23 JulEpisode 162 | New York magazine says rescue dogs are now luxury goods. Is it so? Plus: Tips on how to get a puppy
New York Magazine reports that the Pandemic Puppy boom has left many New Yorkers in a kind of do-gooder competition to see who can qualify to get one of a seemingly dwindling number of rescue dogs. Annie talks about why it’s so hard and how that this fact is probably a good thing for the dogs involved. She offers some tips on how to acquire a shelter dog and things to avoid doing when you're looking to buy or adopt a dog. She also argues that it can be a good idea to work with a quality breeder, and gives some advice on how to tell the good from the shady.
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Mentioned in this episode:
New York Magazine article on dog adoption
Orthopedic Foundations For Animals and the CHIC Program
The Culture Clash by Jean Donaldson
Pets In America by Katherine C. Grier
The Dog Merchants by Kim Kavin
Related Episodes:
Episode 42 | Let’s talk about dog breeding with Cherrie Mahon of River Valley Doodles
Transcript:
[intro and music]
Annie:
So last week I talked about two articles in the New Yorker that related to — well, one really related to behavior, and the other related to dogs. This week, I want to talk about an article in another local, big deal magazine, which is New York Magazine just came out with a cover story called “No, you beg: how adopting a dog in the city became more competitive than getting into college” by Allie Conti.
And the article does a good job at talking about how hard it has been to get a rescue dog since the onset of the pandemic, as so many more people decided to or had to work from home, or lost jobs, giving them more free time. Having a dog, in so many cases, became possible for individuals and for families for the first time ever in a lot of cases.
I got my first dog when I went freelance after having office jobs for years when I was in my early twenties. I should mention that I am holding my infant daughter again this week. So you might hear some cooing and pacifier sucking noises.
Anyway, yeah, interesting article. Makes some good points about the history of adoption and how it kind of started with a rebranding of dogs as bad stray mutts that need to be chased by the dog catcher, to kind of sad-eyed, wannabe man's best friends eroding away in shelters.
She talks about how that started to happen in the mid 1800s right around the time of the child welfare movement, and how after the second world war, more people moved to suburbs making dog ownership more possible. And how there was, after World War Two, also this kind of Disneyfication of animals.
Jean Donaldson talks about this in Culture Clash, in one of the first parts of the book and a really interesting way. She kind of talks about how Walt Disney's talking animals gave people, perhaps, these unrealistic ideas about what a dog should be like in one's home. And then we had Lassie which further solidified the idea that dogs are innately to understand us when we ask them to help ten-year-old boys do heroic things.
One thing I recently learned about, I think it was in the book Pets in America, is that actually a progressively better forms of flea protection really helped people start to treat dogs more like pets because they could really bring the dogs inside. And also vaccines got progressively better, which helped ensure that more puppies made it out of puppyhood without getting parvo or lepto or all these other kinds of deadly things that without vaccinations would be far more widespread than they are today.
So anyway, just sort of interesting to think about vaccines and flea protection, two things that I know I generally take for granted actually are a big part of what makes modern pet ownership possible.
One point the article doesn't make, which I think as a lifelong New Yorker is worth mentioning is that, you know, New York is a special place. I think there are a lot of things that are probably harder here than elsewhere. There are many things that are competitive here to a degree where they're not competitive elsewhere. So while I think that this pandemic puppy boom that we've experienced has made it hard for people to acquire dogs with great ease, I'm going to guess that New York is an extreme of that situation.
The writer does talk about how there is kind of a divide between places in the country where most dog owners will spay and neuter their dog and places in the country where that won't happen. And New York is a place where a lot of people spay and neuter their dogs, and there isn't a huge stray dog population like you might find in more rural places, even other cities in the world where there are just more stray dogs.
I think it's really two things it's, you know, there are populations where there's tight control on your pet dog. Your pet dog is in your home with you spayed and neutered on a leash all the time. And then there are plenty of places in the world where dogs exist as pets in less of a controlled way and may not be spayed or neutered. Whether that's because their humans, the humans that are helping them thrive and survive, don't want to, or don't have access to it, or don't know about it, or can't, for whatever reason. There are lots of places in the world where there are a lot of dogs who are not in homes.
