Adopting this weekend...

[RoxMonster]

As long as our adoption form gets approved (I e-mailed it tonight and we would know by Friday when we visit the dogs), we'll be rescuing from a local shelter this weekend! There area few dogs we are interested in meeting and just seeing which we "click" with the most.

I've never rescued before, so I would love any help/tips you could give about what I should expect and what types of questions to ask. At the shelter I planned on asking:

-any health issues? (All dogs are spayed/neutered and up to date with vaccines)
-What caused them to wind up at the shelter?
-Any personality issues we should know about?
-Housetrained?

Then we take him/her to the vet within the first week. Any additional questions I should ask the vet?
-What type of food?
-Monthly medications for heartworm, flea, etc?
-Types of toys/treats best for dog
-Any ailments particular to the breed?

Anything I am missing?
Also this is kind of a stupid question, but how many of you who rescued renamed your pet? One dog we are looking at is 1 year old and I am not crazy on the name. Would renaming be a huge deal or should I just stick with the given name? What about an older dog (5 years)?

[tammyandjake]

We renamed both our dogs. Hannah was Shelby and Alfie was Alfred. We have no problems.

[niemand88f]

Renaming is fine, often the shelters just pick a name to identify the dog, but the dog might not respond to it. Even if the dog is housetrained, there will still be an adjustment period as they get used to your house and routine.

I probably wouldn't take the vet's advice on food. They'll recommend things like Science Diet or other low quality foods with high grain content because that's mostly what they're exposed to in school. Some good foods recommended often on this board are Taste of the Wild, Wellness, Merrick, Orijen, Innova, and others I can't think of at the moment... Blue Buffalo is also ok, and the grain-free Costco store brand. You want to look for grain-free or at least a food where the first several ingredients are meat. This is because many dogs and cats are sensitive or allergic to grains since they evolved to eat primarily meat.

Good luck finding your new family member!

[RoxMonster]

Thanks for the advice on the food! That was very helpful.

[osulori]

Ditto everyone else. And re: housetraining-if you're adopting from a shelter they may not be able to tell you 100% if the dog is housetrained or not. For example, when we adopted our beagle mix all the volunteer could tell us was that they weren't sure (since she'd been picked up as a stray) but had been pretty good about not going potty in her run-when we met her, she ran up to us, gave us a quick sniff, then ran to the nearest grassy area to pee And it turned out she was definitely housetrained. So we lucked out, but that's not always the case.

Good luck!

[Deleted]

Hooray for adopting!

My pup is 2 years old, she came to us named neeka and we renamed her betty. She knew her name within a few days.

I would also ask about:
Exercise needs
Fears
Special grooming needs

We may have lucked out with a great vet, but he was all for the raw diet. Once I told him I was thinking about switching her he was really supportive. I get that vets don't get the best nutrition training, but our vet was a huge help in finding the right diet for my dog.

[doctorchick]

Here's an easy game for renaming your dog (or teaching the word 'come'): With a handful of treats, toss one for your dog to chase after. When your pup is eating the treat, call her new name out excitedly. When she returns to you, tell her 'good,' let her sniff another treat, and then toss it again for her to chase. Repeat until you get to the last treat, which she should sit for. It's an easy easy way for your dog to associate the new name with you and treats - what could be better?

[RoxMonster]

Thanks for all these tips! We just got word that they have done all the checks for our application and it all looks good, so tomorrow we get to go to the shelter and meet some of the dogs. Hopefully by the end of the weekend, we'll have a new family member

[calico]

Good luck finding the right dog for your family. It took us several weeks and several different rescues before we found our perfect fit.

Thank you for adopting and not buying.