Now is the time to make a New Year's Resolution to improve the life of one homeless senior dog
It's inevitable, don't try to fight it.
Whew, that was close.
Now, with all that extra spare time on your hands I want you to resolve to make a difference in the life of just one senior dog this year. There are many low cost/low calorie days to take this on which aren't going to cause you one quarter of the conflict that figuring out how you're going to explain to your significant other that you now need to dismantle the clothes rack/exercise machine that you assembled a week ago:
Share a senior dog on Social Media to increase their exposure to other adoption opportunities
If you're reading this you're probably also on Twitter or Facebook. Find just one ad for a homeless senior dog and share it, retweet it, or repost it someplace. If you have problems finding ads you can check out the Facebook page.
Donate dollars or old blankets to your local shelter to improve the life of a homeless pet
Donate your Starbucks' allowance for the month to help feed or get medical care for a senior dog in your community. Petfinder has easy to use links on each of their pets to allow you to do this. Alternatively, take those extra blankets or towels you were going to throw away and drop them off at your local animal shelter.
Volunteer your time at a local animal shelter
This one is a bit more of an investment of your time, but check out your local rescues and see if there is one that needs help and see if you can help out at events once or twice a month**. This is a fantastic way to be around dogs more often even if you don't have or can't take in one of your own.
Foster a dog to help alleviate the strain on a senior dog and the shelter system
Fostering is a great way to help out a dog in need by taking them in until they can find their forever home. I'd recommend you check with your local rescues who are more than willing to work with you to find a dog that works best for your situation. Dogs that are sponsored by rescue organizations are the way to go here as the rescue may be able to subsidize some or all of the expenses; you'd just need to add the warm place to sleep and love.
Adopt a forever dog of your very own
You may have blown it as a foster parent and decided to keep your new older pal. We already know how bad you are at keeping your resolutions if you've read this far. How does that chocolate cake taste by the way? If that wasn't the case I'd encourage you to educate yourself on the benefits and challenges of adopting a senior dog. The rescues and shelters are full of these very worthy canine companions unfortunately. There's a lot of myths out there about them and you're better off knowing that you haven't known what caring is if you haven't been touched by the love and affection of a loyal older dog who you've saved.
Get out there, make it happen, and check back when you can to share your results.
** - I may have misled you here. ALL rescues need volunteers. Type in the name of your home town, dog, and rescue into Google or Bing and you'll have more results than you can shake a bully stick at.
