiting for homes at the Toronto Humane Society and other local rescues.

Thanks for all your support.



4 Comments to “Beagle - Blaze”

  1. Mima says:

    If I may make a suggestion, a sign up sheet would have provided order to that entire process. That way, it would be clear who arrived first so that those people had time to spend time with the dog and not feel pressured to make a decision for fear of someone else offering to take the dog. But the important thing is that all of those lovely dogs found homes, so it all ended as it should.

  2. Fred says:

    Thanks for the suggestion, Mima. I'll definitely pass it along.

  3. Unknown says:

    Perfectly said Fred - there are lots of dogs out there, more than enough to go around. Next time I am sure we will be better prepared for the crowds!

  4. mark says:

    There was also very little information available on the web about what to expect, etc so, for those who may not have adopted through TAS before, they would have come into the adoptathon "blind." TAS should've put up some info on their website.

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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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