I think I mentioned this last episode too, but it's always a statistic that blows my mind when I remember that three quarters of the dogs in the world do not live in people's homes. That does not mean that three quarters of the dogs in the world are feral wild wolf-like creatures. And it also doesn't mean that they're all miserable and sick and unhappy.
I think more than anything, it means that the dog I have in my home and maybe the dog that you have in your home is just part of a very elite and lucky class of dog that has lucked into a situation with someone who is going to devote themselves to their health and wellbeing, their nutrition, their training. Someone who is going to let them sleep under the covers in the bed. Most dogs in the world do not have it so made in the shade
And the extra, extra lucky of those dogs is in a home that was vetted for that dog. There was some group or individual who put in extra time to try and figure out if the situation that this dog, adult dog, puppy, whatever, is going into is the right situation for that dog.
And that's sort of what this article is about. Although I don't think it is taking that angle. It is not taking the angle that there is a great effort out there to make sure that dogs are placed in the appropriate homes to save people the heartbreak of having to rehome a dog, or to make sure that the dog isn't going to hurt anyone, that the dog is going to be happy, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.
That's not the angle of this article is taking, this article is taking more of the tone that it's all sort of over the top and exasperating, how much people have to go through in order to adopt a dog when they're really just trying to do the right thing in the world and are sort of being punished by the fact that whatever powers that be as far as doling out rescue dogs are not rewarding their good intentions and efforts by just letting them have the dog that they want, that they are sure they will take very good care of. Which is totally understandable.
Now, to be clear though, I don't think this is actually that new of a phenomenon. I think that it's always been harder for people to get rescue dogs in New York City than — not always, I should say every situation is different. But I think there are many people before the pandemic, even, who were shocked by what was required of them in order to qualify to get a dog from X, Y, Z shelter or rescue organization, or even often from a breeder.
This pandemic year has just put more people in the situation where they're experiencing how difficult it is. And also for sure making the demand in many cases is greater than the supply. Which is actually a really good thing, right? It's a great, the thing that at least in New York City, there aren't so many dogs in need of homes, dogs that are appropriate to live in people's homes, that they are overflowing into the streets right now, or clogging up the shelters and getting sick in the shelter, which too often happens. Or getting behaviorally damaged from living in a shelter and the stress of it.
So, you know, overall it's about this sort of good thing that has happened, I believe across the country, which is that shelters have largely emptied out. And this also speaks to the success of spay and neuter movements.
Now, is there a degree of people having power trips when they are the ones in charge of placing a dog into the appropriate family from a shelter? I'm sure that that happens, yes. But I also think it's the case, especially with some rescue organizations where they have put a lot of time, money and effort into getting a dog out of a worse situation than they felt the dog should be in, and are therefore interested in putting time and effort into making sure that they're finding the right situation for that dog. Which again also is, I think, generally a good thing. It's setting everyone up for success.
Of course, in New York City, however, you have people who are used to getting what they want. You know, I always think of like New York City as people who graduated from the top of their class in high school and then moved to a place where everybody was the top of their class in high school. And you know, there might be four other people just as qualified for you looking for a rescue dog.
I experienced this myself. After Amos died last year, we were looking to rescue a puppy. And here I am, a dog trainer. I have a podcast about dogs. I have an online store for dogs and retail shop in New York City for dogs. And over the course of a month, I probably inquired about, I don't know, 15 to 20 dogs on Petfinder. And I think I had exactly one person reply to me at all.
But again, not sure how new of a thing this is. I remember 10, 11 years ago, I worked briefly at a dog daycare that also was a rescue organization. And they had this beautiful, petite, gray pitbull there that was just such a mush, such a love. And she had been there for a couple months and I told my downstairs neighbor who I'd known my whole life, who always had dogs, who I thought was an excellent dog owner, about this dog and how sweet she was and that she needed a home.
And I remember, he came out to the place in Brooklyn with a leash and showed up and was like, ready to take home this dog. And the people who ran the place were like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. You need to fill out an application. She already has five applications on her. And I was like, she has five applications on her, then why has she been here for four months? Like where those applications really not good enough? Or are you just in no big rush to find a home for her? Even a home of some kind would be better than this.
