Top 10 Reasons to Adopt a Senior Dog ♥

November is Adopt a Senior Pet Month, and we want to challenge you to look behind the fluffy cuteness of a new puppy or kitten and see the beauty that older pets have to offer! Here are our top 10 reasons to adopt a senior dog (also be sure to check out our top 10 reasons to adopt a senior cat). For tips on caring for your older pet, ask us about Senior Pet Care 101.

Top 10 Reasons to Adopt a Senior Dog:

1. Older dogs are house-trained. You won’t have to go through the difficult stage(s) of teaching a puppy house manners and mopping / cleaning up after accidents.

2. Older dogs are not teething puppies, and won’t chew your shoes and furniture while growing up.

3. Older dogs can focus well because they’ve mellowed. Therefore, they learn quickly.

4. Older dogs have learned what “no” means. If they hadn’t learned it, they wouldn’t have gotten to be “older” dogs.

5. Older dogs settle in easily because they’ve learned what it takes to get along with others and become part of a pack.

6. Older dogs are good at giving love, once they get into their new, loving home. They are grateful for the second chance they’ve been given.

7. What You See Is What You Get: Unlike puppies, older dogs have grown into their shape and personality. Puppies can grow up to be quite different from what they seemed at first.

8. Older dogs are instant companions ~ ready for hiking, car trips, and other things you like to do.

9. Older dogs leave you time for yourself because they don’t make the kinds of demands on your time and attention that puppies and young dogs do.

10. Older dogs let you get a good night’s sleep because they’re accustomed to human schedules and don’t generally need nighttime feedings, comforting, or bathroom breaks.


Choosing to adopt a senior dog is a life-saving choice, but don’t adopt one because you feel bad . . . . adopt one because they’re easy-going, instant companions.  When senior dogs are surrendered it may be due to a life-altering change and is a last resort, however, we are finding that lately, this is not always the case. An owner’s ill health, the birth of a child, allergies, senior pet illness, an unforeseen move or financial change; the reasons (or excuses) are many. Senior dogs that end up in shelters are good dogs with no place else to go. No senior pet deserves to spend the last years of their life in a noisy, scary shelter. By choosing to adopt a senior dog you’re giving him or her, a second chance at life.  ♥


The Gifted Pet is raising funds via Senior Pet Project to help keep senior pets in forever homes, as well as help seniors keep their pets. Won't you please support this very important cause?!

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Raven is an engaging entrepreneur who encourages others to celebrate pets as part of the family, as well as keep them happy, healthy, and spoiled with her online specialty pet boutiques (www.TheGiftedPet.com & www.PamperedPetEssentials.com), and premium pet food business (www.PremiumPetFoodStore.com)

For more information, please visit her Facebook page to PM her (www.facebook.com/TheGiftedPet)