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Necroing this thread to say that I could have basically written OP's post today, eight months later. We lost our beloved 17.5-year-old mix, Stanzie, last Sunday after several years of slow decline and one week of extremely fast decline. I know at some point I'll stop glancing at where her bed was to make sure she's still okay. We want to honor her memory, in a way, by putting our love and care toward a new dog. Stanzie was rescued at 8 weeks from a local county shelter, and we found her on Petfinder. I've been looking around there and on Adoptapet (though they seem to have the same "inventory," by and large), but just like in October 2020, the puppies/youngsters go way too quickly. I wrote up a whole letter of introduction as requested by one organization and sent it within minutes of the posting going up, but never even heard back before the dog was marked "Pending Adoption" and then vanished from the site. Which is good! But frustrating. I've even expanded my scope beyond a 100-mile radius where possible, but still nothing. (And the dogs with Stanzie's markings just make me tear up.) I tried Craigslist, but so far all I've found are middle-aged/older dogs "free to a good home," complete with all their toys and leashes and bedding and food, and that just makes me even more upset. My heart breaks for that family. Our hurt is still too new to consider an older dog, and while we're open to some special needs (like deafness), the selfish part of us would like to start with a healthy companion, since Stanzie needed so much special attention and care for so long toward the end of her life. We're ready for a break/a different challenge. Where else can I look? I've asked my friends and parents to keep their eyes and ears open for potential adoptees, maybe posted on that very local neighborhood site (whose name I forget). Back in the day, you could take out a classified ad if your dog had a litter and you had puppies to spare. I half-expected SA to have a place, whether in PI or SA-Mart, for goons to post about pets available to adopt. Geography would be an issue, but not an insurmountable one. Meanwhile, I'll keep looking!
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Jun 6, 2021 15:16
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| # ¿ May 14, 2024 07:06 |
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Well, one problem is that there aren't a lot of puppies available, period, so fostering instead of/as a means toward adopting isn't really relevant. Another problem is that the dogs I have seen "fosters needed" postings for are generally the kinds of dogs we wouldn't want, whether for a few weeks/months or a lifetime. If I'm not interested in adopting a pit bull, I'm sure as hell not going to foster one. Luckily, I looked extra closely at Puppyfinder.com, which is almost all breeders (and thus very expensive). A breeder's Lab ("an angel") was meant to be bred with a beautiful chocolate Lab, but apparently had "a secret love affair" (the breeder's words) with the Aussie/blue heeler mix down the street and whoops, what the hell kind of puppies are these? A glorious mix of pups, that's what. And at a more reasonable price since they're not purebred. The hardest thing is waiting: I put down a deposit on Thursday and have to wait till next Thursday to get her, when she's officially eight weeks old and ready to leave. She's a 3.5-hour drive across the state; that'll be a fun ride home. It's kind of strange to not really be able to sit down with a bunch of puppies (or even one) and choose the one who suits you best--this is more like taking your Tinder match directly to the wedding chapel for your first date. And even though the breeder was extremely pleasant in her texts, I didn't get the same third degree that I got from the rescue places: where would this dog sleep? What would I do with her when I went on vacation? Or if I moved? Etc. As far as she knows, I'm taking this dog home to feed to my piranhas. On the other hand, I couldn't shake the feeling that more than one potential adoption slipped through my fingers in the time it took me to fill out those long-rear end rescue applications. (And I never did hear back from the one I sent in last Sunday. That pup is still listed as available, too!) In any case, Josie is ours, and we can't wait to meet her. 
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Jun 14, 2021 17:59
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