Dogs

Foster dogs from rescuers and dogs from family homes:

who hands the dog over tells you a lot about it. A rescuer’s foster dog has lived inside a house, so the person fostering it can tell you how it reacts to cats, children, the doorbell and being left alone. By the time it is listed it is usually dewormed and vaccinated, and often sterilised. Expect an adoption form and a conversation before anyone agrees to a handover, sometimes a visit to your home; some rescuers also ask for a bag of food or a donation towards the vet work already done. A family rehoming its own dog can give you years of history: its vet, its food, its fears. Ask plainly why it is leaving, because a move abroad or a landlord who will not allow dogs is a very different story from a dog that bit someone. Puppies from an accidental litter are the biggest guess of the three, since nobody knows how big they will grow. Dogs looking for a home are listed in adopt a dog; crates, harnesses, beds and bowls are in dog supplies.

A puppy, an adult mixed breed or a senior dog:

age is the choice that shapes the next few years. A puppy chews everything, needs months of house training and cannot be left alone for a full working day. An adult has its size, energy and temperament settled, so the dog you meet is the dog you get. Senior dogs wait longest for a home, and in a quiet household they are often the easiest of all. Picture an ordinary Tuesday rather than a Saturday. Count the hours the dog would spend alone, and ask whether anyone in the house, a relative or a domestic helper, is willing to take on a midday walk rather than simply being there. A dog that will grow large needs a strong hand on the lead and a fenced patio far more than a small one does.

What a dog’s vaccination card and teeth tell you:

ask for the card first. It should carry a vet’s stamp and dates for rabies, for the multiple vaccine against distemper and parvovirus, and for deworming, and a dog described as sterilised should come with a vet’s note or a visible scar. Compare the teeth with the age you were given: heavy wear and yellow tartar on a “two-year-old” means an older dog. Run a hand inside the ears and between the toes, where ticks hide. Meet the dog where it lives, then walk it on the lead and watch how it handles traffic, other dogs and strangers. If you already have a dog, introduce the two on neutral ground, a quiet street rather than your own patio. A good rescuer will suggest a second visit before you commit.

Handing over your own dog, from the listing to the first fortnight:

sterilise the dog before you list it if you can, since that keeps away anyone looking for a dog to breed from. Give its age, weight, sex and vaccination dates, whether it is house-trained, how it copes alone and how it gets on with children, cats and other dogs. Photograph it side-on in daylight, and add a close-up of the face and a short video on the lead. Ask nothing for the dog. Ask the people who reply where it would sleep, whether the patio is fenced, who is home during the day and whether their landlord allows dogs. On the day, hand over the card and the lead it knows, and ask the new family to keep it on that lead for the first two weeks, even inside a fenced patio. A dog in a strange house does not yet know which gate is its own, and a frightened one can be several streets away before anyone notices it has gone.