WELCOME SENIOR DOG FANS!
(Pardon our dust as we revamp our site-it's a work in progress)
Whether you're here looking for a mature canine companion to add to your family, or you're here to explore ways to help displaced dogs in the community, or you're in need of support and services for your own mature "pup", we're glad you've stopped by!
We work within the Austin TX area which is largely no kill territory. That's the good news. The bad news is that in this area, senior dogs have the opposite problem of what they encounter everywhere else. Instead of having just days to find placement before being euthanized, senior dogs in no kill shelters can languish indefinitely, waiting to be picked by adopters, fosters, rescue organizations, or until their health and spirits decline and a life is lost. Younger choices are as close by as the very next kennel. Help us stop the madness! The older dogs need advocates to help them find opportunities, to lift them UP, to lift them OUT. We've been at this since 2012 and have worked to give lift to thousands of senior shelter dogs by matching them with people and resources to keep them healthy and in a home. Very few people come to the shelter to adopt a "project dog", and everyone wants the dog that will fill their vision. To meet that need we also extend medical, supply and resource help.
Classic Canines, Inc
Make a Difference in a Life of a Senior Dog
Raja and Buddah's family kept these "brothers" together as long as they could, shuffling them from family member to family member, before they eventually came to the shelter. Immediately we took assessment of the challenges in their arrival. Initially both were extremely social and so happy to be together. But as the first few days worn on, they were becoming more stressed and overtired in their shelter kennel life. Raja was both deaf and blind and Buddah was Raja's guide dog. Buddah couldn't help his gal Raja get comfortable with the surroundings, when he wasn't comfortable there either. It was really wearing on them. Senior dog adoptions generally take longer than those of younger peers, and it's immensely harder as two large bonded dogs needing a home together. We knew they were in for a long haul and waiting in a shelter kennel simply wasn't going to be in their best interests. We set out to find a foster provider and almost immediately one came forward to whisk them home.
There they became part of the foster family which included her own two small dogs. Buddah helped Raja get the lay of the new land, which didn't take long. Raja adapted quickly and became as proficient as a sighted dog. While in foster care, Classic Canines provided all of their wellness care including occasional chiropractic service to help with Raja's mobility. We managed the medical care needs of Raja and Buddah together while in the foster home. These two boys were together until the very end, and after Raja's passing, Buddah went on to become a beloved family dog with the distinction of being adopted. This is why being a Friend Till the End is so very important!
About Classic Canines
Helping Austin Senior Dogs Since 2012
Every year hundreds of senior dogs aged 7 and up reach Austin TX area shelters as strays and those surrendered by their owners or next of kin due to family death, housing changes and moves. Many have lost a lifelong home. Few will be found by their owners despite many noble efforts. That leaves hundreds needing to find new homes. Of those, another 20% need help to overcome short or long term neglect and unaddressed medical conditions before they will be seen as "adoptable" by the public. Shelter life is traumatic for older dogs. It's our goal to minimize that stay. Classic Canines promotes fostering, adopting, rescuing and mending and repairing of the body and soul, as part of the journey that ultimately leads home, the best place for a senior dog to be.
Ways to Help
Adopters, Fosters, Rescues - Welcome!
Where you foster and adopt from MATTERS
A municipal shelter is ground zero, serving all intake for a given city, county or region. Rest assured when you foster or adopt from a municipal shelter, you are opening a spot for another animal that is on a wait list for the safety of the shelter.
There are also many responsible rescue organizations in the Austin metro area too that pull animals from the Austin metro area municipal shelters. Those animals need fosters and adopters too. The sooner those rescue animals are adopted, the sooner those rescues may reach back to help again by pulling an area animal.
How do you know if they are responsible? Before choosing an Austin based rescue organization to foster for or adopt from, be sure to check - do they ever help any of Austin's animals? The Austin area shelters are overcrowded with animals and only a small portion of Austin based rescue organizations are coming forward to help. Many rescues import animals to the Austin metro area from distant rural shelters, using fosters in this area, and finding adopter interests from this area. This takes resources away from Austin's own animals who languish in kennels as "long stays", funded by tax dollars, while some animals will have to be transported to distant states in order to find homes. The influx of animals from rural areas also brings additional service needs to the Austin area shelters that cost more taxpayer funding, through lost and found animals and owner surrenders.
Ultimately, the rescues that are based here, that do not help Austin's animals and only import animals and then rehome them here, actually make the overcrowding problem even worse and cost more taxpayer funding.
Be careful who you choose to work with - ask questions.
Apply to foster below:
Even More Ways to Help
Your donation helps to remove medical barriers and years of neglect that stand in the way of adoption and provide wellness care to those waiting. In a small number of cases, a dog reaches us too late for treatment and we help with comfort and end of life care. Because it's the right thing to do, to be a friend till the end.
Shown is Leroy A839782 Austin Animal Center. He was one of the beneficiaries of medical sponsorship.
Send Wish List Items to area Senior Dogs in Shelters
All kinds of colors and fits available
