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Stella has been at the Toronto Animal Services South shelter for quite a while now and I did a post on her a few weeks back. She's a good dog once she gets to know a person. She's got some cage presentation issues with total strangers, however. That's probably not going to be a big deal once she's homed, since she's not going to be living in a cage all on her own, but for potential adopters, her in-shelter behaviour may be off-putting.

Here's a little video clip showing how she is.

(Previous to this video, I've only ever walked Stella once for about half an hour.)

The first part of the video shows me walking into the adoption room and up to Stella. She doesn't bark, though as I'm walking in I'm pretty sure she knows someone's in the room because she's constantly alert. I approach her door and she nicely sits in her kennel.

As I stand there, the door to the adoption room is opened by a new visitor. Stella can't see the visitor but knows immediately it's someone she doesn't know and starts barking. When the visitor peaks his head around the corner to have a look at her, she keeps barking. As soon as he leaves, she stops.

All this barking at strangers at the door may disappear on its own once she settles into a home or it can be trained out of her (although, personally, I like door alarms). Either way, I don't think it's a big enough deal to deter someone from giving her a chance if they're otherwise interested. She's a little shy but she's a very sweet dog.


Stella has been transferred to a foster home through TEAM Dog Rescue. She is available for adoption and you can get more info by contacting TEAM via their Facebook page.



9 Comments to “Stella revisited”

  1. deva says:

    I think that's a very civilised bark. It's not a frenzied performance, it's more like "I know you're there, let me see your hands for security reasons". I find her very pretty too. I hope her perfect match shows up soon.

  2. I totally agree! That bark is nothing. Most people want their dog to alert them when they hear strange noises anyway. She's in a cage confused , lonely and scared. What else is she going to do? If only she could just say " hey who's there? I hear you , can u take me out of this place please !" Then nobody would fault her for speaking ! She's a beauty I hope she finds a loving home soon.

  3. Anonymous says:

    That is a lovely bark! It got my dog barking and joining in rushing to the door to see what was happening! She is also very pretty, a bit like a border collie. Hope with your wonderful help Fred she finds a home and some oneto love her and her protective bark very soon!

  4. Pishkeen says:

    She is lovely, and looks a lot like my Stella! Hubby says we can't have more dogs than humans... otherwise we would probably be overrun by now!

  5. Anonymous says:

    Stella just melts my heart I would adopt her if I could but not right now but I will some day soon, I have two cats and a small dog I don't know how she will react. But she is absolutely gorgeous dog who is waiting for that special someone or family to love her and care for her forever and I pray that it will happen soon for Stella. What a beauty indeed.

  6. Anonymous says:

    I guess and I do hope that Stella got adopted, because ahe is no longer on the site. I'm so happy for her.

  7. Fred says:

    Anon, Stella has been transferred to a rescue. I'll try to post up more info on her soon.

  8. Anonymous says:

    Is she still up for adoption?

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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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