If you know me, or have been following me on any of my social networking websites, you will know that I love animals and, together with my roommate, have two of the best pets for which a guy could ever ask. I grew up in Texas where we raised several dogs at once and taking care of Cass, a five-year-old pitbull mix rescue, in New York City opened my eyes to the vast different between the two worlds. I now find myself not only ready for, but actively looking to adopt, a new pup to add to my life and our pack at home so the search for my new best friend has begun!
Originally, and certainly by my roommate's wishes, I was to look for and adopt a kitten to add to the litter. After further discussion we decided that a puppy would be a welcome addition to the family, as long as it is smaller than Cassidy once it has fully grown. To be perfectly honest I am more a fan of bigger dogs, but am surely open to the idea of having a smaller pooch by my side. I'm experienced at training dogs so the loud and yappy factor will be completely trained out of him or her, to be replaced with a far better mode of communication. Shelby is thirteen years old, so that old puss will certainly be territorial and terrorize the pup at first but she'll warm up to or tolerate the new addition eventually, like she did with Cass and now the pair cuddle and play with each other.
So, uh... where's the new guy?
After looking at adoption options online and ruling out the completely unnecessary qualifications different shelters and agencies had from age and income to home visits and thorough interviews, Jason and I decided to contact the ASPCA to schedule a visit because pet adoption should be more about the connection between animal and human than whether my apartment has screens and meets your minimum requirement for pet ownership. I completely understand and agree with protocols to ensure that an adopted animal finds the best and most compatible home, but some of these requirements are ridiculous and make it harder to adopt a pet than a human child.
The ASPCA was great, we met with consultants who introduced Jason, Cassidy, and me to a variety of potential pups who suited what we were looking for in an adoptee and what would work for us as the ones taking him or her in. Unfortunately the few puppies that definitely caught my interest were either already saved for adoption by another family or ineligible because they didn't get along well with Cass and Shelby. So it was with a broken heart that we left the center and headed back home.
So now the search continues! Jason reached out to the Mayor's Alliance representative who worked with him to adopt Cass and she has a few pups in mind for me to adopt, so I'm excited to meet them in the coming days! The fact that she has personally worked with Cass to make sure she was adopted and placed into our home means she'll know the right matches for all of us. So although she didn't get a new baby brother or sister today, at least Cass had an adventure and a half!
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