Nothing used to break my heart more than when the ASPCA commercial with Sarah McLachlan would come on TV and I would see the poor animals who needed help. Her famously heartbreaking song mixed with the videos of quivering animals has stuck with me forever. I never understood how people could ever mistreat such beautiful, innocent animals that just wanted love.
As a kid, I asked my mom for a puppy on every birthday, Christmas, Easter and even on New Year’s. I wanted a puppy because they were just so cute. I loved going to friend’s houses who had dogs and I wanted another friend to play with. Nowadays if you were to ask me if I wanted a puppy, I would say no.
While there are puppies that need adopting, there are also many senior dogs that need adopting and unfortunately, senior dogs are the first dogs to be put down in shelters because they aren’t as popular as the younger dogs.
Depending on the size of the dog, a senior dog can be aged anywhere from 7 years and up. Senior dogs can still be full of energy, love and personality. A great benefit to having a senior dog is that they more than likely know all the commands and are potty trained. Something important to note is that senior dogs, like the elderly, can sometimes become forgetful and may forget things like commands, but they won’t forget the loving individual that brought them into their home.
I want to adopt a senior dog because I want to give them a happy last couple of years or months of their life. I can’t imagine what it would be like for an old dog to be sitting in a shelter. Most senior dogs in shelters were abandoned by families and they can’t even understand the reason. According to the organization, Old Dog Haven, there are other reasons senior dogs are in shelters. These reasons include: owner passes away, dog gets sick and owners cannot pay the vet bills, people divorce and neither wants the dog, owners have kids and the dog doesn’t get along with the kids, owners want to trade the dog for a puppy, ect.
All dogs are different, but it’s common for senior dogs to be very laid back and calm towards the end of their life. If you want to save a dog’s life from being cut too short, you should consider adopting a senior dog.