Why You Should Rescue A Dog

You've probably seen at least part of a movie starring Benji. Perhaps you've seen the movie Benji: Off the Leash. He was an adopted dog. A rescue dog. He came from the Humane Society. And he was at that Humane Society because someone found him wandering the streets.

Most rescued dogs -- including the one you rescue -- probably will not become lucky enough to become movie stars. But they definitely will be glad to be rescued. And if you are the one who rescues them, you can know that you have done the right thing.

It's not hard to do, since there are thousands of animal shelters all over the United States. It is not true, as some people believe, that rescue dogs are unhealthy or unclean or that there must have been some "good reason" that the previous owner gave them up. This may be true in some of the cases, but generally it was t he owner's fault and not the dog's that the dog is in the Humane Society.

If you're not sure whether you want to obtain your dog from a shelter, let me give you a few good reasons that you should take into consideration:

Almost anywhere you live there are shelters filled to the brim with pets. When you adopt one of them, you are helping the shelter make room to save another dog.
You will be getting a bargain. It can be quite expensive to obtain your dog from the pet store; but when you bring her home from a shelter, the cost will be somewhere between $40 and $150. And if you go to a breeder for a purebred dog, you could be looking at thousands of dollars for possibly the same kind of dog that you're bringing home from the shelter.
You are saving a dog's life. There is no question about this. When the shelter gets overcrowed they have no choice but to euthanize some dogs. When you bring a dog home from the shelter, you are rescuing her from euthanasia.

This is not to say that everything is always peaches and cream. When you obtain your dog from the shelter, there may be some negatives involved. Many of these are physical and behavioral negatives:

The dog you rescue may be physically disabled in some way. Even if you don't immediately see the problems, they could show up further down the road. One example of this is hip dysplasia, which is somewhat like arthritis in people and which can be a severe impairment to your dog down the road.
If she has been hurt in some way, the pain can lead to behavior that she would not normally exhibit. And if you have small children in your home, this could be a bad situation for all.
You also don't know what kind of life your dog had before she was in the shelter. A life that could have created behaviorial issues. If she was malnourished or abused before she came to the shelter, this could affect her behavior and could introduce you to some problems.
And it can be hard to train a dog who comes to you from a shelter. Such a dog might be too old to learn new tricks, as the saying has it. Obviously, you want your new dog to be housetrained and this can be difficult with a dog that shies away from training.

In spite of these potential negative problems, don't get discouraged. There are ways in which you can overcome behavioral and physical problems with your new dog. There are also animal shelters or rescue operations for specific breeds of dog in more metropolitan areas. So if you are specifically looking for a breed of dog, such as a beagle or a great dane, there may be a rescue specializing in that breed. Not only with they have the dog that you're looking for, but probably lots of advice on how to train her and introduce her to her new home.

Rescuing a dog means getting a brand new member in your family.

Why You Should Rescue A Dog

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