I’ve had a number of older owners book lessons with me lately—more than half a dozen individuals and couples in their 70s and even 80s, all wanting some training help with their new dogs or puppies. I’ve been impressed by their optimism and commitment in taking on a dog who may live 10 or 15 or more years as well as their dedication to training and improving the dog’s behavior. And almost all of these clients bought a purebred puppy.
I haven’t questioned any of these clients about why they bought a puppy instead of adopting an adult dog from a local shelter (though I did offer my appreciation to the one client who did!). But I was discussing this with my sister, who started the conversation by telling me about a senior citizen friend of hers who bought a puppy after being denied the opportunity to adopt from their local shelter (in Colorado). After smarting from the rejection—she’s an experienced dog owner with the means to care for a dog very well, and has a younger backup person in place, in case something happens to her—she formulated a plan. She bought a puppy (from a breeder who had no age limitations on their buyers) and she convinced two of her elderly friends to also adopt pups from the same litter, so they could get the three pups together regularly for socialization and dog-sit for each other when one of them travels or has medical appointments—a brilliant arrangement!
However, I will say that most of the older clients I’ve worked with recently did find their puppies to be somewhat overwhelming. Even though all of them are experienced dog owners, it’s been some time since they raised a puppy—and raising a youngster is different at 80 than 60! But at least one client admitted to me that while she went to the local shelters to look for a dog who would be suitable to adopt, she was frightened by the overwhelming supply of large, untrained adolescent dogs; she didn’t see any friendly small dogs at all! So she started looking at online ads for breeders of small dogs.
Is it an urban legend that shelters and rescues are denying older clients the opportunity to adopt? Or have you seen this in your area? And are you aware of any smart alternative to help seniors who want to own dogs until the end of their days find a suitable canine companion?
