So You Want To Buy A Dog

Often people will ask me for advice on buying a dog, generally after they have purchased a puppy from a pet store and have discovered the horrors that can befall a pet store pup.  And before you fill up my e-mail and comments with stories about your healthy pet store pup – yes, I know that miracles can happen.  But I’m still disappointed in you for supporting a puppy mill.

The only answer that I ever give is go to the closest animal shelter, or Google up a breed specific rescue organization such as Save Our Setters.  But that isn’t really a full, or even good enough answer.

Gibson the tallest Great Dane in the world, with his Chihuahua friend Zoie

Recently a dog-lover friend pointed me to the good folks at North West Florida Great Dane Rescue. Clicking on their name will take you to a wonderful article on their site that provides a much more complete answer. Some tiny bits of the article are Great Dane specific, but in general the information applies to your situation.

Below, I have summarized some of the more salient points of the article.

Surviving Danni’s First Week

 

DANNI is available for adoption.

One week ago today we picked up DANNI.  DANNI is an Irish Setter that we are fostering for Save Our Setters, an Irish Setter rescue organization.

For an Irish Setter, DANNI is absolutely tiny. She stands just 18-inches high at the top of her shoulder and weighs less than 32 pounds. Our vet thinks that her small size is due to malnutrition as a puppy.

The scars on her muzzle

She has a number of scars on her muzzle and a very large scar on her left hind leg.  These would indicate that she was badly attacked at some point, probably by a larger dog.

DANNI came to us from a shelter in Alabama, so we don’t know much about her past.

This is the large scar on her leg

  It is obvious that she is very skittish.  When I first picked her up, I had to carry her out to the car, as she was trembling too much to walk on her own power.  When I got her home, I had to carry her in the house for the same reason.

She does not seem to have any issues with people.  She rode in the car beautifully, snuggled up against my leg with her head in my lap.  When I carried her into the house, I put her on Dad’s lap where she immediately fell asleep.  She gets along great with the people that we meet on our walks – including kids from the ages of 4 to 13.  On Thursday I took her to meet “Cousin Vi.”  “Cousin Vi” is my grandmother’s cousin, a very spirited young lady who is 103-years old and lives on her own.  Vi and DANNI immediately charmed the heck out of each other.