So with that in mind, here was the list I had come up with prior to finding Dahlia:
Things I must have in a dog
- Size: Medium (30-60 pounds)
- Coat: Long hair
- Behavior: People friendly
- Behavior: Active enough to go on long hikes
- Behavior: Rides well in the car as we like to drive to plenty of places to go hiking
- Behavior: Affectionate
Things I can deal with/bend on/work on
- Breeds: Prefer Herding dogs or Retrievers or mixes of those breeds, but willing to step outside that idea (especially to dogs like Poodles or Huskies)
- Color: Would prefer a black dog as they have the hardest time getting out of shelters, but willing to adopt a dog of any color
- Age: Prefer 1-3 years old, but could get a somewhat older dog
- Gender: Prefer female dogs, but would be willing to get a male dog
- Behavior: House training issues
- Behavior: Jumping/mouthing/chewing/general "unruly" behavior
- Behavior: Dog aggression (I would prefer a dog friendly dog, but could work with a dog on this)
- Behavior: Afraid of children (We have none and will not have any, so this is not a huge deal, would work on it nonetheless)
- Behavior: Poor leash manners
- Behavior: Bolting out the door
- Behavior: Mild fears and sound sensitivity issues
- Behavior: Digging
- Behavior: High prey drive
- Medical issues: Diabetes (my partner is diabetic; we're used to diabetes in our household)
- Medical issues: Deaf (we would be comfortable adopting a deaf dog)
- Medical issues: Epilepsy
- Medical issues: Skin issues/allergies
- Medical issues: Mange (we have no other pets so there would be no need to quarantine; we would be happy to help a dog heal from this)
- Medical issues: Three legs
Things I cannot deal with in a dog
- Size: Giant dogs (no dogs larger than approximately 80 pounds)
- Size: Small dogs (no dogs smaller than approximately 25 pounds)
- Breeds: No terrier/terrier mixes as they don't gel with my life; no short-faced dogs
- Age: No puppies!
- Age: No seniors...I'm well aware they need homes too but this is my first dog and I'm not ready for heartbreak so early on in getting him/her
- Behavior: Separation anxiety (I live in an apartment, this would be bad)
- Behavior: Fear aggression (my partner used to be afraid of dogs so this would be a bad mix)
- Behavior: Afraid of men (this dog is going to a home with a couple and again, with my partner being afraid of dogs I didn't want him to not bond with the dog right away)
- Behavior: Excessive barking (our landlord specified this one – if the dog is barking too much and neighbors complain we cannot keep the dog or have to move, so we need one who is not overly barky)
- Medical issues: Blind (my partner and I are too scattered with our musical instruments and books/papers from grading and class planning; it would be a poor home for a blind dog who needs things to stay where they are)
- Medical issues: Hip dysplasia (at a young age; obviously hip problems can happen when a dog is older, but would prefer to not adopt a dog who already has it)
- Medical issues: Heartworm (this can just be too heartbreaking to deal with; I couldn't deal with losing the dog so soon after getting it as the treatment can be rough)
A couple things to note: (1) This list is clearly not comprehensive. There are many other behavior and medical issues one might come across with dogs in a shelter or rescue. But these are either common issues or ones I took into consideration as I was making the list. (2) My list of what I "must have" is fairly small. My list of things I can bend on is the largest and my list of things I can't deal with is fairly large, but not as big as the middle list.
All of this was carefully considered before I even met Dahlia.
Coming up in the next post: How well does Dahlia fit with my original list?
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