Humane Society of Elmore County News
While we love doing adoptions, a pet is a serious commitment in money, time, training, patience and love and needs to be taken seriously. Considering that many of our dogs and cats live well into their teens, may have medical needs during their lives, and look to us for all of their needs, adding a pet to the family should only be done after much consideration and planning for both the near-term and long-term.
We have an application process to not only ascertain what someone is looking for in a pet, but to help a potential adopter make the best decision possible for themselves and the pet. We take in so many dogs because they ‘got too big,” or were too active for the family or needed more room and oft times that was because the adorable puppy was too cute to resist but reality is that its breed type or ultimate size/energy needs were a mismatch for the family overall.
For those who bring in a new puppy or kitten – they will be small and puppy/kitten adorable for only a few very short months. Then you will have the fun of a gawky, unruly, wild teenager for another few months before they begin to settle down into adulthood. Some breeds will challenge you with two-three years of boisterous, sometimes maddening behavior and you simply need to be up to that challenge. And, yes, there is a rather big difference in the antics of a six-month old Yorkie puppy versus a six-month old Labrador puppy – think digging and chewing on two very different scales. But the rewards of learning your new pet’s personality, integrating them into your family routine, and being given complete and unconditional love are all worth it to those of us who think of our pets as family.
Yes, we do have puppies for adoption right now – all of them will be in the 40 – 60 lb range when fully grown so medium-large dog types. And we do have kittens in the 9-16 week-old range and nothing is more fun than kittens, Christmas Trees and all those fun presents under the tree. But we also have so many young adult & adult dogs & cats who are just as deserving of new lives as full-fledged members of families.
For parents seeking a puppy or kitten for their children/family we are thrilled to help but, do know, that this early in December we cannot hold animals for adoption as sadly there are more coming in that need the spaces we have. If the thought of adding a new pet during the hectic holidays is a bit too much, a suggestion is to do up a gift basket perhaps with a stuffed toy dog or cat, toys, other accessories and a gift I.O.U. about finding that new pet after the holidays. The children can then know there will be a pet joining the family once you get through Christmas travels and hectic New Year’s celebrations.
Please remember that we have an Adoption Application process and then, once approved, we will set up an appointment time for you to meet and adopt your new pet. And yes, once approved, if that pet is just not the right one when you meet it, we will help you see if we might have another that is a better fit as we do love seeing our pets go home with loving and responsible families.
