Senior Dogs are Adoptable Too

There are many factors to consider before getting a new dog for your family. What kind to you want?  What size should they be?  Do you want a younger dog or an older dog?  Can you afford getting a new dog?  What kind of personality should it have?  And many, many more. This hub is about a very personal experience that I had about 4 years ago, and it's so dear to my heart, I wanted to share.

Our family dog was gone, and myself, husband and young daughter was longing for a new addition to the family. We didn't know what we wanted, but we did know we wanted to adopt. Our only requirement would be that the new addition got along with our young daughter.   A very close friend of mine, and co-worker, came across a dog that was at a rescue shelter about 2 hours away and after reading her story, she showed her to me. I read the dog's profile and instantly fell in love. It was a sad story of a loveable senior dog who was found on the streets. She had been at the rescue shelter for several weeks and her days were numbered due to overpopulation at the shelter. I called my husband immediately and discussed it with him. We decided that if the dog had no problems with our daughter, then we would bring her home. He contacted the shelter and put the dog on hold and asked that she not be put to sleep because he would be coming the following day to meet her.

The following day, he and our daughter went to meet the senior dog. Her name was Bambi. She was classified as an Aussie mix and was estimated at being around 12 years old. She and our daughter hit it off right away, so Bambi came home with them and I got to meet her that night when I got off from work. She fit into our family right away. She was very loving, and calm and very patient without daughter as well. No matter what was going on, she fit in with everything. She was just so sweet and cute. You couldn't help but fall in love with her the moment you met her.

We ended up only having Bambi for a couple of years. We had to put her to sleep because her kidneys were shutting down. She had stopped eating and drinking all together, and we knew it was time. It was very hard to make the decision, but we knew it was the best thing to do.

Now, being a senior dog, I knew that we would only have her for a short time, but we were willing to cope with that. We had never adopted a senior dog before, but being an animal lover of all animals, I knew that senior dogs, as well as cats, were animals too that deserved to have a wonderful family to spend with for the rest of their lives.

So please keep this in mind if you are looking to adopt an animal from your local shelter...please consider an older dog or cat. Just because they have some mileage, doesn't mean they won't make wonderful pets.