Puppy Update

photo credit: Zevotron

I wanted to give everyone a little followup after I made mention that my wife and I wanted to adopt a puppy. In order to gain a little more information in regards to the adoption process itself, I fired off an email to my local Humane Society.

After a few days of waiting, I received an email from the Kennel/Rescue Coordinator apologizing for the delay. it seems she was on vacation and emailed me as soon as she returned. The woman I exchanged emails with was very nice and provided me with all of the information I would need. Turns out that it is as simple as visiting the Humane Society with some documentation.

Unfortunately, the Humane Society occasionally receives puppies. They have several young adults (ages 6 months to 1 year), which seems like it may be better for my wife and I. With our new family member needing to spend roughly six hours alone while we both work, the bladder control of an older dog may be to our benefit.

While we had our hopes on getting a puppy, I think we will be just as happy with a young adult. We may visit the Humane Society as early as next week to take a look at what is available and to get the paperwork taken care of ahead of time.

The most frustrating step thus far came today. I was speaking with my father and he informed me that I should contact my home owners insurance company and find out if there are any restricted breeds. I made the call this afternoon and have more questions now than I did before the call.

The person I spoke with rambled off seven “no-no breeds” from a sheet he had in the office but was unable to clarify. Those breeds included Rottweiler, Pitt Bull, Akita, Wolf Hybrid, and two others which are eluding me at the moment. Not having a clue what a wolf hybrid was, I asked the gentleman on the phone if it included something such as a Siberian Husky. His response was that he did not know, he was only reading from the form in the office.

He went on to say that if I would have had one of those breeds at the time I bought the house, the policy would not have been written. Now that it has, I’m told that it would not be void due to these potentially dangerous breeds, but they would not cover any accidents with the dog.

Knowing that this person was unable to help me, I sent an email via the company website for clarification on the breeds. Living near a fairly large city in Pennsylvania, it is extremely difficult to adopt a dog that is not of mixed breed. As a result, I need to know what percentage of said dangerous breed can be in my potential dog before it becomes a problem. Majority of the dogs here are Pitt Bull mixes, which could cause a potential problem. Even though my wife and I were not planning on adopting any of the above mentioned breeds, there is a chance that our dog could have a bit of the breed in them.

On a more positive note, I’ve been checking out all the information I can on training dogs. I came across Dog Whisperer today on television and am amazed by the work that Cesar Millan does with dogs. There was some sort of marathon on today which made for an unproductive day outside of searching out information on dogs.

Not much in terms of a story, or a point really, just wanted to share a little of my dog experience along the way.

Can you recommend a source of information
on dogs and dog training?