Do you have a type?
You can like them lean and handsome, scruffy and wise, young and nubile, or edgy and dark. Dogs, like humans, come in all shapes and sizes. No doubt most of us love all dogs unconditionally, but is there one certain type that goes straight to the soft spot in your heart?
An obvious start would be the big dog vs small dog battle that seems to divide most of us, but there may be more to it than that. Do you like big fluffy dogs with brown hair? Or small dogs with spots and sassy attitudes? The list continues with young dogs, adolescent dogs, old dogs, parti-colors, brindles, wire-haired, short-haired, bossy, laid-back...oh my!
While shadowing Deb (one amazing lady and volunteer!) I got to take a peek at her daily interactions with the dogs, and in the process, discovered her type! While we were taking the dogs out for some exercise and love, there was one adolescent puppy in particular who had captured her heart. Hunter is a gorgeous black pit-bull puppy, heading into his adolescent phase, and with lots of love to spare. Watching them work together, I saw a lot of the depth of emotion that passes between each of these volunteers and their animals. Despite how long they are in the shelter, or whatever the outcome may be, GADAB volunteers treat these animals like their own, with all of the nurturing and love that the animals can handle.
As I watched them together, and saw such genuine affection pass between them, I got to thinking about my own "type". I'd have to say that I'm a sucker for fluffy black and white dogs with goofy personalities, but I still manage to fall in love with animals of all shapes and sizes. Type or no type, these dogs are loved to the maximum capacity of each volunteer, and let me tell you, these volunteers have pretty huge hearts.
