www.atlantabeaglerescue.org

Wow. Summers are usually pretty slow for adoptions, but things have really crawled this year. We suspect the economy is making everyone a bit nervous and committing to a new family pet may be getting pushed down on the list of desired household expenses.

One of the many benefits of adopting from a rescue organization is the known element of the dog. Our dogs are all in foster care (or are still with owners needing to find new homes for them). We know their personalities, their quirks, their bad habits, their good habits, how they do with other dogs, cats and generally kids.

All our dogs are also fully vetted. They are spayed/neutered, deflea-ed, current on all vaccines including bordatella, microchipped, heartworm tested, dewormed, blood tested, x-rayed, whatever needs to be done to insure a healthy, happy dog. We spend the money so you don't have to.

We are not sure what more we can do to encourage adoption in this tight economic climate. If there was a magic wand to wave that would give all homeless pets families of their own, I know about a million rescuers who would fight to wave it. With foreclosure rates sky high and layoffs and downsizing more animals are coming into the system than ever. We ourselves get about 20 requests for rehoming assistance to every adoption application we receive.

We hope that with school back in session family schedules will "normalize" and maybe more people will be thinking fall is a great time to adopt a dog. We would love all our current fosters to have homes of their own before the holidays approach. Please help us by encouraging friends, co-workers, neighbors and family to adopt rather than buy. If they are on the fence because of the potential costs, let them know about adopting from a rescue organization that uses foster homes. It doesn't have to be Atlanta Beagle Rescue - all rescue agencies are hurting right now with too many intake requests and not enough adoptions.

We do offer a discount when two dogs are adopted together, making the choice to adopt from ABR even more economical.