Although
Bindi’s previous life is mostly unknown, I do know this: I know, without a
doubt, that she was unsocialized, untrained and unfairly stripped of her
potential to be adopted. When a person
goes to the shelter looking for a dog, they are looking for an easy dog, an
obedient dog – basically put, an adoptable dog. Bindi was not this. She was not even
close. Yes, she could pass a temperament
test by not eating the fake hand put in her food and not biting the face off
the pretend child that is in the same room, but as far as home life goes, Bindi
would have been deemed as unadoptable. She would have been returned to the shelter
time and time again. Failed, time and time again. Not only had this poor dog been abandoned and
then forced to live in a shelter with concrete walls, but now she’s expected to
be perfect the second she walks in to a home, expected to magically know and
abide by all of the rules and expectations.
When
a person rescues a dog, they have to realize that their background is not all
sunshine and flowers. There is going to
be a learning curve for the dog, for you and for your relationship
together. There’s a communication level
that is going to take a few days, weeks, months to get right. Unfortunately, today’s world wants immediate
gratification and waiting is unacceptable.
So, that leaves sweet Bindi. Due
to the humans that raised her, or the lack thereof, it now gives her a slim to
none chance of being successful in a home life.
Thankfully, there are foster programs full of people that understand
that a dog needs some time to unwind, gauge the people around them, and learn
to trust and respect the boundaries and limitations placed before them.
One big happy, family. None of this would have happened in the first month of foster care. |
Bindi is very, very trainable and can understand what you want her to do quickly. She's waiting for the 'ok' to begin eating dinner here. |
Bindi
is one of the lucky ones. She would have never,
ever made it out of the shelter alive and lived to see old age. Because, you see, Bindi couldn’t do anything in an acceptable fashion. She had no control over her body, her mind,
or her energy level. This created chaos
for every single moment of the day. That’s a stressful way to live, no matter
how happy she looked on the outside. She
was sleep deprived because for weeks she was unable to actually relax enough to
sleep. She was so over excited and stimulated that she would scratch me daily
from not being able to control herself.
It took two weeks for her to be able to walk through the house in a
somewhat normal fashion (and I say ‘normal’ very, very loosely). It took over a month for us to go outside and even attempt to take a walk. But regardless, the amount of work I put into Bindi
doesn’t bother me. What bothers me is that I had to fix someone else’s
doing. I had to undo two years of
unacceptable behavior that she has learned because somebody refused to give her
the time of day. Or night. Or ever.
Bindi can now walk on a leash, knows an insane amount of commands, listens like a dream, gets along with my kitties, knows our routine, does awesome in a car and as I type this, is snoring on my lap, which she will do ALL DAY LONG if given the opportunity. All of the previous things took 2 months of hard work to get to. I hope people realize that at the shelter, there is no “house trained, crate trained, mellow, great with dogs, cats, kids, cars, doesn’t shed, etc, etc, etc” because if there was, that dog wouldn’t be there. They’d be at home with the owner that taught them all of those things and put the time and effort in to make sure their dog was a wonderful, confident part of the family. The dogs in the shelter are broken, defeated and most times, on their last strand of hope. So if you choose to go to the shelter, which I hope you all do, please don’t turn away from the dog that’s jumping up and down incessantly or barking or spinning in circles. In each of those cages is a dog that has the potential to be anything you want them to be, they just need to be given the chance to succeed.
Bindi can now walk on a leash, knows an insane amount of commands, listens like a dream, gets along with my kitties, knows our routine, does awesome in a car and as I type this, is snoring on my lap, which she will do ALL DAY LONG if given the opportunity. All of the previous things took 2 months of hard work to get to. I hope people realize that at the shelter, there is no “house trained, crate trained, mellow, great with dogs, cats, kids, cars, doesn’t shed, etc, etc, etc” because if there was, that dog wouldn’t be there. They’d be at home with the owner that taught them all of those things and put the time and effort in to make sure their dog was a wonderful, confident part of the family. The dogs in the shelter are broken, defeated and most times, on their last strand of hope. So if you choose to go to the shelter, which I hope you all do, please don’t turn away from the dog that’s jumping up and down incessantly or barking or spinning in circles. In each of those cages is a dog that has the potential to be anything you want them to be, they just need to be given the chance to succeed.
Rescues in every state for every breed have many, many dogs available for adoption and a
countless number of dogs needing a foster home.
If you have space in your heart and home for a dog, please consider
fostering or adopting one of the dogs on their waiting list. If you can’t adopt
or foster for whatever reason, please volunteer, advocate and educate.
For a list of rescues or adoptable dogs in your area, visit PetFinder.com.