Cuyahoga County’s stray and abandoned dogs and puppies need your help! If you’re thinking of adding a canine companion to your family, this is a great time to visit the shelter. With 72 adoptable dog kennels full of wonderful dogs of all breeds, ages, and sizes, you’re sure to find the dog of your dreams!
My fiance and I came into the shelter after spending about 2 months deciding to get a dog and researching the many places that we could possibly go, and the many varieties of dogs that were available. The day we came in, sometime in early December, I was sure I wanted to go home with our new dog that day! We found Bella after walking down all of the other aisles… and to be honest, she was not the first dog that caught my eye. After a few more times past her cage, my fiance thought she looked sweet and convinced me to have a little time with her in one of the other rooms. As soon as she was brought into the room, I knew she was meant for us! We were told that she was timid around people at first, but she began playing with us right away. I was so excited, and ready to take her home that minute! However, she had yet to be spayed, so we had to wait another 2 weeks until we could bring her home. Once I was able to go pick her up, she was very anxious about leaving! It was also mid-December, so I don’t think driving back to our home in the snow helped that anxiety. But, soon enough, she found that she could trust us, even though she was still relatively uncomfortable with her new surroundings. When we first got her home and to the vet, we found that she had Giardia, which cleared up quickly with some medication. She also suffered from some anxiety problems for the first two or three months, which resulted in some chewed up furniture, but we were able to get a dog trainer into our home and we found out that she had huge untapped potential! We were essentially told that she is a very smart dog and gets anxious when she isn’t being challenged or engaged. So, we were taught many new tricks to do with her and things have become exponentially better for her, and us! (What I told my family is that I’m not sure how this works out: an above average dog paired with average humans!) Beyond all of that, my family believes that she is the best training we could have before we have children of our own. She is our very own two year old, but with four legs and no words! Through all of the trials we dealt with when we first got her home, we have survived and become a great family!!! She is the brightest, sweetest, cutest, and most loving dog I have ever seen (and I may be a biased dog-mom!) We are so thankful to have her in our life, and now I can’t imagine it without her.
The shelter is jam-packed full of wonderful dogs and puppies just waiting to find a home with a wonderful family like yours. If you’re looking to add a canine companion to your family, this is a great time to visit the shelter. We have 72 adoptable dog kennels and nearly every one is occupied. You’ll meet dogs of all breeds, sizes, and ages so you’re sure to find your new best friend just waiting for you!
The shelter will be closed for the July 4th holiday on Friday July 3 and Saturday July 4. When the shelter reopens to the public on Tuesday July 7, the new hours will be 10:30 am to 4:30 pm Tuesday through Saturday. The shelter will remain closed on Sundays and Mondays.
We adopted our Bailey in September 2007. We went to the kennel to see three other dogs we had seen on the web and my husband fell in love as we walked by her kennel. She came right up to him and just laid there for him to love on her. We were told she was about 3.5 at that time and was a Shar-Pei mix. We immediately asked for her to be added to the list of dogs we were looking at and as we got increasingly more worried that we weren’t going to find the dog we wanted, she was brought into the room with us. She was not high-strung like a puppy would be and she was just loving being petted by us… The volunteer told us that she had not seen her become that attached to any other couple that had looked at her. That sealed the deal and we signed the papers to adopt her. That was Saturday afternoon. The following Friday we brought her home. While we went through a small adjustment period, we were quite surprised that she was completely housetrained and to my husband’s delight, knew a bunch of tricks! He was extremely excited the first time she sat on command and then shook paws. Imagine his surprise when he jokingly pointed a finger at her and said “bang” that she laid down and put her paws in the air to play dead…. It’s now Bailey’s morning routine to show off all her tricks to us each day. Our nieces love teaching her more tricks – the newest one being “Bailey find me” as they play hide and seek with her. Each night she gets the next best thing to doing tricks, a 2 mile walk which she loves. She might not love the other dogs we see but she loves the walk itself and especially prancing through the Cleveland snow…. The best part about having her is how good she is with our nieces and nephews. We haven’t kenneled her since we’ve had her – she goes to Grandma’s house if we can’t be with her. Then her favorite cousins (our nieces and nephews) come to stay with her and take care of her. She’s a spoiled dog and she knows it; there are days where we’re not convinced she wants to leave Grandma’s because she has so much fun running around with the 4 kids. But then, when she gets home, she sleeps for days knowing she can relax again. Our life is so much more full of energy now that she’s here. We really can’t imagine our life without our Bailey. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for finding her and taking care of her until we could bring her to our home!
