The Adoption Story Pt. 1: Steps to Adopting a Dog

A photo of Markus in a rescue shelter sent to us by Empathy for Life

In our development with Markus, we’re constantly pushing for the next thing. We’re always trying new things to train and work with him - so much so that when something doesn’t go the way we expect it to, we can become discouraged or even frustrated.

Taking the time to reflect where things began helps us to appreciate where we are today and it gives us the boost for another day. Putting in perspective that Markus was a rescued dog who had difficulty being adopted because he was labeled as aggressive helps us to appreciate how far he’s come in his time with us.

The Paws & Reflect series is our way of pausing to appreciate all the progress Markus has made from his days as an aggressive dog at the rescue shelter. We revisit his past to help us put into focus all the great things he’s already accomplished with us.

This week and throughout the next few, we're going to share our adoption story with you. Our story goes beyond our local shelters all the way to places like Thailand, Korea and Japan in search of our dog. Our story is specifically based in the Pacific Northwest area and our hope is that it can be a roadmap for others looking to do something similar.

Our adoption journey began sooner than we expected. Like so many others before us, my wife and I started checking out rescue shelter sites with the sole intention of seeing the pictures of dogs that were available. Well - spoiler alert - we ended up adopting one soon after that. So let me be the first to warn you: if you're not ready to adopt a dog yet and also don't think you have the control to say no to a cute face, then you probably shouldn't look up pictures of dogs in rescue shelters yet.

Our journey started with a lot of research in the beginning. We weren't expecting to adopt until the following year, but we wanted to know what to expect ahead of time. Aside from dogsitting, both Pammy and I have never raised a dog before. In fact, the extent of our combined pet-raising experience was the hamster that I had as a child (R.I.P. Pikey), so you can see why we wanted to be prepared.

For us, we found that the best way to do research was to talk to dog owners. We received tips on being first time owner, what we can expect in terms of lifestyle or schedules changes. If you know some dog owners, I recommend speaking with a few of them. But with that said, we also found that there was conflicting advice, so it's also important to know the difference for yourself. A lot of these differences on the breed of the dog, so it's important to research the breed that you might be interested in.

Narrow Down the Breed

For some of you, the breed might not be a big factor. I've known others who adopted for the love of adopting. For us, we were open to the breed, but (and maybe this says a little bit about us) we were looking for a specific look or appearance. My wife and I have always liked the "wild" look and we've gravitated towards dogs with a wolf or fox-like appearance. Thinking about breeds, this narrows our list to breeds like Huskies or Shiba Ins, but given the limited size of our space, we loosely decided on the Shiba Inu. You might have other ways of deciding a breed, but this was a start for us.

Research the Breed

Now that we have a breed to start on, the next step was the breed itself. Specifically, we were looking for the breed's tendencies and if it'll mesh with our lifestyle. To us, this was a necessary step and we recommend doing this (by which, I really mean Google the breed) and learn about them. There are plenty of websites that'll grade a breed's character traits like how easy they are to train, likeliness to shed, likeliness to drool, cleanliness, etc. By looking at these, you start to form an idea of what the breed is like and whether or not they fit with you and your lifestyle. For example, if you have allergies, finding a dog that's hypoallergenic is important.

Another form of research was by attending a dog meetup, in this case, the Vancouver Shiba Meetup. Once a month in the Vancouver area, Shiba owners meet up at a local park to let their Shibas play and interact with other Shibas. We got to speak with other owners for firsthand accounts of specific breeds, which went a long way for us. I recommend looking for dog meetups in your area to speak with dog owners of breeds you're looking for!

Looking in Person, Online and Overseas

Having loosely decided on the breed, we joined a Facebook group called Adoptable Dogs/Cats in Vancouver. This group was created for dog owners to exchange advice on adopting and raising rescued dogs. This group ended up being an incredible resource for us and they answered questions and concerns that we had. We found the people in the group extremely generous with their time and felt their passion for rescuing dogs. Before starting your search, we recommend seeking out groups like this who may be able to answer questions you might have in your specific area.

Loosely based on Shibas, we started searching locally. We began by looking online and visiting rescue shelters within our area. After striking out at local shelters, we expanded the search to neighbouring cities and provinces around Vancouver. Still, we couldn't find what we were looking for, so people from the group recommended that we try PetFinder to look in the United States. We tried this and finally started seeing results.

If you're looking to adopt, I understand how daunting the idea of adopting from another country sounds. In fact, for our specific breed, someone in the Facebook group suggested that we might have better odds looking in Asia. This was something that never crossed our minds. Logistics alone, the thought of adopting from Asia sounded costly so we never considered it, but they mentioned they had done it themselves and the cost was reasonable. With that, we started searching sites from other countries.

These rescue shelters are great at including summaries of the dogs, their mannerisms, how well they interact with other dogs, and when available, the history of the dog. Oh and, of course, lots of pictures. Through the pictures, we started finding dogs that matched what we were looking for. But as we started going through the images and descriptions, we came across a difficult question and one that you'll also have to ask yourself if you're rescuing a dog: What is the oldest age we're willing to adopt? 

The Age Thing

Deciding on the age of the dog was a hard question for us to answer because it feels selfish. Depending on the breed, a dog's life expectancy varies, so by answering this question, we're in essence deciding how much time we expect to spend with the dog. By deciding the age, it crosses dogs off the list for us because they're older and that was difficult for us. This is a question that many of you (definitely not all), will need to answer. 

In full transparency, the oldest we were willing to adopt was 8 years old loosely basing it on a Shiba's life expectancy. That will give us an estimated second half of the dog's life. Depending on your situation, this number might be greater or less for you, but you'll have to answer that yourself and it might be worth going in with an age in mind.

Learn the Behaviours and Their Consequences

With our criteria defined and without much luck in North America, we began looking through sites in Korea for Shibas. Admittedly, not knowing the language made it a bit harder, but pictures (and videos) really do say a thousand words. By looking locally, we discovered breeds that we hadn't heard of before. They were similar and definitely looked like Shibas, but they weren't Shibas. There were Akitas (like Hatchi), Korean Jindos and, of course, Shiba Inus. It really opened our eyes and allowed us to broaden, so we delved deeper into these breeds.

In one of the rescue shelters, we were captivated by a dog named Solar, a 3-year-old Korean Jindo and his story. Solar was picked up at the city pound and dropped off at this rescue organization Empathy For Life (EFL). Before that, no one knows Solar's history. All they know is how he was from the time that he was dropped off at the city pound. You see, Solar was a "hard to adopt" dog and by the time we had inquired about him, he had been in the organization for nearly a year and a half. Although he was good with people, Solar was not good with other dogs and was considered to be aggressive towards other dogs.

If you're not familiar with aggression or other character traits that the dog might have, you have to look it up. Some dogs are aggressive, some have separation anxiety, some dogs are fearful of people and/or other animals, etc. Rescue shelters are generally good at disclosing a dog's personality traits. The reason for this is because rescue shelters want to make sure that a dog doesn't wind up in another rescue shelter down the line, so they want to make sure that if a dog is being adopted, the adopter is fully aware of what they're getting.

We’re going to pause here for this week. Join us next time for the second part of our Adoption Story that includes the application process and a trip to North Dakota?

We’re so grateful for your support of The Markus Project. We mostly choose our locations through searching and word of mouth. If you know of a park, trail or location you think we should check out, please share it with us. We’d love to know!