Free and easy - a rescue dog's view of the adoption process

I am so happy to be guest writing this blog.  I fully endorse the multi-step adoption process utilized by hart because I am proof positive it works.  I will lay my bias out on the table right away - I am a rescue dog and without hart's help I probably wouldn't have seen my first birthday, let alone found the most awesomest furever family to call my own. 

By no choice of my own, I was born into an environment that did not keep me healthy, keep me safe or keep me sheltered.  I've included some photos of what I looked like when I was rescued.  My adoptive parents really don't like looking at them because it makes them sad.  Not because I am with them now, but because there are so many dogs like me who are living lives filled with hunger and fear.   

So, as I was saying, I am a rescue dog that was lucky enough to be rehabilitated and rehomed by the volunteer team of hart.  Shout out to all those people - they are the nicest bunch of humans I have ever known!  When they first found me, they were all kind of sad too.  They kept telling me that everything was going to be alright, that my rescue day was the luckiest day of my life.  And it almost was. 

Between the rescue volunteers, the medical volunteers, my foster parents, the supplies volunteers, the adoption team volunteers and the social media volunteers, hart was able to set me up with a new life.  All of those humans invested time and emotion into bringing me to a healthy weight, administering my vaccinations so I never catch nasty viruses, getting me neutered so I never contribute to the overpopulation problem, teaching me how to act in a home, introducing me to people, other dogs and new situations, helping through some fears like being left alone or being threatened and learning how to be a puppy. 

I have been around the block a time or two and have heard nay-sayers comment on adoption processes that are too restrictive or too time consuming and I guess I would have to ask them - am I not worth it?  The luckiest day of my life was when I met my furever family.  They took the time to fill out an adoption application, go through a screening interview, participate in a day visit and then thought long and hard about whether they could take care of me furever before signing my adoption contract. 

Yes, there are several steps in the hart adoption process and it does take some time and coordination to work through, but those humans think that I and my rescue mates are precious cargo.  They take lots of time out of their regular lives to ensure that rescue dogs have healthy and loving homes to go to.  They take special care to match the right home with the right dog.  In my case, they never want me to go without food again and they never want me to be afraid again.  If you think that the adoption process is unnecessarily complicated or time consuming, I guess you don't value me as much as the hart humans do.  And that is ok, because I probably don't want to live with you anyway. 

It is true that there is an overwhelming number of dogs in need of rescue so it would be easier to just give us away to anyone who showed interest, but then would we be any better off?  We are not free because our lives have value and we are not just easily given away because our lives have value. 

I am super happy in my furever home - the adoption process found me a furever family that adores me and I feel the same about them.