Adoption success story~

[jonomo]

I've been living in Korea a while now and I've always wanted a dog... I knew straight out that I wanted to get one from the shelter... one that has a few years of life under it's belt... I didn't want to get some expensive pure bred puppy... so my wife and I hit the internet and was suprised to find alot of shelters and websites for abandoned dogs..

I found a cute looking dog on a shelter's website and decided to hit the road and went to Incheon with my wife... when I went there I was a bit suprised... it was just some Villa with a bunch of dogs running around pack style... this was quite different from what I was use to seeing in the US where dogs are kept in individual cages...

I actually liked this better because I was able to see the dogs interacting with each other.. we saw the terrier we had an eye on and realized that she was a bit of a handful.. barking, running around like crazy, nipping at other dogs.. but one dog caught my eye... a little mutt looking dog that was playing alone in the corner... anytime another dog came up, he would just surrender and lay on his back... when I went to pick him up.. the same thing... surrender...

The girl at the shelter told me the dog had been abandoned on top of a wall, and had been stuck there for a while... She didn't know if he was a pet or a street dog... all i knew was that he was very afraid of people and would just shake and hide in the corner when I took him into the 'play' area...

Well I brought him home... here's a pic. we named him Hobbes..
http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k274/piachy/DSC_0208.jpg

I took him to a vet who told me he was 2 years old and now fully grown... but i swear he's grown at least an inch... and he's gained 1 kilo... he's a happy dog now..

He use to be terrified of going out, would only go to the bathroom, eat, drink at night when we were asleep... but now he loves to play fetch.. go to the park... and meet new people... he's still afraid of other dogs though... :(...

I was a bit worried because my wife and I both have very hectic work schedules... but Hobbes seems to do fine at home by himself... doesn't seem to do anything while we're away... the house is exactly the way we left it, except minus some food and water...

anyway.. i thought I'd share my story because Koreans all seem to think you have to get either a poodle or a maltese.. a water filter repair woman who came into my house asked me why i was actually taking care of a mutt and asked if I was keeping it as a pet??? i thought that was odd... i told her that mutts are less suceptible to sicknesses and that korean mutts are usually very smart b/c they tend to be very street savvy... then I had her fired....

Mutts are great! and Hobbes is turning out to be one fine dog!!!! everyone.. go adopt a dog..

[annie]

Hi there!
Thank you so much for sharing your story. I hope it will help people realize that adoption is a great option. It gives animals a second chance (often a third or more) and is very rewarding too. Plus, when adopting an adult dog, you can better tell what the personality is like.
Good job about the filter woman too ;)

[Karen]

Hi jonomo,

Hobbes is adorable! I can see his tail wagging and his smile is just so nice!! Thanks so much for posting :)

Kudos to you for going out and finding a shelter to adopt from! If you still have the website of the shelter you went to, could you share that link and any other info on how to get there? People often write to ask me where to adopt from in certain cities and I really only know Daejeon and a few other places.

Thanks so much!

Karen

[jonomo]

I'll ask my wife what the link is and post it later, I don't have it at the moment. I find that most vets usually hold a couple of dogs available for adoption. They told me they usually just watch a few for shelters around the city, so it might be wise to just check out your local vet. I found them to be very helpful....

J~

[pukka]

Hi Jonomo ,

Ik have seen this kind of dog before and find them really cute !
And i like his name :)

http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c237/loumark/doggycongrats.gif

[alibuch]

I'm going to a shelter next weekend to adopt an older dog... I hope I have as much success as you.

Congrats.

[jonomo]

It's been a few months now since we've had Hobbes.. and he's doing great.. he actually barked the other day.. I didnt' realize it was him because we never heard him bark before.. My cousin and I were playing some Wii and my cousin got a bit animated.. I guess Hobbes thought he was trying to hurt me or something.. so he barked at my cousin... very funny and suprising.. hehe