My Side of the Story: A Shelter Dog Tells All

photo: Oakland Animal Services

These last few months have been so wild for me. I wound up at the Oakland Animal Shelter after my first family couldn’t find a place that would allow me to live with them. There’s not a lot of affordable dog-inclusive housing for big dogs like me. That actually turned out okay because my new family is even bigger than it was before. 

But…I have to apologize for something. I might have been a total jerk to those nice people at the shelter that first came to see me. I see now that they were just trying to help me get to where I am now.

The first day I got to the shelter, I was really overwhelmed. It seemed like every single one of the kennels was full except for the one kennel that I moved into. So many other dogs were stressed and barking, and I wasn’t sure how long I’d be here. 

A little while later, someone I didn’t know came in and asked if I wanted to go for a walk. So I did what anyone would do in my situation…I growled at them and maybe I showed them my teeth. 

I see now that they were trying to be nice, but I was so scared that I just wanted some time alone. Luckily, they understood what I was communicating and they gave me some more time to settle in. Apparently, the shelter teaches humans things like that.

The problem was that it was so hard to relax in the shelter. There’s so much going on, and it seems like there’s just not enough time or humans to get everything done. I regret now not taking advantage of the toys that some of them offered me. They gave me rubber toys stuffed with treats, and I just ignored them. I apologize to all of the humans who took the time to make me those treats. I appreciate it now! 

One day, that same human I growled at a few days before came back. They offered me some pieces of hotdog, and I was brave enough to eat the hotdog and let them put a leash on me. I learned later that the human was a volunteer. They come to the shelter just to hang out with dogs like me, and they have specific training from the shelter that helps them get to know dogs who were scared like I was. 

Once I was out of the kennel with them, things started changing dramatically. There was so much to do outside of my kennel, and I almost missed out on it!

That same day, I went out to a playgroup with some other dogs. The shelter does these every single day! Can you believe it!? I couldn’t believe it. Some of the dogs liked to play different games than I like to play, and the humans at the shelter customized my playgroup to find me other dogs that I would enjoy playing with. It was one of the highlights of each day at the shelter. 

Then I started meeting people. More people than just those volunteers that came to hang out with me and make sure that I wasn’t just sitting in my kennel all day being bored and lonely. I met this one family who took me to their house for a couple of days. They called it fostering, and I called it the BEST sleepover ever! It was so nice to get out of the shelter for a couple of days and remind myself that my time at the shelter was only temporary.

After I got back from my sleepover, I started meeting more families. These families had already talked to a “matchmaker” who told them about dogs they might like to meet, and then set them up on visits. I had a couple of visits before I met my current family, and I couldn’t be happier with our match. My family seems pretty happy about it, too. They even made me my own Instagram! They use something called hashtags like #OaklandAnimalServices #OASalum

I also talked my new family into volunteering at the shelter, so now they can help dogs who are where I was a few months ago. Apparently, the shelter is always looking for volunteers, fosters, and adopters.

Right now, like most shelters across the country, my old shelter is super full. I hope that by talking about my time at the shelter as a big dog who experienced it, I can make a difference for at least one other dog who is in a shelter now. And that’s my side of the story! 

 
Signed,
A Big Dog from Oakland Animal Services

Learn more about the animals at Oakland Animal Services on Instagram and Facebook.