My new family,

I came to know you the day you just so happened to walk into my shelter. The day you decided to change my life forever. It may seem crazy but I knew as soon as you walked through the doors, I had found my forever family. The choice you made to adopt was one of the best you could have ever made. Now I know every family longs for the "poster child" golden retriever puppy but you chose me. The older, not as cute dog from the shelter. But, the benefits of adopted a dog from a shelter completely outweighs the benefits of buying dogs from a breeder because in fact, approximately 6.5 million animals enter U.S. animal shelters each year. So, good for you. You completed a good deed but even more than that by being the best family I could have ever asked for.

So, thank you. For giving me the second chance I never thought I would get. Because trust me, life in the shelters are rough. Thank you for making all that time in the shelter worth it. Thank you for all the fun we are going to have. Thank you for allowing me to adapt to your daily life. You will never know how truly excited I am to share all the big milestones in life with you. From birthdays, to graduations, to sad times, I will be there for it all. Standing right by your side, taking on this crazy thing called life. The people who abandoned me have truly prepared me for you, the most perfect family. Thank you for always cuddling with me when I'm feeling down.

I want to make a few promises to you, my new family. I promise that I am trying to give you my trust, because being thrown out and in the shelter took that away from me. I promise to be the best dog you've ever had. Being your playmate, and the one you have the most fun with. I also promise to be the one you can cuddle with when you are sad. Ultimately, I want you to promise that the only marks you will leave on me will be those of your kisses. Because those were not the marks that were left on me before.

Now that I have gotten my thank you out of the way, I would like to take a minute to tell you all the reasons why the decision you made was the right one. I mainly want to explain to you all the things I and every other animal in shelters have had to experience.

First off, many of the animals that come from shelters are victims of abuse and bad situations. More likely than not the animals that reside in these shelters have been caught up in bad homes or breeders. Whether it be divorce, death, or abuse. By adopting a rescue dog you significantly increase their quality of life and allow them to love a family again. Take my friend Rocco for example, he came from a home where he was beaten every day and lived a horrible life, but with the help of his rescue family he is back to being as loving and energetic as he was before he experienced the abuse.

Animal homelessness is something that my friend Buddy experienced. He was cold, alone, and scared he was not going to make it from day to day. This was a very traumatic for him and could not even imagine being alone on the street. So, by adopting you are personally helping end animal homelessness. Every time an animal is adopted from a shelter, it opens up a spot for another homeless animal in the shelter therefore, allowing it to have the chance to be adopted. In the United States alone there are 70 million stray animals. According to the Humane Society of the US, only about 6 to 8 cats or dogs enter the 3,500 shelters every year.

One of the main things humans do not think about when thinking about adopting or buying is the simple fact that adopting cost so much less than buying from a breeder. You are paying less and getting so much more in return, a forever friend. In today's time when people do not have the time to spend hundreds on new pets, they should consider us, the animals in the shelters.

Now I know I speak for myself and all of the animals in shelters but, just as much as you have been waiting for them, they have been waiting for you. We are all here waiting for the perfect forever family. Since we have nothing else to do, we sit and wait. It is the best feeling in the world when someone comes into the shelter and out of all other animals in the room, they choose you. All we want is for you to pick us, even though we might not be the cutest in the room. You picked me, because you truly see a forever friend in me.

This last one is a big part of the reason us dogs from animals shelters really are the best option when considering adopting or buying. Now I am most definitely not hating on dogs bought from store or breeders, but the dogs from animal shelters are ones like no other. We come with unconditional love and life lessons. Most of us in the shelters are longing for love and affection, because it was not given to us before. For the duration of my life, we will form unbelievable trust connections because I am longing to give you all the love and affection I didn't get to give before. Though it may take a while, I will open my trust to you and become your forever friend.

When adopting a dog like me from a shelter you are doing so much more than getting a new pet. You are gaining a forever friend out of us who have been praying and waiting for a family to love us as we have seen so many other dogs get to experience before. We appreciate you so much more than you will ever know. So lastly, thank you for being the family to let me experience that. Thank you for allowing me to have a home. People to love me and people who let me love them. Thank you for all the things I cannot think to mention. THANK YOU!

Love,

The dog you adopted from the shelter, before it was too late.