Even though this is a tale of adoptions gone wrong, I do not mean to steer anyone away from adopting a pet from a shelter or rescue. So many wonderful animals are awaiting forever homes. The need for good homes is overwhelming. I highly encourage people to adopt from a reputable group who closely screens applicants and seeks to find the perfect match for the animals in their care. A reputable group will make you sign a contract and will make sure that the pet you adopt is a good match for your family. This is the story of my experiences and lessons I learned the hard way while looking for the perfect addition to my family.
A little over seven years ago, I began the search for a companion for Ripper. At the time, Ripper my 7 year old Shih Tzu, had spent several years being an only dog. Ripper is not an easy dog to live with. He has his reasons for being the way he is, and we accept them (although we may not understand them). My husband said, "Ripper doesn't want another dog." At the time, he was probably right, but deep down I knew that Ripper needed to bond with someone other than me. Ripper is a bit neurotic to say the least. He's not always dog friendly, has separation anxiety, and has some compulsive behaviors on top of that. He acts like a tough guy but is shaking in his boots most of the time. There are so many dogs in shelters needing homes, and I wanted to help one so I kept my eyes peeled on petfinder.com for a dog that I could "mold" into a new best friend for Ripper. I applied to adopt a dog from one rescue, but was rejected immediately because I do not have a fenced yard on my property. I was a bit offended by that because anyone who knows me knows that any dog I adopted would have the best home and be totally pampered. But they had a hard and fast rule and would not budge on their stance. While I admire rescue groups for wanting the best for every dog that they place, I do feel that cases need to be judged on an individual basis. I am willing to bet that animal control picks up a whole lot of dogs running loose that came from homes with fenced yards. Had this particular group done some phone calls to my references and made a home visit, I think the results would have been different in my case. Anyway, despite one rejection, I opted to continue the search.
Soon I spotted a 12 month old Shih Tzu at a shelter up near my parents' home about an hour away from me. The contact person said I could bring Ripper along to meet him, and I would be able to bring home the new dog immediately if it worked out. As far as I know, they didn't check me out at all. But the dog sounded great, so I loaded up Ripper and headed to the shelter on a Saturday afternoon. We met the dog and Ripper didn't seem afraid of him, and the new dog didn't really seem to care about anything. In retrospect, he was very quiet and listless for a reason. But in my excitement in finding a companion, I signed the papers, paid the adoption fee, and headed home. The new guy was not very energetic for a one year old Shih Tzu, and later that evening he started vomiting repeatedly. He wouldn't eat, but he was drinking water and kept throwing it all up. It was late Saturday night but I gave my vet a call. She agreed to meet me first thing in the morning (on a Sunday...above and beyond the call of duty). During the night, I tried to keep him hydrated. My friend Nikki who is a vet tech came over when I called her in a panic, and we did the best we could to make him as comfortable as possible. When I got him in the vet in the morning, she gave him fluids and told me she would call later in the day to let me know what was going on. She wasn't sure at the time what the problem was but he was one very sick little dog. Imagine my horror, when my vet called me at about 6 p.m. that Sunday night to tell me my newly adopted dog had passed away. I was devastated! He was in my life less than 24 hours. I never got to show him how good a home and family could be. My vet said that after she gave him fluids he had a bout of bloody diarrhea, and went downhill very quickly. She suspected parvo. On Monday I called the shelter that he came from and had quite a discussion with them. They refunded me the adoption fee with my doctor's note, but didn't want to believe they had given me a dog that was deathly ill with parvo. How could they not have known that he was sick? I worried for all the other dogs at that shelter, and for the contaminated environment in my home. My ill-fated dog had only been in two rooms of my home, and in a small area of the yard. I disinfected my home the best that I could and suspended the search for several months so I could recover myself.
My next attempt at adoption was another young male dog that was being rehomed by owner. I found him on petfinder as well. The dog was current on vaccinations (doublechecked that one) and seemed promising. His owners were screening the new home (yay), so they brought him to me for a weekend try out. I could return him to them if it didn't work out. Well, after just a few hours, I could see that Ripper's stress level was off the charts. He was freaked out by the other dog who was young, playful, and rambunctious. I decided to stick out the weekend to see if it would improve, but no luck there. By Sunday afternoon, I had called the dog's owners and made arrangements to return him to them. After this failure, I wondered if I would ever find the right dog.
To be continued...
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