ROMNEY & THE CASE OF THE CRATE
It seems to happen every weekend. Our adoption team gathers its crates and sets up at a mall or a PetSmart for a weekend adoption event. The cats and dogs arrive on Saturday, and each are set up in a crate for potential adopters to view. Passersby will walk up to a dog or cat crate, lean over to peer in and say hello to the sweet fur ball sitting inside, awaiting a forever family. And then, as happens with many dogs and cats, he/she starts to bark or hiss. Maybe he’ll growl a bit, even if his tail is wagging or her feline eyes are soft and loving. Nonetheless, the noise immediately deters the viewer from further connecting with the sweet animal.
I watched this happen with one of the Adoptions Program dogs for over a year. Sweet, silly Romney, a squatty Bulldog/Pit Bull Terrier mix with the goofiest personality, would do this every weekend, at every adoption event. Someone would see his stubby little legs and anxious grin, and would wander over to say hello, sometimes with their own canine companion in tote. Romney would start to bark and growl and wiggle and cause such a commotion that anyone within a 10-foot radius would move away.
Poor Romney! He’s such a sweet dog, but like many dogs and cats at an adoption event, he’s a little intimidated when someone leans over his crate, or when another dog comes over to stick his/her nose through. So, unfortunately, Romney was overlooked for over a year at adoption events. The staff would try to assure people who would come over to see him with “it’s a crate thing”, but Romney waited for his forever family for a long, long time.
Then suddenly, a wonderful woman came into my office one day. Leah had seen photos of Romney and read his bio online. I spent a half hour telling Leah all about cute Romney, even about his common behavior in the crate. None of his quirks seemed to bother her, so we agreed to a two-week trial adoption period. On day 14, Leah called to tell me how much she and her boyfriend had fallen in love with Romney, and that they were going to finalize his adoption!
This news literally made my year! Romney had finally found a forever home! And luckily for him, it was because someone gave him a chance “outside” the crate.
So, please remember “the case of the crate” when visiting an adoption event. Your forever friend could be the dog who makes the most noise in his/her crate, or the cat that hisses and swats from the display crate. But if you give this furry friend a chance in your home, he/she may very well be the most loving, well-behaved pet you’ll ever adopt!
-Erin Olsen, Adoptions Coordinator
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