Two summers ago we decided as a family that we wanted a dog. We went to our local animal shelter and found a beautiful white (yellow) lab. Taylor and I asked to meet her and she was very good with Taylor. The next day, we adopted her. During that first night she began continually coughing up mucus. I panicked since I know nothing about dogs and decided to take her to the vet first thing the next morning. She had a few problems: kennel cough, worms, and a skin condition. I babied her and nursed her back to health. We called her Zoe. Then after being on the medication for a full week, she was herself again, only much more hyper than she was at the shelter. That was fine, we were expecting hyper from a one year old lab and I thought that was fun UNTIL she began to get aggressive. This dog would not allow me to hold my daughter without growling and snarling at me. (Not a typical lab quality.) Since at the time, I had a new 14 month old, I decided it was best to remove the dog from our home. I called the local lab rescue but they would not take her since she was showing signs of aggressive behavior. I called the Humane Society, but they never returned my call. I began being afraid of the dog and decided to take her back to the animal shelter. I didn’t know what else to do.
After taking her back I told myself I just wasn’t a dog person. Truth is I really still wanted a dog but was afraid the previous experience was too much for my hubby and daughter to handle. So I pushed that urge aside and secretly visited websites about adopting dogs, caring for dogs, learning about various breeds, etc. And then the time came….my daughter began asking us if we could have a dog in our house. BINGO! I began finding local pet mobiles from organizations that fostered the pets. (I figured that these people would know the dog since they lived in their house, right? No more surprises.) We would go and meet the dogs but none of them were dogs that Taylor wanted to take to her house and none of them were dogs that my husband liked. I was afraid we would never get a dog.
Then one Saturday while at a PetSmart pet mobile, we walked through looking at each dog as it lay in its cage. None of them seemed to be what we were looking for, until we reached the very last one. In a cage sitting on top of a really big cage with a really big dog in it named Tiger was a tiny little lady who was simply precious. We immediately began reading her profile and decided that we wanted to meet her. We took her over to the side and began to love on her. She immediately crawled into my lap and Travis looked at me and said, this is the one. Taylor then said, he’s so cute. (We corrected her that she was so cute.) And then came the true test, I asked Taylor if she wanted her to live at her house. She said, yeah! We went back to the lady and informed her that we wanted this dog. Travis filled out all the paperwork while I found her a harness and lead.
We walked out of the store as proud owners of a 7 pound, 3 year old Shih Tzu. The organization Lost Paws had rescued her from a puppy mill where she had been bread a few times. They had docked her tail and she was found heartworm positive. Lost Paws treated her for heart worms and had her spayed before she went up for adoption. She was very shy at first. She wouldn’t even walk on a leash. I had to carry her everywhere. We were told that she lacked human interaction and hadn’t really figured out what we were there for yet. She needed a loving home and that’s what we planned to give her.
Well that was on Dec. 13th. We’ve had her for a month and a half now. She is still a perfect angel. We had her for 8 days before we heard her bark. She doesn’t shed, which is great. Biggest issue has been finding her food that she would eat. Shih Tzu’s are very picky eaters. I can’t even find treats (other than her one greenie a day) that she will eat. She won’t eat cheese or meat (yes, the vegetarians purchased boiled chicken to feed their starving dog). Fortunately a friend told me about Wellness dog food. Our vet said Wellness is known for their quality and our picky eater loves it, two pluses in my book. She is almost up 9 pounds which is where the vet would like to see her. Last time we checked she was 8 pounds, 11 ounces. We’re almost there.
Overall we are in love. She is apart of the family. I find myself trying to find things for the family to do, all of us including Maggie. She’s a cute little thing and loves rawhide sticks and stuffed dog toys. She will also chew on wooden puzzle pieces, but only if a two year old gives them to her. But she hasn’t chewed on anything she’s not supposed to chew on and we’ve only had minor accidents. She has been very easy to train and she really aims to please. An ideal day for her is to lie in my arms all day long. She’s a total lap dog, but LOVES going outside. I don’t think she was able to spend much time outside before living here. She loves it. She’s fitting in very well and we’re very glad to welcome her into our home and to have had a better adoption experience this time.
And I must add that we are still working on teaching Taylor how to treat a dog. There are times I still catch her trying to pick Maggie up to carry her somewhere. And I sometimes catch her hugging Maggie a little too tight. She’s not trying to hurt her, she just doesn’t understand that dogs don’t care for lots of hugs, they’d rather be petted.
What have I learned from all of this? If you have a small child and don’t know much about dogs, it might be better to adopt from an organization that fosters the pets and knows the pets rather than a local shelter. (Not that all animals from shelters are bad or shouldn’t be considered. This just worked best for our family.)
If you are thinking about adopting a pet consider looking at Petfinder.com, a local shelters (including any no-kill shelters in your area), a rescue (some are for breed specific, others are not), or the Humane Society. And when it’s time to select a vet, the best advice is personal recommendation. Find someone who is happy with their vet and try it out.
