April 30, 2021

'Rescued' is the Best Breed!

I was struggling this morning about what to post today because I haven't taken more than a couple of photos this week (and I usually post "Friday Night Photos" on Fridays). Then I saw that today is "National Adopt a Shelter Pet Day"--and I thought I would just bombard the post with photos of Joey, our shelter-rescue dog.

Jerry and I went to the local animal shelter (a.k.a. "the pound") on February 3, 2015--and we left that day with a 1-1/2 year old (estimated age) labrador-chow chow mix. In cutesy terms, that's a "chabrador" or "chowbrador". We had no idea just how much he would change our lives!


We wanted our boys to grow up with a dog and they were at a good age for it (9 and 10 years old). We named him Joey (after Joey Tribiani, to stick with the 'Friends' theme for our pets' names). Joey is truly the BEST dog--he loves to be around his people. He is fantastic with the kids and with our cats (the cats pretty much own him--poor dog!). My parents love to dog sit and my sister said if we ever want to re-home him (we would never!) she would take him in a heartbeat. He is an all-around well-behaved dog and we couldn't have wished for anything better.

When people are thinking of getting a pet, I always suggest checking out the animal shelters. There are so many dogs and cats that need homes--it is heartbreaking to think of all of the unwanted animals waiting for homes.

Out of the 60 million dogs and 75 million cats that are owned in the United States, only 10-20% of them were adopted from a shelter. Here are some more interesting facts about shelter pets (source):

Approximately 8-12 million companion animals enter animal shelters nationwide every year and approximately 5-9 million are euthanized (60% of dogs and 70% of cats). 

Less than 2% of cats and only 15-20% of dogs are returned to their owners.

25% of dogs that enter local shelters are purebred.

Only 10% of the animals received by shelters have been spayed or neutered. 75% of owned pets are neutered.

It is sobering to hear that 6 out of 10 dogs and 7 out of 10 cats are euthanized every year in shelters. Just because these animals are in a shelter doesn't mean there is something "wrong" with them--there are lots of reasons that pets wind up in the shelter. When I think that Joey could have wound up euthanized, it breaks my heart--he is a fantastic pet!

Clearly, I am very passionate about shelter pets. (My cats did not come from the "shelter", which is why I'm making this post about Joey; Phoebe and Estelle were strays that people were trying to find homes for, and Chick and Duck came from an animal rescue.) I just hope that if you're looking for a pet, you'll check out the shelters first. When you adopt from a shelter, you're saving TWO animals--the pet that you adopt, AND the animal that now has a spot in the shelter.

While I am at it, just a quick fact about spaying/neutering... a female cat can have about 180 kittens in her lifetime. And those kittens can reproduce... and those kittens can reproduce... and so on. In 7 years, that ONE cat and her offspring can total 420,000 cats. (source) Isn't that insane?! So by spaying or neutering your cat, you could be saving hundreds of thousands of cats from winding up in a shelter one day. A quick google search or checking with your local animal shelter can provide you with low-cost spaying and neutering options. The animal shelter is HAPPY to help, because they don't want pets to wind up in the shelter either.

Okay, so on to the fun stuff... pictures of Joey throughout the last six years. Can you believe it's been that long since we adopted him?!









































This last photo is a before and after--the day we adopted him and then about six months later...

10 comments:

  1. Thanks for encouraging adoption! The more positive stories people hear about rescue pets, maybe the more likely they will give these animals a chance. I hope so, anyways.

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  2. Katie thank you for this post. I LOVE the pictures of Joey. He looks so much like our Rita that we lost a couple months ago. But she was 13 years 11 months old and had a lot of white on her face. We miss her but she had a long and wonderful life. We have our rescue dog Ivy, and we did save her life. We adopted her on 2/5/2014. She was so sick. We took her to the vet right away and the antibiotics saved her. We are madly in love with this dog. I wish everybody would rescue an animal. And also spay and nueter.

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  3. I love this post! My family and I have gotten all of our dogs from the shelter. My mom and I pick out the black dogs because we know they are the hardest to get adopted.

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  4. Thank you for rescuing Joey! He's the bestest boi since Mr. Dawg. Great post!

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  5. Let me tell you why I have always purchased my puppies from breeders, and not the SPCA. In my state, you MUST have a person who stays home ALL DAY to watch the dog. Well, in the real world, people have to go to work. They don't even care if you say you're going to bring the puppy to daycare, nope! They want you to have a fence or enclosure to keep the dog from running away too. It's ridiculous, and hence why I never even look at the shelter.

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  6. I love this post so much!! Rescue pets are the best! We got our Lizzie girl from a local rescue but I'm hoping to add another doggo to our family soon. I will be checking out the local shelters first! Joey looks so happy!!

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  7. I enjoyed this post! Perfect topic.

    I know you have been struggling with topics, and I was wondering if you could write about raising teenagers. I have a preteen, and I always love hearing from others what it's like in their world with teenagers.

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  8. Awwww, what a good boy! :-)

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  9. Joey is such a beautiful sweet dog! Love the photos. So cute that he snuggles with the cats.

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I used to publish ALL comments (even the mean ones) but I recently chose not to publish those. I always welcome constructive comments/criticism, but there is no need for unnecessary rudeness/hate. But please--I love reading what you have to say! (This comment form is super finicky, so I apologize if you're unable to comment)

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