Why We Chose to Rescue a Dog
Markus smiling with his new life as a rescued dog in North America
We’ve had a few people ask us about our decision to rescue an older dog rather than adopting a puppy from a breeder. Did we always know? Were there struggles?
We wanted to spend some time to answer that question this week. Even though we knew we wanted to rescue, it still wasn’t as easy as readily jumping in with both feet. It was a decision that we wrestled with and we wanted to take you through the process of coming to our decision, which was made consciously and intentionally.
We just wanted to say that we don't have anything against adopting through a breeder. We recognize that rescuing a dog comes with a lot of unique challenges and having weighed a lot of them out ourselves, we understand that it's a commitment that’s not for everyone.
What were our concerns?
Our dog Markus arriving to us at the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport all the way from Korea
Your list of concerns might be different from ours, but there were a few things that jumped out at us immediately. The question for us was less about rescuing or adopting through a breeder. The question was more so if it was the time for us to rescue. We were always rescue-first, but the situation needed to be right so that we’re able to give this dog what it needed in case it came with a history. We hope that our thought process can help you brainstorm if rescuing and the timing is right for you.
It's our first time raising a dog
Our biggest worry was about adopting and raising a dog in general. It wasn't specific to rescuing. My wife and I have never raised a dog before and in fact, the extent of our collective pet-raising history was a hamster (R.I.P. Pikey), so a dog was a big step up.
With a puppy, it’s almost scripted. There are steps in a dog’s development that you just know will happen. For example, you know that a puppy will need to be potty trained so you can study up on potty training techniques and be prepared for it. Raising a dog from a puppy is so common that the stages of what to do and what to expect are so well documented that it’s hard to do it wrong.
On the flip side, there are so many unknowns with rescued dogs sad many of those traits are only discoverable when you’re spending time with the dog. There’s no one-size-fits-all guide for something like this. This inability to prepare for specific situations makes it all the more daunting for first-time dog owners. The best we can do is look for telltale signs of behaviours the dog might be exhibiting to try and train them out of it.
We don't know the behaviours the dog already has
This leads us to the next big unknown variable: we don’t know what behaviours that the dog has already developed. In previous stops, it's possible that dogs in rescue organizations have developed behaviours like a fear of humans, children or other dogs. They could have abandonment issues and get anxious when their owners leave for even a short amount of time. Other dogs develop a sense of possessiveness by having been in the rescue shelter environment and having to compete with other dogs for too long.
These behaviours can show up in mild forms or it can also become an issue that's so prominent that both the dog and owner are limited in their day-to-day routines. Sometimes, even, dogs appear fine on the surface until something completely unrelated triggers a certain behaviour. For example, some dogs might not exhibit possessiveness until they’re given a specific type of food. During the adoption process, it’s possible that the dog was never given that type of food, so they never exhibit that behaviour. You start to see why it can be hard to be prepared for these outcomes.
Generally speaking, rescue shelters are good at disclosing what you need to know. If their goal is to help dogs find their furever homes, then it is in their best interest to equip potential adopters with what they need to know. Having all the information up front allows you to be informed in your decision so that the last thing that would happen is for the dog to wind up back at the shelter again.
In fact, most rescue shelters require an in-person meet and greet with the dog as part of their evaluation. They want to see how the dog interacts with their potential new owners and if there are any early signs that it might not work out. Some organizations will even go as far as doing 2-week trials where the dog goes home with the owner and then a home visit is completed to see how the dog's doing. All this gives organizations the chance to step in if there are any signs that it's not going to work out.
It's also not just about the fit between the dog and its potential new owner. A dog's behaviour can change drastically from the time they're at a rescue shelter to the time when they're the only dog in the house. Think about it - at rescue shelters, dogs could be constantly barking and whining or running at each other. Suddenly, the dog could be in a house that's quiet for most of the day right after they're adopted. A dog's behaviour could change because of that type of major environment change.
These types of unknowns make it difficult to predict what our days and weeks will look like immediately following the adoption. All dogs require training and that's predictable, but extreme behaviours require special attention, which could end up costing more in time and money. Dogs from rescue shelters have been deserted once already and they deserve the patience, benefit of a doubt and commitment from their new owners.
Rescuing a dog is a two-way street (although only one side really has a say in the adoption). Yes, we adopt dogs because we're looking for joy or for companionship, but we as owners need to come with a mindset that's prepared to work with any behavioural issues they might come with. In that way, dogs aren't here to only serve us, but for us to work and train with them so they can have the best life possible too.
