Walking into a shelter can be overwhelming with all of the dogs available how do you go about choosing the right dog at a shelter? First off make sure to keep in mind that how a dog acts at a shelter may not be their true personality. Since dogs in a shelter have all come from different places and are placed next to strange dogs that they may not know they can act different. In addition to this they are being exposed to people they don’t know and they can be very stressed and upset in a shelter environment.

I would recommend getting as much information from the staff as you can about a specific dog. Sometimes they don’t have much or any information if they were just a dog found wandering the street, but if they used to have a family it can be very helpful to find out as much as you can about the environment they were living in.

A shelter will also very likely let you visit with a dog in a small room or in a dog run outside so you can get to know the dog better. I recommend seeing if they have a toy you can use and see if the dog knows how to play and any basic commands such as sit,  stay, stand and come.