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Jezebel is a young dog who can be a little too submissive in certain situation, like when she meets people for the first time, and the result is she ends up submissive peeing. So, watch out for your shoes. She'll likely grow out of this as she grows up and gains more confidence. With me, the submissive behaviour lasted about ten seconds, during which time there was indeed a little piddling but after that all was fine and we were buds. Turns out she's a fun, playful dog who works well with treats.





The best way to check on the adoption status of this dog (and other dogs and cats and other small domestic animals) is to visit Toronto Animal Services adoption website or call 416 338 6668 for the Toronto Animal Services South shelter. If the dog is no longer on the TAS adoption website, it's probably because it's been adopted already.



Update on Gretchen, now Teagan, from her owner:

She's adorable and wonderful. She has many talents:

- getting in bed first and taking up 80% of the space
- shedding and leaving fur everywhere so I never forget about her
- rolling in questionable stinky stuff
- dropping her ball off the couch and crying until I go get it
- eating apple cores off the ground
- eating rotten banana peels
- eating old gum
- eating leaves because they may be food
- eating sticks and pooping out bits of stick
- looking sad so people might feed her
- looking cute by having one ear up and one down so people might feed her
- staring at people and making them uncomfortable so they might feed her
- eating so much snow she has to go out to pee every 30 minutes
- and barking at small white dogs





Tula loves her food and she loves to play - but then don't we all? - and is having a hard time deciding which to choose, the stick on the ground or the snack in my hand, as I offer her the treat. She's an athletic dog now and will be even more so once someone takes her home and puts her on a healthy diet.





The best way to check on the adoption status of this dog (and other dogs and cats and other small domestic animals) is to visit Toronto Animal Services adoption website or call 416 338 6668 for the Toronto Animal Services South shelter. If the dog is no longer on the TAS adoption website, it's probably because it's been adopted already.





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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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