It's harder to assess the fit when adopting overseas
Assessing the fit was a little bit different since we adopted from Korea. We didn't have the opportunity to meet the dog or to foster them for a couple weeks before we adopted, but we did have to send photos of our home and our space for them to evaluate the fit. The questioning process was more extensive, but adopting a dog from overseas is a major commitment in that way.
In this way, you really can't know the fit until they're already here and by then, you've already committed with the flight over. You better hope it's a good fit. In general, organizations overseas are more likely to send dogs that are projected to be a better fit than those who have already exhibited behavioural issues. In our case, the organization suggested a few ultra-friendly dogs and it made sense to minimize the risk in that way, but we were extremely committed to working with Markus once we learned about his story.
We felt that the organization did extremely well and everything in their power to make sure that Markus landed in a committed and supportive home. Their process was extensive and that made the transition more seamless even though we're all the way in Vancouver.
We may not know about potential health issues or life expectancy
When you rescue a dog with a blurry history, you may not get to know the dog's part health issues. In the case of our dog Markus, his history before landing in the rescue shelter is unknown and he was already almost 2 years old by the time he landed with them. What happened to him or what did he do in those two years? Nobody knows and we just have to accept that.
This leads to another great question: How do we know that he's even 2 years old?
In short, we don't.
Veterinarians are trained to look for telltale signs that'll give you an estimation of a dog's age, but even those are just estimations.
This is unlike adopting through a breeder. Most breeders should be able to tell you exactly when the puppy was born and the life expectancy of the dog based on the parents or the grandparents before it. Even though these are never an exact science, there's peace in knowing the full history of a dog.
With rescuing, we can make informed guesses by looking at the average lifespan of certain breeds. Still, it is hard to make those predictions without knowing the full history of the dog. In Markus' case, we're not even 100% sure on his breed. We feel fairly confident with our guesses based on his appearance, but we can't ever be sure. These are just some of the unknowns of rescuing a dog.
Our outlook is to let him live his life with us to the fullest. If we do that well, it won't matter how long his life ends up being because every part of it was great.
You’ll possibly miss out on those puppy years
We often wonder what Markus would’ve looked like as a puppy. We look at him now and we think about how cute he must've been as a puppy. There's something special about raising a dog from the time they're puppies to seeing them mature and age. Puppies are just so darn cute.
From a puppy, you can start to see bad behaviour starting to develop and nip it before it became anything. As we've already discussed, you also get to see any health concerns or accidents if they happen. All these things become variables and there's a good chance that you won't have the luxury of this information when you rescue.
There are puppies waiting to be rescued too, but there are just way more older dogs.
So why rescue?
Photo sent to us of Markus at the rescue shelter in Korea
Why did we choose to rescue after having listed out all of these concerns? Well, we watched one too many dog rescue commercials with Sarah McLachlan's Angel in the background and it finally broke us.
Just kidding.
Rescuing a dog is incredible if you really think about it. Providing a home is an amazing gift, whether it be to humans or animals. My wife and I love animals and to be able to give a home to one who either lost theirs or never had one to begin with is something that we both wanted to do.
Rescuing is difficult to justify - this is true. There are unknowns, which comes with a certain amount of risk that the owner takes on and this needs to be acknowledged. The commitment is not for everybody. But we always hear the saying high risk, high reward, right Well, not necessarily.
So often, owners expect some sort of reciprocated love from the dog that's never fully met. They think it'll be easy, so when the dog grows up differently from what they had in mind, they become frustrated or lose interest. Too many dogs have been deserted for those reasons and it happens way too often.
These variables change when we rescue and we take on even more unknown issues. So why bother? And at what point do we say that rescuing the dog paid off?
From the very beginning.
Rescuing a dog should never be about what we get out of it. If we approach it that way, we're setting ourselves up for disappointment. Rescuing a dog ought to be about the opportunity we're giving them to rehabilitate their lives to make the most out of it. Viewing it from that perspective allows us to put a frame around it. Is the dog acting up again? That’s okay. At least it has a home with us.
Rescuing doesn't always make sense. It's even harder when you try to justify it with pros and cons. But if it's in your heart to provide a home to an animal in need of one, then it doesn't need to make sense.
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!
