Dog Dating¶

A few month’s ago was Maddie’s Pet Adoption Day in the Bay Area. Shannon and I were looking to adopt a dog so we went around to a dozen different rescues looking at the options. I jokingly thought of it as dog dating.

Two takeaways from the experience:

1. Again I was amazed by how quickly an opinion was formed. It was like looking at houses. Maybe opinions solidify quicker with the big decisions because small things are more easily deal-breakers: pretty/ugly, big/small, jumpy/sleepy. I hoped for a connection with each animal. That very idea is curious.
2. It was sad to see behavioral issues in some of the dogs. Some animals were terrified by people, some leaped at children, others were violent toward peers. I’m sure you can work on all these behaviors but its tough to imagine adopting those problems. The dogs and their behaviors were a caricature of us humans.

Did we find a match? Nope, sadly.

But that doesn’t mean we gave up.