Rescue Dogs:

 We always adopt rescue dogs for many reasons but one of the main reasons is that they are so appreciative. We limit ourselves to no more than four at a time and now that we are older we only adopt senior dogs. I won't go into  why people surrender them to a shelter as that just makes me angry. Dogs have many of the same emotions we do and the photo above shows how they can react to being left in a shelter. 

One minute they are in a home and part of the family and the next they are left in a cage at a shelter and possibly one that will destroy them and they don't understand what they have done to deserve being put there. Our last rescue - Rex - was just hours from being put down. Most know their fate when put in kill shelters. 

Imagine being in a home where you are part of something and believe you are valued and then suddenly you are taken away and put in a shelter where you are to be killed. Maybe you have been in this family for years but have grown older and your sight and hearing has diminished and you can no longer run and play like you used to. You suddenly find yourself in one of these shelters and everything you knew and loved is gone.

If someone like us comes along you are grateful that you will have a family to be part of again. Yes you would be grateful, I know I would be. We adopted Klaus 4 years ago. He was confused and dejected when we adopted him. He had been surrendered with his Mom initially and it took him some time to know he was again with a family. We later found his mother whom had been surrendered to the same shelter two other times. In fact both had been surrendered to the same shelter two times. 

Sadly his mom - April - died a month ago of carcinoma of the pancreas and Klaus grieved just like we did. It was obvious he was depressed and very sad. I remember the pure joy and happiness they both had when they saw each other again having been separated for years. I just hope that he knew how sick she was when we took her to the vet for the last time and she did not come back home. I am pretty sure he did as he could see how emotional we were and she had to be carried out to the car. 

Rescue dogs are the very best and I wish if possible we could rescue more dogs but four is all  we can handle at our age. We spoil our dogs rotten, pamper them, love on them constantly and give them a high priority in our life. We can make a big difference in the ones we can adopt and give them the best life possible. DOG'S ARE FAMILY - DON'T GET THEM IF YOU CAN'T KEEP THEM.  

We talk to them and praise them a lot and they know how they are appreciated and loved. They not only have a large vocabulary but our actions support our words so they know. We never know how long we will have them but regular veterinary care hopefully keeps them with us for a very long time. In return we are blessed in so many ways by them.