Tag Archives: adoption

The Conversation

Posted on March 29, 2022 | 3 comments

“Hey, Sox. We need to talk.”

‘bout what?

“About where this relationship is heading”

Whaddya mean?

“Well, you came here to stay as a foster dog last month.”

What’s foster?

“Foster means that I take care of you and teach you about being a pet, but you’re not mine.”

I’m not yours?

“No, but you did come to stay with me on a foster-to-adopt agreement.”

What’s adopt?

“Adopt is when I say that you should stay forever and become part of the family.”

I likes adopt

“Now, just checking. You want to be part of the family even though there are house rules?

Whaddya mean?

“So when I told you that you were naughty last night. Do you know why?”

Why?

“Because you were hiking your leg and peeing in the hallway”

“And peeing inside is not acceptable.”

“Unless you are sick. Are you sick?”

No, I’s not sick

“Then you have to agree to try harder about not peeing in the house.”

Okay. But you pee in the house.

“What? No I don’t.”

Yes you do. On the shiny white chair.

“Sox, that’s a toilet. I’m supposed to pee in it. That’s where people pee.”

I think the shiny white chair is scary.

“Scary? Is that why you come in every time I go to the toilet?”

Yes. I worries about you there and think you need cuddles.

“No need to worry, Sox. I can handle going to the toilet by myself. But I think we are getting off track with this conversation…Do you like it here?”

Yes, but I no likes when you call me naughty.

“I only call you naughty when you are doing something that is not allowed.”

So if I no do things that are not allowed then you no call me naughty?

“That’s right. I will call you A Good Boy.”

I is a Good Boy.

“Yes, Sox, I think you are a Good Boy. I think you should stay and be my Little Boy.”

I’s not little.

“That’s true. You’re a big Greyhound. But if I adopt you, you’ll become My Little Boy. Do you like the sound of that?”

Yup. I be your Good Little Boy.

“Okay. Then I’ll sign the adoption papers and we can begin our life together.”

I now make the official announcement that Sox has joined The Balanced Dog as my Little Boy and companion. He is in training to be a massage demo dog, a café dog, and to like the water and waves at the beach.

I look forward to sharing our adventures together.

Kathleen Crisley, Fear-Free certified professional and specialist in dog massage, rehabilitation and nutrition/food therapy, The Balanced Dog, Christchurch, New Zealand

3 Comments

Posted in dog adoption, Dogs

Tagged adoption, Greyhound, greyhounds, Greyhounds as Pets NZ

Restless nights: shelter housed dogs need days to adapt to new surroundings

Posted on August 5, 2021 | Leave a comment

Every year, thousands of dogs end up in a shelter in the Netherlands. Experts expect an increase in this number in the upcoming period, when people go back to the office after working from home during the corona crisis.

Despite the good care of staff and volunteers, the shelter can be a turbulent experience for dogs. Researchers at Utrecht University investigated if dogs can adapt to their new environment based on their nocturnal activity.

Janneke van der Laan and fellow researchers from Utrecht University’s Faculty of Veterinary Medicine compared the nocturnal activity of 29 shelter dogs and 29 pet dogs in their own homes – similar in breed, age and sex – with the help of night cameras and a small activity tracker on their collar.

They found that shelter dogs rest much less at night than pet dogs, especially during the first two nights in the shelter. This restlessness did decrease over time, but even after twelve days in the shelter, the dogs still rested less at night than the pet dogs.

“We also saw this restlessness in hormone measurements in the urine of shelter dogs” says Janneke van der Laan. Shelter dogs had higher values of the stress hormone cortisol in their urine than pet dogs, especially during the first two days but also after twelve days. It was also striking that smaller shelter dogs, for instance Shi Tzu’s and Chihuahua’s, were more restless during the first two nights than larger shelter dogs, and they also had higher cortisol values.

The researchers found big differences between individual dogs: some were already quite calm during the first night in the shelter, while others barely slept for a few nights. “It seems that dogs need at least two days, but often longer to get used to their new environment, in this case the shelter,” Van der Laan explains. “Humans usually also sleep less good during the first night in a new environment, for example at the beginning of a vacation.”

“With our follow-up research we will zoom in even further on the welfare of dogs in shelters. But our current findings already show that it is important to pay close attention to dogs that are unable to rest properly after several nights. The shelter staff may already be able to help these dogs by for example moving them to a less busy spot in the shelter.”

