Dawn’s Story
by Dawn E.
I am an accidental adopted dog owner. I became an advocate for dog adoption by fostering rescue dogs. In fact, my first adopted dog, Odie, came to live with me as a foster dog and simply never left! Odie is a purebred Springer Spaniel who was originally rescued from the Kitchener-Waterloo SPCA in 1997 at the age of 2. He had lived with his ‘forever family’ until his adopted father died and his adopted mother found him too high energy to manage on her own. Odie was a good fit for my life because I am an active person who enjoys lots of physical exercise and had loads of free time to spend with him. Even so, there were challenges. Odie had terrible separation anxiety when left at home alone, even after lots of physical exercise. When Odie was 12 he developed arthritis and I had to cut back on his exercise. At an age when most dogs are retiring, Odie continued to be very high energy. With these issues in mind, I decided that Odie needed a companion.
Dawn with Odie, Skipper and Phyllis
The decision to adopt another dog was not an easy one. Odie didn’t express much interest, and was often aggressive towards, other dogs. But he got along better with small dogs and dogs that were neither submissive nor dominant. One frigid March day I made a trip to the Hamilton SPCA to visit their dog adoption facility. I was completely overwhelmed and roamed the aisles, feeling more upset and anxious by the minute. How could I possibly adopt only one dog? As I rounded the last aisle of crates, I came upon the dirtiest, most dishevelled little Shih Tzu I had ever seen who, unlike every other dog at the SPCA, was quietly curled up in a blanket, sleeping. I was intrigued. Here was quite possibly the only calm dog at the pound so perhaps she would be compatible with Odie. I knelt down beside her crate and when I did she got up out of her nest of blankets and let me rub her belly. I was smitten. The next day after a successful ‘meet and greet’ with Odie, I was the proud owner of a second adopted dog.
In spite of their advanced age (Phyllis was about 10, and Odie was 12) owning two dogs was no more work than owning one. In fact in many ways it lightened my burden. Phyllis established herself as the pack leader so now, when I left for work each day or went out in the evening, I did not return to accidents in the house, shredded garbage or some other act of defiance by Odie. Odie seemed to relax with Phyllis. For Phyllis, Odie provided the companionship she needed when I wasn’t there, for if left alone she barked incessantly. When Odie turned 14, I began to worry about what would happen to Phyllis if she didn’t have his companionship. Adopting a third dog was the obvious solution!
My decision was guided by the same rules as my first adoption; the dog would have to be a small breed and ideally similar temperament to Phyllis. I found a Shih Tzu crossbreed through an animal rescue on Kijiji. We met ‘Skipper’ at a local park, in a fenced in area where they could meet off leash but couldn’t run away. Skipper was nothing like his description, more cross than Shih Tzu…he was overweight, out of shape and had serious dental problems…I knew immediately he had to come home with me! Skipper was eight years old when he was rescued because his elderly owner had to go into a nursing home. Integrating Skipper into the pack was not as seamless with three dogs, but in time they worked out the pack dynamics and accepted Skipper.
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