I didn't actually speak these thoughts out loud. I just silently judged the whole situation. And I remember another time they had a pair of Yorkie mix puppies or like little terrier Chihuahua mix — I don't remember exactly — puppies. And they kept these puppies in a cage in the back of the daycare for weeks and weeks.
And that's when I was just starting to learn about dog behavior and dog training. And I saw their socialization window just closing without them doing hardly anything other than leaving the back room of the daycare. And they were the most adorable little puppies. I mean, I could have walked down on the street and found five great homes for these dogs.
And I remember finally, like after a couple of weeks, I just couldn't take it anymore. And I was like, aren't you going to find a home for these little puppies? And the man who ran the place said, Eventually, and I thought, God, it's almost like these dogs are kind of currency that, I don't know, need to be flaunted and spent wisely.
And I ended up seeing one of these puppies a year or so after he was adopted. And I talked briefly with the owner, and she told me it was a mess. Barked at everything, scared of everything. Didn't like other dogs, didn't like people approaching. And of course there are many variables that can lead to these kinds of behaviors. But I would guess that a total lack of early socialization during that critical socialization window was part of the reason that this dog ultimately had some, some issues.
Anyway, I am interested in how we are going to acquire dogs in the future as spay and neuter efforts get better and better, especially in places like New York, where most of the dogs do live in homes. And if more people continue to work from home or start to work from home, will that mean that more and more people will get dogs and that this issue of the shelters being emptied out and it becoming more and more competitive is going to become more and more the reality of what it means to get a dog, how should we get a dog?
And I have a few thoughts on this that I wanted to share. I also have invited some people to talk with me on this podcast about some different parts of this issue in the coming weeks, because I definitely have some thoughts and opinions, but I'm not an expert on acquiring dogs. In my adult life, I've had two dogs, one that I bought from a pet store and my current dog, Poppy, who I got from a rescue organization.
It's something I really want to learn more about. And it's something that I have definitely thought about a lot and formed some opinions about just in working with so many, particularly so many puppy owners over the last 10 years. So yeah. Anyway, there's so much to say on this topic.
I have invited Jessica Heckman on the show, Dr. Jessica Heckman. She is a veterinarian. I'm hoping to talk to her perhaps early in the fall. She has an excellent podcast. I've learned so much from her podcast about dog breeding and dog acquisition. Her podcast is called The Functional Breeding Podcast.
I've invited Joyce Briggs onto the podcast. She is the president of the Alliance for Contraception in Cats and Dogs. Actually, first heard her on Dr. Heckman's podcast. And I'm going to be talking to her, which I think will be really interesting.
I also invited Kim Kavin, who is the author of the excellent book, The Dog Merchants, which I read a few years ago and I'm rereading it right now. I think it is such a fascinating book. Like if you're into food, you probably love The Omnivore's Dilemma. If you're into dogs, like this is your Omnivore's Dilemma book. It goes into so many aspects of buying and selling dogs. So I'm super psyched to talk to her.
One thing that she talks about in her book is kind of about how shelter dogs are branded, and really how kind of at the end of the day, a dog is a dog and a dog at a shelter is not necessarily a sad or more unhappy dog than a dog that you purchased.
Although, I think thinking along those lines can be dangerous because, you know, I know I did this when I bought my dog from from a pet store in 2005. You know, I thought, well, he deserves a good life. He should be rescued from this pet store. Just like any animal should be rescued from an environment where they are, they're not the main point of concern. If they can then go into a home with someone who's gonna dote on them and care for them, et cetera, et cetera.
I think this line of thinking sort of perpetuates the problem of buying dogs at places like pet stores. And this is the kind of stuff she talks about in this book. And she has this really interesting part, actually, before I, before I go into my like general tips on acquiring a dog, I wanted to just read this really interesting part of the book where she talks about a divide in how people of different political opinions address dog ownership, which I think is relevant to talking about this New York magazine, because of course, New York is a very — or New York shitty. Did I just say shitty? I really meant city [laughs].
