If You’re a Tortoise, Don’t Adopt a Hare

  Posted on September 19, 2010  by Joy of Living  No comments

A few months ago, a friend of mine contacted me saying he wanted to adopt a dog.  Based on his lifestyle:  works 8-5, lives in an apartment, not extremely active, I checked Petfinder.com for some pets I thought might be a possible match.

I got an email from him a week or so later telling me he’d fallen in love with a great little dog and adopted him.  Toby was not quite a year old, a border collie blend with a lot of energy.  My friend hired me to walk Toby twice a day to help burn some of the little guy’s energy. By the time Toby’s owner got home from work, though, Toby was ready to play.

I made suggestions of different activities that would help keep Toby busy, but my friend didn’t move forward with them.  This continued for about three weeks, until the day I got an email from my friend telling me he’d returned Toby to the rescue group.

Toby was a great dog, but not a great dog for my friend.  We’ve all fallen in love with dogs we’ve seen at various adoption events and our hearts scream for us to take them home.  Although it would be great for the pet to have a home, it needs to be the right one for him and his owner.

Do your research before embarking on adopting a pet so you won’t have a story that ends like my friend’s did.  He learned a lesson through all of this, but it wasn’t easy for him or Toby.

If you have a more relaxed, less active lifestyle consider adopting an adult or senior pet.  They still have lots of life left, are great companions and appreciate someone giving them a chance for a forever home.