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.
