Finding the Right Dog

Go to the Humane Society in Kansas City Kansas and talk to Karen Sands she runs it and is a good friend of mine. She also is very good about finding good matches for people and dogs. She will find you a great pet.

Hi M., we adopted our dog last summer from the Humane Society of Greater Kansas City, on Parallel Pkwy in KCKS (we found her on petfinders.com). We had a great experience because Karen Sands, the adoption director, put us through a rigorous screening and application process thereby making sure we are worthy adopters (please don't be put off by the questions they ask - the process is designed to find forever homes for these great creatures). After that, we met our dog and talked at length with Karen and the man who spends probably the most time with the dogs. We asked lots of questions because we have an active 4-yr old son and 3 cats so we needed to know as much about the dog's temperament and tolerance for what she would be living with. We ended up with the perfect dog for our family, thanks in large part to HSGKC's efforts. Best of luck, and adopting is such a great feeling!

we went with the grandview animal hospital for our dog and LOVE them. for 200 they do all shots, medical needs, and spay and nueter them as well as a free 6 mo. check up. they have dogs there all the time but the type, amount vary, but you can just meet with them and they will help you out.
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Also we went and visited wayside waifs and they will have someone sit down and meet with you and thefamily and their dogs are catagorized. Good luck

We adopted a 6 month old from Scottie Rescue and it was $300.00. You have to remember that they give them all the shots and pay to spay or neuter and that costs money. We have one Scottie from Petco that I paid a fortune for and the new rescue for $300. No difference and the rescue is just as cute and needed a home. Most of these rescue dogs, through a specific breed rescue organization, are purebred, but just don't have papers. I found this rescue on Petfinders under Scotties. You might look under a specific type of dog that you'd like to own and find a nearby rescue facility. We drove to Salina to pick up Duffy.

Good Luck, you won't be sorry!

I recommend looking into what sort of dog you want (is shedding okay or not, big or small, some do better with small kids, etc.) and keep an eye out for those dogs or dogs mixed with that. We adopted a westie a year ago, from a shelter I wouldn't really recommend (it is small, out of someone's home, and he came home with fleas and worms), but we feel great that we gave a doggy a home who needed it, also, I second looking into an older dog, even a bit older dog as they are SO much easier. Ours was 9 months when we got him and was still chewing a bit, but he outgrew that fairly quickly and was already potty trained (HUGE PLUS). Our shelter charged $100, but did not neuter or microchip or anything. Also, you can change names (at least what I read about it said that would be no problem), so don't worry about that with an older dog. We changed our's with no problem. Enjoy your pup, your boys will have a good friend.

We found our dog at the Olathe Animal Shelter. She was 1 1/2 at the time and has turned out to be a perfect addition to our family. Our cost was only $100 which included all shots and spay. I wanted to respond to suggest that you might want to consider a dog that is a little older (1-2 years) as it may give you a better idea of activity level and temperment to see if it matches your family. Plus, don't forget about your local city shelters -- they don't necessarily have as many to choose from ... but you just might find what you need!

We're adopting from Wayside Waifs tomorrow, we picked out our dog on Sunday, but wanted to come back and watch him with our son again before we made a final decision.

The set up was a little intimidating for my son (3 years old), all the dogs barking kind of scared him and he is very used to dogs, but since yours are older that probably won't be an issue.

Their adoption costs range from 110 to 250 - and include 30 days of pet insurance as well as the shots, etc.

I did have to convince them that I really did want an over-active herding dog that would chase my son around the yard (I need help wearing him out) and some of the people we talked to knew the dogs better than others so i think the experience would differ based on that.

For us, Wayside Waifs provided Evan with a lot of dogs on site that he could look at and tell us which ones he liked and they were very patient bringing the dogs to us one by one and again and again just to be sure.

Hi M.!

We got our dog (a lab mix) from Animal Haven. He is fantastic and has been our family pet for 4 years now. I think it cost around $100 but it was a few years ago. I imagine it isn't much different now. Good luck!

Hi M.,
We had good luck out at Wayside Waifs and I think the adoption fee was just about $125.
But if you know what kind of dog you're looking for, there are rescues that are breed specific. I used to do a lot with a local golden retriever rescue group. In my opinion and from my experience, if you go directly to a rescue group you should get a better match for your family. Rescue groups are very passionate about their animals and are usually fostered in personal homes where they have first hand observation and knowledge of behavior and any personality quirks.
Don't get me wrong, the bigger shelters do a great job, but I think you get more info and personal attention going directly to a breed specific rescue group.
*Personal story: 3 of the last 4 dogs were obtained directly from the rescue group. Picking them up or having them delivered was like meeting friends because we had been communicating so much. Our current boy, as I said we got a Wayside Waifs. He is a GREAT dog and overall we had a great experience. But when we went to pick him up, at a pre-arranged appointment time, they were flustered and disorganized. I had to ask if a couple of things were followed up on (worms, cat-testing and micro-chip). They found the vet note that the de-worming was complete. Wasn't sure about how we was with cats and the micro-chipping was done literally as we were walking out the door.
While I don't think we would ever hurt a cat, he will chase them if not on leash. Our cat at the time would hide upstairs (he wasn't allowed upstairs) and only come down to eat and potty. Granted we would have taken him anyway, it would have just been nice to know before we walked in the door and he immediately chased the cat upstairs!

Just my thoughts. I do personally think $400 is too much for a rescue/shelter dog.

In good health,

Lori K

We recently adopted an older dog from TARA rescue (tarasdream.org). We really liked them. They do a thorough background check on perspective clients, home visit and then you have 2 trial period with your pet. They even list email addresses of the animal's caregivers so that you can ask questions. They have several puupies on their site but you might consider an older dog, most of them are potty trained and out of the jumpy/chewy puppy stage, plus they are usualyy less $ to adopt and the rescue has a better idea on how they will do around kids.
Good luck.

One of the best shelters around, in my opinion, is Animal Haven. It's off 67th and I-35 in Shawnee. It's where I got my cat almost 5 years ago, and I know several others who have gotten dogs there. It shouldn't cost you $400!