Animal Adoption

When my husband and I first decided to bring a rescue dog into our family, we went to an adoption fair sponsored by a safefor-life rescue near our Virginia home. We looked at the several dozen dogs at the event and saw a very shy white pit bull who looked like he wanted to be anywhere but at this event. No tail wags; no adopt-me dances. We knew right away he was the one for us because – truth be told – nobody else was going to adopt him, at least any time soon. We visited him twice a week for ten weeks – driving 40 minutes each way to his foster home to take him for a walk – before he stopped shaking every time we came near him.

Then, one day, there was a major breakthrough: We stopped to sit on a park bench for a minute and he jumped up onto the bench to sit between us. We completed the paperwork that day and Bunter has been our “baby boy” for over a decade. We followed the same “nobody else is going to adopt him any time soon” premise when adopting a companion for Bunter several years later. We chose a previously chained pit bull/dalmatian mix who had been run over by a car and left on the highway to die. When we first saw him, he had just finished surgery to fix the hip broken in the hit-and-run and was bruised and battered in every way possible.

He was also completely hyper and just barked like crazy at everyone that passed his kennel run. Not terribly appealing, but Petey sits here by my side as I write this. This method of choosing a companion has had its ups and downs, but the ups far outweigh the downs. While there are many good reasons to adopt companion animals, there is something special when you adopt an animal who really, really needs you. Animal Compassion Network has a few dogs and cats in our care who, through no fault of their own, keep getting passed over for adoption, like Bunter and Petey did.

If you have a place in your home – and your heart – they would be grateful for the chance to show you how loving and loyal they can be. All they need is that chance! Please share this appeal with friends, colleagues, and family members and ask them to share it with others so we can get these animals adopted. They need a second chance; they need someone to love them; and they all are so deserving! And speaking of second chances, Chance is one of those dogs, along with Lucky, ChiChi and cats, Lucy, Tess and Mocha. Could you give them their second chance at a forever home?