All You Need To Know About Rescue Dogs in DOGust

Hello everybody! This is Jody Ann Johnson, People Strategists and Champion with the 94th episode of “Coffee with Jody”.  Today it’s a special episode because we’re talking about rescue dogs, and the month of August, which is actually called DOGust 1st being the Universal Birthday for Shelter Dogs. 

Picture this, a dog in a cage and then rows and rows of dogs in cages and rooms of dogs in cages. Without anthropomorphizing an animal with human feelings, we can still imagine that they would have fear and maybe even a sense sadness or despondency. Now imagine letting that dog out of that cage and watching them play, run or even cuddle up with you.  

Well, we had this experience last year,  we adopted a rescue dog from Miami-Dade shelter and named her Dulce. Her name means the sweet one, and she is so that!  This dog has brought more joy, more playfulness and more exercise into our lives than we could have ever imagined. I want to talk a little bit about rescue dogs and the dogs that end up in the shelters.  

They say the number of animals that go into shelters is about 8 million a year. Half of them will not make it out alive. A billion dollars in taxpayer money that goes to picking up, housing and euthanizing animals in shelters. That’s a lot of money.  

Why did dogs end up in shelters? Well, what I can see from what I’ve read and learned is that many dogs end up in shelters that are abandoned because the owners just can’t take care of them. And why can’t they take care of them? Most of the time, it’s because the dog hasn’t been trained.  

This is a key piece of knowledge for anyone who’s considering having a dog. I invite you to build in your planning for that animal, that you’re going to make time for training them. You can invest time yourself, have a trainer train them, go into a group, or even go on YouTube and learn to train your dog or even get a book on how to train. 

There’s a saying that whenever you’re together with your dog, someone is always being trained. And I can tell you most of the time it’s been me!  Although all the time I’ve invested in training her has paid back in better behavior.  

Another thing that happens is that animals that are not spayed mate, because that’s natural. So making sure that your dog is neutered or spayed is another important preventive act so there’s no puppies all over the place that end up going into shelters if they don’t find homes. 

I started this off by saying that August is DOGust, and that August 1st is a Universal Birthday for Shelter Dogs. As you know, we have no idea how old Dulce is. We’ve figured she’s about two, because she’s still very puppy-like still. And from the time we got her to now about a year later, she’s gained about 10 pounds.  We think she was still growing, because she’s remains quite lean. 

All of this said, what it takes is people being responsible for being a pet owner. What do you need to know to be a pet owner?  It costs on average, about $1,500 a year to have a dog.  It may go up to $2,000 depending on the size of your dog and the investment required in taking them to your neighborhood vet. 

The other thing you need to know is that you’ll need to train the dog. Bad behavior is a function of a lack of training.  The third thing is dogs need plenty of exercise and play to develop their intelligence. So make sure you’ll have time to play with your dog. We play with Dulce and her toys after dinner and then walk her. So we’re getting exercise, which is actually really good too! 

In order to help the shelters to deal with the number of animals that they have to take care of, you can donate money, you can donate time, or you can donate items, items that your dog doesn’t use anymore, or just items that the shelter needs. 

With all of that, I recommend investing in a dog if you can, because it makes a difference for that dog, and personally, it makes a difference for us too.  When I come home from work and she’s there to greet me, there’s nothing like the joy of her at the door, wagging her tail and jumping up and licking and showing that unconditional love.  

A dog’s affection is the closest thing that you will experience to God’s unconditional love. As a matter fact, Dog is God spelled backwards.  

I’d love to hear about your experience with a dog, particularly if it’s a rescue dog. Please message me about your experience, I’ll be sure to respond. And if you enjoyed this video, please like it, share it, subscribe to my YouTube channel.  

Additionally, if you’d like to find out more about how business coaching can support you in reaching your business goals and dreams, please click on the calendar link below and schedule a discovery call with me.  

https://mybiz.coach/jodycall

Thank you for watching this video and happy DOGust!