Looking for a family-friendly fido? We visit the RSPCA to chat about our favourite four-legged friends
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At any one time you’ll find around 10 dogs up for adoption on Canberra’s RSPCA website, but on site you’ll find around 40 wagging tails getting ready to find their fur-ever home.
As we pop down to the ground to enjoy the best vantage for kisses from one of the current pups waiting to be listed for adoption, RSPCA ACT Chief Executive Officer Michelle talks about all the reasons dogs come to call the RSPCA home.
“Dogs are mostly surrenders and then some are strays. We also have our inspector seized animals or inspector surrenders. There are also financial factors at play, or they could be a transfer from another rescue,” Michelle says.
“There’s no such thing as a bad dog. There’s only a dog that’s been let down by us humans.”
And because there are so many reasons why these pooches call the RSPCA home, the organisation’s main job (apart from caring for the animals) is matchmaking.
“Most of the animals that come in, they just need love, support, good structure, a plan, a lot of patience and love. Open your heart—sometimes our dogs look a little bit funny, but the joy that you get and just knowing that you have literally saved a life, it’s really worth it,” Michelle says.
There’s a lot that goes into getting your new family member ready to curl up on your couch with you. From vaccinations to de-sexing and (at times) re-training to help socialise and prepare these bundles of joy to come home, you might still be weighing the pros and cons of whether now the perfect time is to take on the responsibility of a new pet. But the stats are inand the pros far outweigh the cons.
“They make us much better people and there’s a lot of studies that show that there is a physical and mental advantage to having a pet. They are just so loyal and completely forgiving. You can tell them all your problems and they won’t judge you,” Michelle says.
In between lots of pauses for pats, Michelle explains that the ACT team has launched a new program to help those doing it tough so that they don’t have to surrender their dog—a form of temporary housing for dogs and cats who have families experiencing crisis.
“We run an emergency boarding program for dogs and for cats for families that are experiencing some type of crisis,” she says.
“Typically, that would be family and domestic violence, hospitalisation, mental health, or homelessness. It’s just a safe place for your animal to be for a few weeks while you try to sort out and get through that crisis point.”
“One of the things we struggled with for our emergency boarding program was families or individuals leaving their dogs. You miss your animals; you want to come and see them, and we want people and their animals to stay together.”
Their solution? A new spot with enough space and seating for people to spend time with their beloved family member.
Whether its adopting, fostering, or volunteering, the RSPCA will give you the opportunity to not only get in all the dog walks and cuddles your heart desires but give back to the community helping support our animals.
