Adopting From A Shelter

Molly was serendipity. We went to the shelter to look at a young coonhound. The coonhound was very hyper and I knew still being on chemo I couldn’t keep up with her. Mom and I walked around and noticed this chunky beagle with her super sad hound eyes huddled in a corner. We couldn’t leave her. They got her out of the kennel and her actions completely changed. She was bouncing around and so happy. Mom told her to sit and she sat up like a little circus dog. We were told we had to pick her up the next day after we were checked and she went back to super sad when they took her back to her cage. All of our hearts were broken.

The next day she knew who we were, especially mom, when we came back. When mom was driving me home Molly (for Molly Weasley) was laying in my lap. When we turned into my drive she jumped up and put her paws on the dash board and looking at the house and then to us like OMG THIS IS MY HOME?!?! It was an amazing thing to see. She helped me through my last few months of chemo and has been such a sweet gentle dog.

We were told she was about 5-6 but with the super cold last winter it took a toll on her. When we would let her out, within 60 seconds she was crying and visibly in pain. Since then she has been achy and seems like she is more of a 10-12 year old dog. No matter what her age, she has helped me through a very painful time in my life and I will gladly pamper her through the last years of hers.

Molly seemed very depressed at times, especially when she heard high pitched bells. We think there was another small dog at her former home. We decided to get another dog for her to play with last Jan. I found a Blue/Red Tick Coonhound female that was rescued from a shelter in central Indiana. She was adopted out 5 times and always returned. We were told she was 2-3 but she was still teething so she was more like 9 months to a year. The first few weeks we had a lot of problems with her chewing things up and going potty inside and jumping on people. We still have accidents at times and she will chew up shoes if left on the floor. We see it as a way to keep the house cleaner because there are no parental threats to the girls about keeping their stuff on the floor; Maggie (from Rod Stewarts Maggie May) will take it into her own paws and remove any item within reach. Mom is amazed at how Maggie now runs up to her and submissively sits and scoots towards her instead of jumping up. Maggie is a big strong dog and can easily hurt the girls or mom when jumping up but she has learned how to be gentile and act like a lady.

Since the public sewer has been installed this past summer we plan on fencing in the back yard asap. This will especially help with Maggie’s pup energy and to allow Molly to roam the yard at her leisure and enjoy the sights and sounds.

There are pure breed dogs and mutts in shelters. A shelter dog may have some habits the former owner was too lazy to address. But I will tell you that you are saving a life and the dog knows it. If you take the time to teach them how you want them to behave they will do their bests to be what you want because they know what it is like to have nothing, to have the ones they love abandon them, they know loss.