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This is one of the best updates I've seen in a while.

When Eclipse first came into Toronto Animal Services South, she was scared and reactive towards almost all the men and some of the women who approached her kennel (Myself included. I wasn't able to walk her the first time I met her) to the point where it was touch and go whether or not she would be able to be adopted out.

Over the next couple of weeks, with attention and care from staff and volunteers, her anxieties calmed and her playful nature revealed itself. Eclipse is another example of how difficult it is to properly judge a dog in a shelter environment, especially within the first few days of entering.

From a petrified, anti-social dog to this (from her new owner):


Here is a photo of your girl - very hard to get her to pose because she kept wanting to move forward to me!

A few things about Eclipse in her new home:

- she follows me everywhere even the bathroom
- she walks very well on the leash and wants to play with every dog she meets
- she is learning new things and is mostly attentive
- she is still only eating about two cups a day with a lot of encouragement, but I'm sure once she is more comfortable here that will probably improve
- she loves to watch the birds and squirrels out the kitchen door
- she finds full-length mirrors very interesting and keeps going back to see if the dog is still there....
- she keeps trying to engage the cats to play but true to the Cinderella story her feline step-sisters are being ugly but coming around...

Thanks again with all your help and good advice - we are so happy to have a doggy member of the family again.



1 Comment to “Update on Eclipse”

  1. Oh, she looks so beautiful and happy! Ears up, interested in life around her...bless the adopter for giving her such a wonderful life. Love the updates, keep 'em coming!

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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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