Welcome!

Welcome to the Dog Blog! Colleen (my fiancee) and I adopted Ranger (formerly Lucious, formerly Kobe, responds to neither) on June 8, 2019. We got Ranger from a 'Mega Adoption Event' in Towson, Maryland. It's in quotations because the adoption event was supposed to run from 12:00 until 4:00 p.m. We showed up at 12:20 and all of the dogs were already adopted. Little did we know that two dogs were outside going potty, so when we made our second walk around the room to say hi and congratulations to all the doggies, we found Ranger who just came back in!

I wanted to write this blog to tell people what adoption is really all about. On Facebook and Instagram it appears wonderful and super easy! It's not. The adoption itself was easy. You fill out some paperwork, answer some questions, take a short half hour class, and you're on your way! The hard part comes when you get home. We were not prepared to bring home a dog the same day, and obviously didn't have any of the necessities. So before we headed home, we stopped at a Petco, picked up a crate, some food, water and food bowls, poop bags, a harness, training treats and of course a toy that Ranger himself picked out.

Having a dog is the most wonderful experience in the world, but still very difficult. Because we don't have a fenced in yard, Ranger needs to go out several times a day. He is mostly pitbull with probably a little boxer mixed in. He has a TON of energy and we take him on at least two walks twice a day, usually around two miles each. This takes a lot of time and energy, especially since we are teaching him how to 'heel.' The first time I took him on a walk to learn to heel, it took us over two hours to go up the block and back.

I want this blog to be all of the real information about adoption. If you have any questions, ask! I'm obviously not an expert, but I will answer what I can. And feel free to share your advice as well!