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Sometimes dogs don't present well when they're in a kennel. Actually, I'm surprised any dog presents well in a kennel. They have to deal with the stress and anxiety pheromones given off by the other animals. They have to deal with the boredom and isolation. They have to deal with dozens of people walking by their cages every day who might stop for a minute or might not but who all eventually keep walking by (except, of course, for the that one family who adopts). I think that's enough to drive most dogs a little bonkers.

Bobbi is a dog who doesn't present well in his kennel. He doesn't want to be in there. He wants to be with his person. He desperately wants to be with his person and whenever someone walks by and gives him a glance, Bobbi kinda freaks out thinking maybe this person is going to finally be his person. Bobbi doesn't realize that barking and jumping and trying to get someone to pay attention to him tends to do the opposite of attract and actually scares most people away.

Outside of his kennel, Bobbi is a really great dog. He's good on a leash. He's good with people. And he's calm. It's hard for me to say how he is with other dogs because at the shelter, he's definitely stressed so his behaviour around dogs will be different. He's also a bit of a chubster.




Here's a video of Bobbi lying in the main hallway upstairs at the shelter. There are cats in the glass room directly in front of him but he ignores them. When someone passes by, you can see his eyes light up. At the end of the video, when a new family walk up the stairs, Bobbi starts to wag his tail at their possible approach (but notice he doesn't get out of control excited).

This is what Bobbi is like when he's not locked up in his cage:



I just heard that Bobbi's got kennel cough at the moment so he's on meds and he's been pulled from general adoption until he gets better. He should be available again in a few days.



7 Comments to “Bobbi - Border Collie Labrador cross”

  1. Anonymous says:

    I love the crossed paws, so cool! A wonderful assessment of him Fred, that surely will get someone to stop, see his charm and give him the forever home he is hoping for so desperately.

  2. Lenni says:

    he's got a noble look in his eyes, despite his chubster-ness. He is lovely!

  3. deva says:

    My heart goes out to Bobbi - I hope someone will give him a permanent smile on his sweet face. Molly is still at TAS as well. May her forever family find her soon.

  4. Pishkeen says:

    Oh wow, he's identical to my own border collie lab mix. She just has slightly more white where he is more grey. He crosses his paws, just like Stella, and has one ear up one ear down, just like Stella. Same look in his eye, same tailwag. If he's anything like her he will be incredibly smart, a bit of a handful, but so trainable. If I had room in my house I would scoop him up in a heartbeat!

  5. Anonymous says:

    Breaks my heart when a guy is soooo eager to give love, and gets overlooked.....

  6. BevK says:

    He is a beautiful dog. How old is he?

  7. Fred says:

    Hi Bev, Bobbi is 1 - 2 years old.

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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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