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Wednesday, Oct. 01, 2008

Hero, meet worshiper

October is a great month to make a new best friend for life

Thinking of adopting a dog?

There’s no better time than now. October is National Adopt a Shelter Dog Month. Area animal shelters are filled to the brim with all types and sizes of lovable pooches just waiting for a good home.

Looking for a purebred? An adorable mutt? A young dog? An older one? Big dog? Little dog? You name it, they’ve got it.

This time of year, shelters are especially inundated with ­puppies, due to dogs’ natural breeding cycles, said Susan Malcomb, president of the Lexington Humane Society. The Humane Society of the United States estimates that 70,000 dogs and kittens are born in the United States each day and six ­million to eight million cats and dogs enter American shelters each year. Only half find homes.

Locally, the Lexington Humane Society placed nearly 5,000 animals last year and took in hundreds more pets in 2007 than the year before, Malcomb said. Right now, the agency has nearly 250 cats and dogs in its shelter and another 50 in foster care waiting to be adopted. The Paris Animal Welfare Society has between 80 and 90 puppies and dogs available. And the Woodford Humane Society has more than 50 dogs and 191 cats waiting for homes.

As the economy worsens, many families find themselves forced to give up their pets because they simply cannot afford to feed or care for them. That’s been the case with 25 percent of the animals brought to the Lexington Humane Society in the past three months, Malcomb said.

“There are simply too many homeless pets,” said Sandy Davis, public relations director at the Woodford Humane Society, which, like many area shelters, has begun using the internet pet adoption site PetFinder.com to help place its animals in homes not just locally but nationally. While the dogs at local shelters like the Lexington Humane Society, PAWS, and Woodford Humane ­Society do not have “a ticking clock,” in Malcomb’s words — these agencies generally allow animals to stay as long as necessary to find a home — the animals would much rather have a short wait than a long one. Less than 5 percent of the population has ever visited the local animal shelter, and less than 20 percent of animals entering into homes actually came from an animal shelter.

“When I talk to people, I try to emphasize making adoption the only option,” Malcomb said.

So drive to your area shelter or log onto PetFinder.com and have a look. Like the four families profiled here, you too might find a dog who’s ready to love you.

Posh arrived as an old, ailing Pekingese

Susan Malcomb was just beginning her new job as president of the Lexington Humane Society in February when Posh, a very old Pekingese, was dropped off in the shelter's after-hours kennels.

The dog was in terrible shape. A three-pound mammary tumor kept her from walking. Her jaw was broken. She had severe dental disease requiring all but two teeth to be extracted. And her corneas were ruptured.

The Lexington Humane Society veterinarian went to work right away, operating to remove the massive tumor, reset Posh's jaw, and sew her eyelids shut so her eyes could repair themselves. At first, Malcomb and the other workers weren't sure all the effort was rightly placed.

"She was a very cool and off-putting dog. We weren't sure she would ever have the right temperament to be adopted," Malcomb said. They named her Posh, for Posh Spice, an apt diva namesake, given her personality, Malcomb thought.

At the time, Malcomb had just lost her 17-year-old dog, and she'd vowed that her home was to have an "export only rule" — she'd continue fostering animals for the Lexington Humane Society, as she'd done for 20 years, but no new animals were going to stay.

That was the plan, anyway, when Malcomb agreed to take Posh into her home for foster care.

It didn't take Malcomb long, though, to decide to adopt Posh and make her her own.

Three weeks after the tumor was removed, Posh began to walk again. Then she began to dance. She still can't see well, but Malcomb thinks she can make out shadows.

These days, Posh is a "completely different dog" Malcomb said, and she often accompanies Malcomb to work, where she eagerly greets everyone there.

"When it comes to a rescue, the more ailments they have and more deteriorated they are, the more appreciative they are," Malcomb said. "All these animals are looking for is someone to believe in them. All you have to do is show a little faith in them, and they just start to flourish."