Publication

“Restless nights? Nocturnal activity as a useful indicator of adaptability of shelter housed dogs”, Applied Animal Behaviour Science. doi.org/10.1016/j.applanim.2021.105377

Source: Utrecht University

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Posted in Dogs, research

Tagged adoption, dog adoption, shelter dogs, sleep, Utrecht

Doggy quote of the month for May

Posted on April 30, 2020 | Leave a comment

People love dogs

Kathleen Crisley, Fear-Free certified professional and specialist in dog massage, rehabilitation and nutrition/food therapy, The Balanced Dog, Christchurch, New Zealand

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Posted in dog quotes, Dogs

Tagged adoption, Jim Butcher

Doggy quote of the month for August

Posted on July 30, 2019 | Leave a comment

“The choice to adopt a pet is a big decision that comes with much responsibility but infinite return on the investment. It will undoubtedly change your life.”

Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, Patron of Mayhew animal welfare charity

Photo courtesy of the Royal Family Facebook page

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Posted in dog adoption, dog quotes, Dogs

Tagged adoption, Mayhew, Meghan Duchess of Sussex

How many hounds needing a home?

Posted on May 25, 2018 | 3 comments

All of the dogs I have had in my life have been adopted.

Our first family dog came from a no-kill shelter; our second from a supermarket notice board. A local re-homing group, Dogwatch, facilitated my first adoption as an owner; my second dog, Daisy, came in a private adoption through word-of-mouth, and in 2014 Izzy, a greyhound adopted through the national adoption group Greyhounds as Pets, arrived on the scene.

Worldwide, there are more dogs that need homes than there are adoptive homes to care for them and this situation is no different for the greyhounds of New Zealand’s racing industry.

As of 2018, New Zealand is one of only eight territories in the world with a commercial greyhound racing industry. The others in alphabetical order are Australia, Ireland, Macau, Mexico, United Kingdom, the United States (five states only), and Vietnam.

But many New Zealanders are unaware of the findings of The Hansen Report, which was publicly released in the busy pre-Christmas period of December 2017. Formally titled A Report to the NZ Racing Board on Welfare Issues Affecting Greyhound Racing New Zealand, the report was written by the Hon Rodney Hansen, QC.

I won’t go into all of the findings in this blog post (the report is 93 pages). But the statistical analysis of the racing industry’s own data show that despite the efforts of all of the re-homing groups in the country combined, re-homing can’t deal with the influx of greyhounds leaving the industry. The report deems this a ‘current structural imbalance’ and recommends that ‘re-homing alone cannot solve the problems created by excessive numbers of greyhounds entering the industry each year.’

The bottom line? There’s still a lot to be done to look after the welfare of the greyhounds in the NZ racing industry. In the four-year period between 2013/14 and 2016/17, the whereabouts of 1,271 dogs could not even be determined and another 1,447 hounds were officially euthanised.

Upon the report’s release, Racing Minister Winston Peters described the findings as both disturbing and disappointing. While the racing industry has said it intends to act on all findings, those actions will take time.

And that is why I volunteer with Greyhounds as Pets and also offer my fundraising support. Because there are so many hounds in need of an adoptive home.

As with children, dogs don’t ask to be born. But it is our responsibility as a society to care for them once they are brought into the world.

Kathleen Crisley, specialist in dog massage, rehabilitation and nutrition/food therapy, The Balanced Dog, Christchurch, New Zealand

3 Comments

Posted in animal welfare, dog adoption, Dogs

Tagged adoption, greyhound racing, greyhounds

The Pet Effect

Posted on March 16, 2018 | 3 comments

The Pet Effect is an educational campaign to raise awareness of the health benefits of pets and to encourage veterinary and other pet professionals to understand their role in promoting the benefits of the human-animal bond.

Needless to say, this is an issue very near and dear to my heart.

I am a passionate supporter of “Adopt, Don’t Shop” and, because of my work with dogs and owners as a canine massage therapist, I have the honored position of working with dogs and their owners as a team. We often focus on quality of life for the dog. In many cases, the quality of the dog’s life is a direct consequence of what is happening in their human family and vice-versa.

I really like the Pet Effect’s latest video – Adopt a Human – because it puts a different perspective on adoption.

Did your dog rescue you?

