Banjo is younger than we thought!

[rpcrowe]

We got Banjo from a shelter yesterday and our volunteer who picked him up from the shelter told us that he was eight years old...





Looking through his vet records, we were pleased to learn that Banjo is only two years old. A two year old dog is easier to find a home for than one who is eight...

He is a Yorkshire Terrier (Yorkie) mix...

[IzzieK]

I feel for these abandoned dogs. I wonder how they feel being abandoned??? My Roxie was abused and rejected by her first owner and it took a while for us to even touch her tail. And she is about 4 years of age now...Dogs are glad to have people like you who love having them and finding them good homes. May your tribe increase.

[Shadowman]

Nice portraits.

[madcrow]

Richard, the world is a better place because people like you make it so. I am not a dog owner but love dogs and your images.

[NorthernFocus]

Cute little guy. That's interesting that people don't want the older dogs. Paige and I were just talking about how much longer we'll have the energy ourselves to deal with pups. We're not fond of any of the small breeds but large young dogs can be a handful. Our plan is that when we slow down we may just start adopting old dogs. Good for them and us.

[rpcrowe]

Cute little guy. That's interesting that people don't want the older dogs. Paige and I were just talking about how much longer we'll have the energy ourselves to deal with pups. We're not fond of any of the small breeds but large young dogs can be a handful. Our plan is that when we slow down we may just start adopting old dogs. Good for them and us.

Another thought when people reach an advanced age is that most likely any young dogs will outlive them. We want to be sure that adopters have back up caregivers (family or good friends) who will continue their care. We have two people who have put our organization in their wills so we can take care of their dogs if they pass. (the people passing not the dogs)

Older dogs are wonderful. We have several older rescues in our organization at the present time. We received one guy, whom we named Grayson because of his color, who is of an undetermined age. We took him to our vet for neuter and he also needed just about all his teeth pulled because they were in terrible shape. Grayson also needed a toe amputated due to a tumor (which was sent in for a biopsy - hopefully it will be benign).

One of the problems for rescues of older dogs is that the vet care can be pretty expensive. Our vet gives us a very good price on any care of our rescues but, Grayson still cost us over seven hundred U.S. Dollars. Also they are slow to be adopted. There are, some rescues (Holly's Garden in San Diego is one) that specialize in the rescue of older dogs. They have long term fosters who are willing to keep these older dogs until they are adopted. If they are not adopted, they have a loving environment in which to pass their later days. We support Holly's Garden as well as we can. They are wonderful people...

Izzie, some of our rescue dogs take am immediate likeing to either Judy or me, or sometimes both of us. Other dogs need some work at socialization before they are ready for adoption. We try our best to fit the dogs into the right home where they will have the very best chance of success.

Pepsi and Cola who were rescued from a storm drain beneath the Los Angeles sewer system were problematic. Pepsi was the defender of Cola and Cola was the shrinking violet as long as Pepsi was around. He has pretty aggressive when he was around his sister. Trainers suggested that these two dogs would benefit from separation. We adopted them separately. Several months later, we had a family reunion. Each family brought their dogs to a dog park. While Pepsi and Cola were friendly, they were much more attached to their new families and they hardly knew us.



That was a successful adoption.

Banjo is fearful of people. He is now with one of our best fosters. She has two darling little girls who are able to turn around a fearful dog in an amazingly short time. This is a dog who was fearful until she was exposed to the darling daughters of our foster volunteer. I fully expect Banjo to do a turn around very shortly. It is amazing how quickly these two little girls socialize dogs...

[Sergio M.]

Lovely photos and information. Great idea for me and the wife as we get older.

Sergio