We adopted our little Myrtle from a rescue a little over 4 yrs ago.  She came from a puppy mill and was treated very badly.  All she ever wanted was for someone to love her.  We had 4 great years with her.  Last month she had a sudden seizure and based on the vet's findings it was determined that she most likely had a brain tumor.  We decided it was best to put her sleep.  The first picture is how she looked right after I got her.  She lost the hair on her butt due to fleas.  She lost most of her teeth, most likely trying to bite her way through the cage at the puppy mill where she came from.  The second picture I took this picture 2 days before we had to put her to sleep.  She was my beautiful little girl.  






We decided that we wanted to have more dogs, but wanted to adopt from a rescue again, rather than look for a puppy.  We were checking at the rescue where we adopted Myrtle from and we saw a little girl name Cherry, a 7 yr old chihuahua that had been picked up as a stray in the next town over.  She sat for several weeks at the shelter in that town, but no one showed any interest so she was sent to the rescue here to see if anyone would be interested.  Well, Cherry is a sweet little girl that is very friendly and has a very nice attitude.  She's not yappy, nor does she have small dog syndrome.  We decided to adopt her.  She has to have a dental (provided by the rescue) on this Tuesday and we pick her up Wednesday.  




If you're looking for a new dog try a rescue first.  Those dogs will love you  like no other, and you'll be doing a nice thing for some poor little dog that didn't ask to be in a rescue.

Sorry for your loss, man.

Cherry sure is a cutie though.

My buddy and his wife were trying to adopt a rescue dog recently.  They crawled up his ass with a microscope!  House photos, references, spoke to their Vet from their previous dog, etc...  They even wanted them to pay $500.00 dollars for past treatment and care.  He told them to go fuck themselves when they wanted to conduct an "in home inspection" before allowing them to adopt this little dog.  

I hope your experience was better.

We adopted two collies from a rescue a  year + ago. We had to respond to a 15 minute phone interview, but then, we love dogs and it wasn't hard to convince the person of an obvious truth. Frankly, I am grateful that they didn't want these dogs to go to another bad home, just to clear out space in their rescue. Recently, on a darker note, apparently a dog was stolen locally out of a neighbor's yard by another "rescue" but a neighbor saw this in progress and gave chase, calling the cops, who intercepted them and got this person's dog back. I would not care to be given the choice on how to deal with someone trying to steal or hurt one of my dogs...

Two of our four rescues.  These two kind of adopted as friends and are rarely apart.

They look great.  Good job!

Not all rescues are the same.  Some rescues are operated like a business and take in donations, both monetary and non-monetary (food, bedding, supplies), some are operated by individuals right out of their houses.  These are ones that typically don't get a lot of money or donations and may need more monetary help with a dog's medical expenses.  As I mentioned above Cherry needs a dental (which can cost $200 +) but we don't have to pay for it and we're paying $125 to adopt her.  A smaller rescue may not be able to absorb this cost and need you to pay it.  You might see this more with a breed specific rescue.

If anyone is interested in adopting a rescue dog do some research.  You'll find there's quite a few out there and their adoption prices vary.  Also, you might get a discount on a second adoption from a rescue.  We're getting a $50 discount from our rescue because we adopted Myrtle from them. And adoption fees may vary by age (younger dogs typically cost more to adopt), or if there's something wrong with the dog.  Before we put our paperwork in on Cherry we were looking at a chihuahua/beagle mix that had a front leg deformity that had an adoption fee of $25.  Someone put in an adoption app ahead of us and took (good for him).

On two seperate occasions I have tried our rescue here. This last time I let hem know the dog I was interested in and they never got in touch again. No phone call. No e-mail. We emailed each other 3 times that night and when I told them which one we were looking at they stopped responding then. I'm through with the rescue here.

Cherry reminds me of Ginger, the dog my wife brought into the family when we were married. She liked my wife and tolerated me, but she was a good dog.

I'm sorry about Myrtle.