Kathleen Crisley, specialist in dog massage, rehabilitation and nutrition/food therapy, The Balanced Dog, Christchurch, New Zealand

3 Comments

Posted in dog adoption, Dogs

Tagged adoption, human-animal bond

The Great Global Greyhound Walk

Posted on June 7, 2017 | Leave a comment

The Great Global Greyhound Walk has become an annual event since 2014 to raise the profile of adoptable greyhounds. (The event was started in 2010 as the Great British Greyhound Walk but interest soon went global.)

Groups from around the globe organize walks with their hounds to show them off to the public and to raise funds for greyhound adoption.

This year, the date is this Sunday – 11th June. If you follow the Walk’s website, there’s a searchable database to find the walk closest to you.

Check out the map while you are there – this event is truly global.

As Izzy is a greyhound and we volunteer for Greyhounds as Pets, you can guarantee that we will participate in our local walk in central Christchurch.

Interested in knowing more about bringing a greyhound into your life? Why not come out on Sunday and meet lots of hounds and their owners. Owners love to talk about their dogs and their enthusiasm is infectious. Bring your spare change and make a donation, too, so more hounds can find a forever home.

Kathleen Crisley, specialist in dog massage, rehabilitation and nutrition/food therapy, The Balanced Dog, Christchurch, New Zealand

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Posted in animal welfare, dog adoption, Dogs

Tagged adoption, greyhounds

Patience

Posted on February 16, 2016 | 2 comments

Patience

Some people find it hard to believe that a dog professional like myself has never raised a dog from a puppy. That’s because my family raised me with the idea that you adopt, rather than buy, a dog. And by default that has steered me into a life with re-homed dogs – both mixed breeds and purebreds – who have entered my life at different ages.

My first dog came from a shelter; my second came from a supermarket ‘free to a good home’ ad; my third was a private adoption facilitated by a local rescue group (but she had never lived in their shelter); my fourth was a word-of-mouth adoption of Daisy, a purebred Pointer, who had bounced back to her breeder through no fault of her own. And now, I have Izzy who is a retired racing greyhound.

It’s a myth that ‘rescue’ dogs are all mixed breeds; many pure bred dogs also find themselves in need of re-homing. Responsible breeders will take back a dog for any reason during the lifetime of the dog. So, for example, in cases of divorce or an owner’s death, these dogs come up for adoption – and that’s only a couple of examples. There are also breed specific rescue groups who are passionate supporters of a breed and work to re-home dogs who have fallen on bad times.

What my life of adopting dogs has taught me is patience. It’s great to go out and buy the dog a bed, food and toys and envisage a perfect life together. And it will be good- but there are usually teething problems.

For example, when I adopted Izzy , she was suffering from re-homing stress. She was overwhelmed by her surroundings in my home – it was totally foreign territory. She was off her food and made herself a bed on a blanket by the front door. She remained there for almost 2 weeks (only moving to eat or drink or go out for walks) until she got her confidence to explore more of the house.

It took her 2 months to venture confidently into my bedroom (where large windows looking out onto the garden seemed to overwhelm her). She did not get on my bed for almost 4 months.

We had a few toileting incidents but that was also because she was getting used to new food and was already stressed from her change of circumstances. Whose tummy wouldn’t cause them problems?

But we got there and that takes patience. When I do home-checking for Greyhounds as Pets, I get an idea about how well the family is prepared to be patient with their new dog.

A prospective owner with a very strict timeline for getting their dog settled is unlikely to be successful – the dog doesn’t know about the timeline.

The best advice I can give is – be patient. If anything, give your new dog some space. Let them decide when they are comfortable in trying new things and don’t overwhelm them with affection too soon.

It’s worth the wait.

Kathleen Crisley, specialist in dog massage, rehabilitation and nutrition/food therapy, The Balanced Dog, Christchurch, New Zealand

2 Comments

Posted in dog care, dog ownership, Dogs, Uncategorized

Tagged adoption, Greyhound, mixed breeds, patience, pound dogs, purebred

Professional athletes as spokespeople for animal welfare

Posted on October 25, 2015 | Leave a comment

Professional athletes in most competitive sports gain a lot of media attention for their achievements and rightly so. Some also use their fame to help other causes, including animal welfare (and this makes me like them even more).

Some athletes, like professional baseball player David Ortiz (‘Big Papi’) of the Boston Red Sox, team with corporate sponsors to get the word out about animal adoption and shelters. Such is the case in the video linked below, sponsored by Pedigree.

Earlier today, New Zealand’s All Blacks won a place in the Rugby World Cup final. Sadly, I’m struggling to name an All Black that has used his fame to promote an animal welfare cause. Please tell me if I’m wrong.