How To Adopt a Dog
Posted By: CLEvans ; Category: Pets; November 11, 2008
Author CLEvans;
Pet adoption is always a great thing. Adopting any pet, especially a dog, is a huge responsibility. To help you through the process, we've put together plenty of really good information to help you adopt the right dog for you and your family.
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The first step will be to research the type of dog you are interested in. Deciding if you want a large, medium, or small dog is best to start your research.
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The second step in adopting a dog will be to research various dog rescue organizations. This will help you to narrow down your choices. A couple of sites that I suggest are:

• <a href="http://www.animalshelter.org&quot;&gt;http://www.animalshelter.org&lt;/a&gt;
• <a href="http://www.adoptashelterdog.com&quot;&gt;http://www.adoptashelterdog.com&lt;/a&gt;
• <a href="http://www.pedigree.com/03adoption/Adopt%20A%20Dog/Select%20A%20Dog/default.aspx&quot;&gt;http://www.pedigree.com/03adoption/Adopt%20A%20Dog/Select%20A%20Dog/default.aspx&lt;/a&gt;
• <a href="http://adopt-a-shelter-puppy.adoptapet.com/&quot;&gt;http://adopt-a-shelter-puppy.adoptapet.com/&lt;/a&gt;

You can also look in your local phone book to find the closest animal adoption shelter to you.
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Once you have found the dog for you online, or the closet animal adoption shelter, you will then want to visit animal adoption center to inquire about the dog that you are interested in.
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Once you have visited the animal adoption shelter, you will want to see how the dog interacts with you. If you have a family and all family members are not with you when you are picking your dog, make sure you bring some kind of clothing item so the dog can smell each item to see how he acts.
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You then should ask the animal adoption shelter or the dog owner if you are able to take the dog for a walk. Here you will see how the dog really acts. You want to make sure your dog is walkable and see if it will not over power you on the leash. Also, make sure that your dog wants to walk because some dogs may not walk at all. If you find your dog is easy to walk this is a plus.
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After you have taken the dog for a short walk, ask the adoption shelter or the dog owner if you could possibly feed and water the dog. Here will be you final test. When the dog is feeding try to pet the dog, but be very cautious because the dog may bite. If the dog doesn’t try to bite you or barley growls, you have a winner. This test is to make sure if you have any guest or children in the house and they decided to pet the dog while eating the dog will not snap and try to bite them.
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Ask the adoption shelter or the dog owner if you could take the dog to your home for a one week trial. This will allow you to see how the dog will act in your home.
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If all goes well in that trial period, it’s safe to say you have found yourself a pet. If your family and the dog just cannot get comfortable with each other, I would suggest to start over until you find the right one. Remember a family pet is like a new child to the family, It’s something that will be a part of your family for a very long time. Make the right choice!
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