New York City is a very liberal place and that might play into this issue of it being hard to get a shelter dog. Anyway, she writes:
“Studies show that conservatives are more prone to negativity bias which affects every issue of the day that arises, including dogs. Those who are conservative literally and physically experience the world differently than those who are liberal, the authors say.” (She's talking about the authors of this book called Predisposed: Liberals, Conservatives and the Biology of Political Differences.)
“Conservatives have a physiological, more deeply ingrained response to anything that might pose a danger, and anyone who is more sensitive to threats who has strong negativity bias is more likely to stick with tradition and order. That person is more likely to want a strong leader who is clearly in charge. That person is more likely to be leery of outside groups with new ideas, all of which lines up quite naturally with wanting a dog whose marketing label includes the word pure, whose breed is clearly defined in a book of accepted standards and judged by people in positions of authority, and who didn't come from a depressing shelter where who knows what might've been going on.
“It is quite possible that all the purebred marketing, the organization and structure of dog shows, and the notion that breeders offer the best dogs because they're the highest priced taps into an evolutionary need within the more conservative among the population to feel they are making the safest possible choice.
“It doesn't matter to some people which types of dogs might actually make the best pets for their lifestyle. Those who are conservative likely feel in the marrow of their bones that buying from the established purebred industry is just plain safer. It sounds very plausible to me, Hibbing says”– he is one of the books authors, this book that she just mentioned. He says:
“It sounds very plausible to me. The one thing I would add in addition to the tendency of conservatives to dislike not knowing what they're going to get and not liking surprises is also the concept of contamination and purity. People get nervous when you talk about this stuff, but there is evidence that indicates conservatives like things that are pristine.
“Smith and Hibbing are quick to add that people fall into far more than two categories, and that it's unreasonable to paint all liberal leaning people and all conservative leaning people with just two brushes.
“Even so, the conservative/liberal tendencies are there in experiment after experiment done all around the world. Is it any surprise really that a conservative authoritarian nation like Russia would come up with a plan to cull dogs in the streets of Sochi.” This relates to earlier in the book where she's talking about how there was a real stray dog problem in Russia prior to the Olympics. And the plan was basically just to round up and kill all the dogs. She continues:
“Could anyone imagine that happening in, say, the liberal streets of San Francisco, think about how among their liberal friends, many people with purebreds are quick to explain, ‘Yes, my dog Cuddles is a purebred, but I got him from a rescue group, not from a breeder.’ Among the conservative friends, many people with mutts are likely to note, yes, I did adopt the shelter dog Snuggles, but only after he'd been in a foster home and been checked out for a few weeks, so I knew there would be no problems.’
“Such statements aren't about the dogs. Either of those comments could be made about exactly the same dog who originated at exactly the same source, such as a dog auction. Working a breed rescue group signifies the liberal tendency to be okay with surprises and to care about all dogs being given an equal chance, acknowledging that a dog was previously fostered indicates proper attention to potential threats and some kind of orderly process.
“What's being said with these comments is about the people, and about what they've come to believe during the past two centuries about different types of dogs: that some are more worthy than others, depending on the worldview.”
Isn't that interesting? I think it’s really interesting.
Okay. So here are my tips. I wrote out nine tips. I'll see if I can get through all of them before the baby starts crying.
All right. Tip number one: If you're thinking about getting a dog, do not get a dog on Craigslist. And this is my only beef really from this New York Magazine article, is that she writes at one point about how one person she interviewed considered getting a $350 Yorkiepoo from a breeder on Craigslist.
I really don't think there are — at least in New York, I doubt there are any real true dog breeders, like accredited, vetted dog breeders, selling their dogs for $350 on Craigslist. If only because you think about what the vet care for a mother dog and a new puppy must be, If you are breeding dogs and doing a good job at it? And $350 would not cover that.
I think a lot of what's on Craigslist are scammers, and you can't legally sell pets on Craigslist anymore. So it's people asking for donations, which already gets a little shady.
I had a friend who was thinking about getting a puppy and she asked me what I thought about getting one on Craigslist. And I told her my thoughts, which is what I'm sharing with you. But I also, out of curiosity, called a couple of people. I think she was looking for a goldendoodle. I just out of curiosity called a few of the people who were selling Goldendoodle puppies on Craigslist.
