Not enough "time"

The excuses people offer when giving up their dogs are the same ones over and over. You really learn to just tune them out because the truth is, you don't really care what excuse they have. The bottom line is they are giving up their dog, their companion, the creature they made a commitment to for an excuse. Some are better than others, but the end result is the same. An animal who you are responsible for ends up in a shelter.

The most vacuous (look it up) excuse is not having enough time. I wonder when people get a pet, if they actually believe the longer they have the pet, the more time they will have. This is not normally the case. You see, many people start out with a puppy, which takes a lot of time, and end up with a nice, well mannered, mature dog, not so much time.

Unfortunately, this always seems to happen when the dog is older, say 6 or 7 and then the dog is desolate when they lose their home. They don't understand what they did wrong.

We have some dogs like that where I volunteer. They are nice dogs but lost their home because of poor judgement by their owner. They don't know about judgement, simply the human they loved isn't around any longer. So they sit and wait.

They wait for some other human to spot the potential in them to be a great friend. Whether it is to be a couch potato while watching television, or to go for a leisurely walk once a day, they wait. They are willing to do what you want them to do to have a family again. Sometimes it is only for a couple of years, but many times it is for 6 or 7 years of companionship.

I love senior dogs and I urge everyone to visit their local shelter to see if you can find the perfect companion who has enough time for you.

Satchel's Last Resort has two which come to mind: Libby, pictured here and Prince, a purebred Doberman. Check them out on the website and then contact Caroline at comments@satchelslastresort.com with any questions. Old dogs make great companions.