[livingdustmops]

Originally Posted by Britster

I do agree that MOST young people would NOT be able to care for a dog. I am 20 years old this year and got Jackson in December 2008 at 18 years old. It was the BEST decision I ever could have made. Yes, I am young but clearly this dog is the love of my life and not just some puppy I thought was cute and passed it on to my parents to handle. Jackson is my full responsibility, my best friend, my buddy, my pal, I train with him every day, we're hardly ever apart, we spend many days and hours at the dog park, we walk nearly every day. He's truly my pal and I could NEVER part with him ever. He is my first "child" or my first love, whatever you wanna call it. He's my boy and nothing will ever change that. Yes, I am most likely going to get married, have kids, have a different career within the next 10-15 years but Jackson is guaranteed to ALWAYS be a big part of that. I could never disclude him from my life, he means the world to me. However, I think that when most people see my applications I've filled out for dogs in the past, they immediately skip past it because of my age yet I would give another dog a WONDERFUL loving home. When I was looking for a second dog through rescue, over 95% of people I emailed never even responded to an application OR email I sent about a specific dog. I would send a long detailed email describing me and Jackson, our life, what we do, if that dog would fit in, etc.

I do totally agree that most people my age would in no way or form be responsible to own a dog. None of my friends would. I put a lot of time into this dog but he's all worth it to me. So I do totally understand why rescues have to be strict with this. I just wish it was looked upon more as a case by case basis thing, but a few yorkie rescues I've seen are "must be 25 years old" etc. Alot of people are married and may already have a child before they're 25 so sometimes I think that's really unfair to just make that a staple rule. I know a ton of adults in their 30's who don't treat their dogs half as good as I treat Jackson at 19 years old.

I am glad you understand..most young people would not...and that is the problem. It is more about me then about the dog in a lot of cases. When I was doing rescue we placed a couple of dogs with young people because they proved how dedicated they were by writing/talking to us about why they would make a great furparent even though it was out of the norm of who we would adopt to.