And in each case it was a, at least it seemed like it was a different place, different person I was calling each time. But in each case it was like a woman saying the dog was currently with her brother, or she didn't have the dog right now, but her aunt had the dog. It was always some version of that.
And you know, maybe there really are people on Craigslist who really do have dogs that they are trying to rehome with a fee. But I think in a lot of cases, it's a scam, or it might be a case of a stolen dog, or it might be a case of people going to pet stores, buying a puppy and then reselling the puppy at a profit. Or selling a dog, usually a puppy, that they have found out has health or behavioral problems that they don't want to deal with and that also that they might not be revealing. Just don't do it.
And actually, I know this is like an extreme version of terrible things that happen out there. But in the episode I did a couple of years ago where I interviewed Cherie Mahon of River Valley Doodles, she talked about a friend of hers who was murdered because somebody wanted to take her puppies. They came to her home, killed her, took the puppies. And I would not be surprised if those puppies ended up on Craigslist.
And I think there are also people who go and do get dogs from shelters, probably shelters outside of New York City, or maybe even the city shelters at times when there were more dogs available at the actual shelters. Again, a shelter is different from a rescue. A shelter is often a municipal shelter, like in New York City, the ACC is run by the city, it's shelters that will accept any animal.
Rescues then pull from the shelters dogs that they think they can adopt out. They often put these dogs in foster homes, and I do think it can be a great idea to get a dog who's been fostered because you're going to learn more about what that dog is like in a home. And whoever's fostering the dog will have good questions to ask you to make sure it's a right fit.
But anyway, I think there are people who take in dogs from shelters and then adopt quote unquote out those dogs for a fee that is greater than what they paid themselves.
I also think — Tip number two, I think it's wise to avoid pet shops. Like I said, I did get my dog Amos from a pet shop in 2005, which was before I knew better. He ended up being a really wonderful dog. He had just an awesome disposition, personality. He was really healthy up into his old age. He lived till 15 and a half, which is pretty darn old for a dog. He was certainly a huge blessing in my life.
And like I said, when I got him, I thought, well, he needs a home just like a dog in a shelter needs a home. If I'm paying money for him that doesn't really affect who this dog is. And I still see the logic in that argument, but what I know now that I didn't know then is that when you're buying a dog from a store, the chances are high that that animal is coming from a puppy mill or whatever you want to call a large scale breeding operation.
And certainly some of these places are better than others, but there is not a whole lot of scrutiny of these kinds of places by the government in some states. And there's a lot that goes on behind closed doors. Some of this is the kind of stuff that Kim Kavin talks about in The Dog Merchants.
So, my guess is, as wonderful as Amos was, his mother was probably living life in a cage somewhere, not given the kind of health care and loving care that I would have wanted her to have. Probably had a dozen litters before she died an early natural death. I mean, it's…I, when I started to learn about puppy mills, I felt so much guilt for Amos's parents, and their parents, and this industry that in some small way I had helped to support with my purchase.
So it's less, it's less about the dog that you're getting, I think, and more about the industry that you are supporting when you buy a puppy from a pet store. Although, you know, there also is the fact that these puppies generally don't receive great early socialization.
In fact, at their tenderest age eight weeks or so, when they are most able to learn about the world and develop good feelings about things we want them to feel good about and possibly fears about other things, you know, they're being shipped in vans, in planes, in cargo, in trucks, and then spending more of their formative weeks in cages or glass boxes in stores rather than living the kind of life you would want them to be living at that age.
Tip three is I think you should go to a good breeder. Well, how do you know what is a good breeder? Well, you want someone who is breeding for health and behavior, in my opinion, and this might mean you're not getting a purebred dog.
This is some of the stuff that Dr. Heckman talks about on her podcast, is people who aren't breeding for conformation. People who aren't breeding dog show dogs, but people who are breeding dogs for their function, as the name of the podcast would suggest. And in some cases for their temperament.
