Doberman Rescue Unlimited: a place to check out

So, say you were wooed by my post Why a Doberman?  You think that the breed sounds like a good match for you, and you're ready for the next step: actually getting a dog.  Lots of people want a puppy, and you know, that's all right.  Do your research, find a good breeder (I'll discourse on this another day, I think), meet the parents, meet the breeder, pick the puppy. Done.

Not everybody wants a puppy, though.  Not everybody wants to go through the puppy experience, which is a unique and exquisite form of torture, compounded the fact that they're so darn cute.  Puppies, like babies, survive their early stages by being cute.  It's a get out of jail free card.  But an adult dog is 1. still cute and 2. typically past all those pesky things like ear posting (if the dog was cropped) and house training.  Or, sometimes Doberman rescue is a venue to find an entirely natural dog, with ears still floppy and tail intact.

The place (or a place) to find such a Doberman in New England and Eastern New York is Doberman Rescue Unlimited.

Now, I am not affiliated with DRU in any way.  I occasionally point people on Craigslist at them when they're trying to offload a Doberman, but I'm not a rescuer or employee or anything like that.  I feel so terribly bad for dogs that aren't wanted, and the Doberman is "my" breed.  Really, I have some amount of guilt that my only contact with them has been fractional donations:  I got the tote bag from their DoberMart (a name I rather like), and when I've ordered from Helping Udders I've had my purchase percentage go to DRU.   The tote bag came today, which was a pleasant surprise for me, as I'd ordered it on the 9th.  It's large and sturdy, and just what I wanted, really:

Also, not only was the package itself hand-addressed, but I got a handwritten thank you note on a lovely Doberman card.  It takes uncounted hours and unknowable effort to run a rescue,  and yet this sort of time was taken.  I thought it was really cool.

I got a puppy because I wanted a puppy, and wanted full responsibility for the dog she ended up growing into.  One day, I think, I'll adopt a rescue, and have a hand in who that dog ends up being as well.  Elka has been a fantastic learning experience, and getting a rescue dog would be a learning experience of another sort, and one that I support, even though it was not suited to my needs initially.  Too many people make the puppy choice only to realize it was a bad decision for them; dogs in rescue are frequently the victims of this, or of divorce, or foreclosures, or any number of things that our human lives face.

So, think long and hard if you've decided to get a dog.  Do your research and remember that these are living animals, not accessories or decorations, however decorative a Doberman may be.

(The logo above is the property of Doberman Rescue Unlimited, Inc., seen at their website and used only for the purpose of this post.)