Every year about 6-7 million animals enter homeless animal shelters all across this great nation. Unfortunately, only 2-3 million of those make it out alive. This past week, I have begun to get more involved locally in helping to find some of these homeless animals a forever and loving home.
Now, I know there will be some people reading this who don’t agree with me on this topic. If anything I say offends you then I’m sorry. That is why we have opinions….you have yours, I have mine. So please, if you feel so inclined to hear my opinion, read on.
Ace, my adopted shelter friend
In March of 2007, I did something that literally changed my life. I adopted my dog Ace from a local homeless animal shelter. I had originally wanted a small chihuahua type dog but when I went to the shelter they didn’t have anything I was interested in. I have heard people say for years that if you go to a shelter and spend some time there, a dog will pick you. As cliché as it may sound, I have to say this is true. As I was walking back toward the door, this little black and white puppy reached through his cage and grabbed me by the foot. How was I supposed to turn that down? Long story short, I went back the next day and picked up my new little buddy.
Ever since that day, Ace has grown to be one of my best friends. They don’t call dogs “man’s best friend” for nothing. He is truly a great companion and is many times simply the highlight of my day. I could go on for days explaining how Ace has changed my life, but that isn’t the point of this blog. The point is to get you to understand how many animals are out there that would love to share life with you and have a forever home. They really don’t ask for much…food, water, shelter, play time. They just want their life spared. It’s a sad deal, but many dogs are put to sleep every day in this world because there simply isn’t enough room for them at the shelters.
Last week, myself along with a small group of others joined together through our local animal shelter and created a facebook page to help get some of these homeless animals adopted. I am happy to say that so far it has been a hit. Just in our first week, we have been able to find homes for four dogs. This may not seem like much, but for me it means a lot. And I know it means even more to those four dogs who have a forever home. My goal was to save the life of ten animals in the first month using our page. It looks like we will more than surpass that goal. It truly is heart warming.
Now you may be asking “why adopt a shelter dog?”. Quite simply, you are saving a life. I have already heard it all from different people….”I will only have a full blooded (insert breed name here) dog”. Well I’m here to 
tell you, you just might be surprised with what you may find if you go to your local shelter. Just this week I was able to help coordinate placement of a dog in the shelter that is full blooded Rottweiler. There are heartless people who have these dogs and just dump them at the shelter because they don’t want them anymore. So I have told that to some people who fire back and say “Well if I’m going to have a dog, it better have papers”. Why? If you are going to breed the dog I can somewhat understand. I say somewhat because I don’t support people who breed dogs and sell them for ridiculous amounts of money. Maybe I’m wrong to say it, but I see that as a puppy mill. Once again ….MY opinion. Other than that, why does your dog need papers? I’ve never met a dog that can read (lol). Even so, I have papers for my dog from the shelter. My papers say that I saved a life. Sometimes I let Ace read them when he gets bored.
If you are reading this and are local to us, please check us out on facebook by clicking the link at the bottom of this blog. Join up, send it to all your friends and post pictures of animals looking for a home. The power of social networking is amazing! If you are not local to us, I would like to ask that you form a group and get together with your local animal shelter and do the same thing we are doing. You can also do like myself and contact your local shelter about volunteering. I plan to do this once a week and I know it will be very rewarding. Please, find it in your heart to give a homeless animal a home. Taking in one homeless animal may not change the world, but it will surely mean the world to that one animal.
Check out the link below to visit and join the Friends of Huntsville Animal Services Facebook page.