You know, one reason that people have so many golden doodles and Yorkie poos and these poodle mixes in New York City, is poodles tend to be good apartment dogs. They don't need crazy amounts of exercise. You can keep them, smaller ones at least, in smaller places. They're quick learners. They don't shed. These are animals that are not considered pedigrees. and when they get labeled as designer dogs, I always think, well, aren't pedigrees designed as well?
The only difference is doodles are not old enough to be considered an official breed, but they certainly fulfill a function for many people, which is why they are so popular. And I don't think it's a crime that we are creating dogs who are well-suited for the lives that we're putting them into.
And this too, really is an upside of the spay/neuter movement. It's that if dogs are not procreating themselves and we’re taking whatever results from their choices about who they're going to mate with, well, then we are the ones making these choices, and we can make choices that are gonna result in animals that are going to live happy lives, and that are going to cause us ideally as little strain and strife as possible, rather than leaving the breeding up to the dogs.
We're putting less faith into luck that a certain pairing is going to produce a dog that is going to be able to live in a studio apartment in New York City, and we're using what we know about genetics to create a dog that will be well suited for the environment we're putting the dog in. And I think that is a good thing.
So that leads me to some tips from getting a dog from a breeder. Again, I am not an expert on this. I'm just sharing some of the things that I've gleaned from working with a lot of people who are acquiring dogs. I think it's a good idea to go with a breeder who does not breed tons of different breeds of dogs. I think that would be a red flag to me. I would think that might be some sort of more puppy mill-like operation, if someone says they breed eight or 10 different breeds. Most of the really good breeders I have met and heard of really breed one or two types of dogs.
And if you're going to be buying a pure breed dog, you want to make sure they're doing genetic testing for that kind of breed. You can learn more about this at ofa.org. That's O F A dot org. That's the Orthopedic Foundation for Animals. They have what's called the Canine Health Information Center. You can ask if the dog has a CHIC number, which means that it has undergone this testing, and you can request to see the report.
I also think whenever possible, you should ask to see if you can meet the dog's mother, if you're buying a puppy, so that you can get some idea of what your dog is gonna grow to be like. And it also means that they've been keeping that dog with the mother.
I also suggest asking if you can see where the puppy is being raised. Because ideally you want your puppy raised in some kind of home-like setting, versus being raised in the shed out back. Or, like I was saying in the, in the back room of the dog daycare, not interacting with anybody or seeing the vicissitudes of home life.
I think a very good breeder should be making sure that their puppies are being exposed to all different kinds of sights and sounds and people, that the puppies are having a certain degree of alone time every day. And actually, one sort of quick way that you can guess at how legit a breeder is, is to find out if they use Puppy Culture.
Puppy Culture is a whole program. It's book, workbook, classes, DVDs I think, all about how to raise a behaviorally sound puppy from birth. And I get the feeling that breeders who are really into Puppy Culture are pretty committed to the health and wellbeing of their puppies.
And to that end, you also want a breeder who is going to be asking you a lot of questions. They should be interviewing you. And I know this feels a little bit like what that New York Magazine article is about of how the process of getting a dog can be so complicated. Well, it's the same thing whether it's a rescue dog or a purebred dog. Ideally, you want there to be some kind of gatekeeper who is helping to make sure that it's going to be a good fit for everyone.
Because just like with a rescue, a good breeder has very likely, like a good rescue group, has put a lot of time, effort and money and heart into these dogs. And even though it might also be a job for them, whereas for rescue, it might be something that they're doing on a more volunteer basis or nonprofit basis, in either case the effort and soul that has been poured into the animals can be great.
So it wouldn't surprise me if a good breeder is going to ask you to fill out some lengthy questionnaire, or is going to ask you questions that may seem overly personal, because it should mean a lot to them that their dog is going into the right home.
And I think a good breeder should also have a policy of being willing to take a dog back. If something doesn't work out, I think a good breeder would rather the dog come back to them than end up in a shelter.
Most good breeders who have I’ve encountered, who I've talked to, will also not ship their dogs. Usually they have wait-lists and they can afford to be a little bit picky and to choose people who are either local or will come get the dog. Like I said, shipping a dog can be traumatic for the dog, and they are looking out for the dog's best interest by not shipping dogs cargo. If they do ship a dog, they will ship a dog with like a dog nanny, is what they're often called, someone who will fly with the dog.
Which brings me to my next point about getting a dog. If you're getting a dog from a breeder or a shelter, and you're somewhere like New York City, get off your butt and go somewhere else. There are not a lot of dog breeders in New York City, and that has left the breeders near New York City pretty slammed.
So get on the phone and ask them if they can recommend breeders in other parts of the country where you might have to travel to go get the dog. But if you're making a lifetime commitment to a dog, then a weekend trip might not feel like such a big deal.
And same thing with getting a rescue dog. Get on the phone and try rescues and shelters in parts of the country like the midwest and the south. I don't know for a fact, but I think there are more dogs there available still, and part of the reason why I suspect this is because I know that a lot of the rescue organizations in New York City pull from shelters that are in those places.
My dog came from a shelter in Alabama, for instance. Or, I actually just got a direct message on Instagram from someone who follows us, who rescues dogs in Delhi, India, and was asking if I knew anybody who would be willing to chaperone some Indian dogs in need of homes from Delhi to New York.
I didn't know anybody who wouldn't have to first fly from New York to Delhi, but Hey, if that's you, if you're interested in doing some rescue travel, that is certainly another way you could get a rescue dog.
Although, I say that in my experience of dogs brought from far-flung places to New York City, I think the ones that do best are the puppies. Adult dogs, there are many cases where I've seen dogs come from the beaches of Puerto Rico, or Korea, or other places very much unlike the streets of Manhattan who have done fine.
But we've also at School for the Dogs definitely seen some dogs who grew up in environments very different than New York City apartments and the streets of New York City, and owners who've found that they've had to become rather committed dog trainers in order to make their dogs feel comfortable here, which can be asking a lot.
A couple more tips on rescuing before I have to go feed this tiny baby. Pick one rescue and reach out to them and say that you're interested in getting a dog. It doesn't need to be a specific dog that they have at the moment. You just want to fill out an application to be on their list.
And I say, pick one place because then you can try and become involved with that rescue rather than spreading yourself thin over a lot of different rescues. You can check in with them regularly. You can follow them online, comment on their posts. You can even offer to volunteer, for instance, if they need help calling people's references or going through applications.
Make it clear that you are interested in what they're doing so that you're at the top of the list when they have a great dog who needs to go into a great home, and they will have a little bit of a sense of who you are so they can help to make sure it's a good fit.
You can also offer to foster dogs if that's something that you think you can handle. And I'm a big fan of dog fostering for a bunch of reasons. But especially if you are new to dog ownership, it can be a way to make sure that it's the right thing for you without a lot of stress and pressure, because you will not usually be expected to keep the dog. And it can be a way for the rescue organization to see your commitment. It can also be a way for you to start to think about what you are looking for in a dog.
If you foster dogs, you will get to know different kinds of dogs and start to see the needs of different kinds of dogs. And as you get to know the dogs you're fostering, you will get to be one of these gatekeeper types who, in a good way, can help advise future owners on what it's going to be like to live with this particular dog.
And my last tip, which I say sort of as a joke, but also seriously, is if you really want a dog and you're set on a rescue dog and you are just not finding yourself able to get one, get a cat. Now, of course, cats are not dogs. I don't want to insult any cats out there, but cats are pretty awesome. You can do training with a cat. Kittens are adorable. And I haven't heard of a kitten shortage. Always seems to me that kittens tend to grow on trees. They need homes too.
So much fun clicker training you can do with cats, especially if you're getting a kitten and starting out really early. And plenty of people right now are coming to School for the Dogs, stressed out about the fact that they got these dogs that they have spent so much time with, but now they're facing the prospect of having to go back to work and their dog who has never been alone is now going to have to be alone 7, 8, 9, 10 hours a day.
In my experience, cats are going to be like, bye, have a good day at work. [laughs] Most cat owners are not up late at night the week before work starts, Googling everything they can about feline separation anxiety.
All right, gosh, I really do have more to say on all of this, but I'm going to leave it there. And I'm looking forward to having some interesting conversations with people who have more informed opinions about some of these things in the very near future.
