A few days ago, Max and I applied to adopt a sweet pooch who seemed perfect for us. Unfortunately, we weren't perfect for her, and she went to another family instead. Honestly probably for the best as I'm sure that family could offer her a nice yard while we can't. (A yard is one of the many reasons I wish we didn't live in an apartment.)

It got me to thinking - it's going to be really damn hard to find a dog we can adopt. Our apartment has weight and breed restrictions, which disqualifies maybe 90% of dogs in shelters which are pits or pitbull mixes. Max is also very picky and specifically wants a female dog, even though I am open to both. We also prefer larger dogs, but we're limited to 65 lb and below. We'd be happy with a 55 lb lab-sized dog, but this restriction severely limits our options.

We checked for availability of dogs at the shelters around us, and hardly any fit our criteria. The ones that do are quickly adopted to owners who can offer them a lot more than we can.

Our next option was to try to adopt from a greyhound rescue, which honestly was my first choice. Greyhounds are my dream dogs and I've wanted to adopt one for years. I actually did apply back in 2019, but was told "no" as I would be moving in a few months and it would be stressful for the dog. Greys have been on my mind since. They're larger dogs, but a smaller, female one could weigh 65 lb or less. Low-maintenance couch potatoes - they were the perfect.

However, I recently contacted a rescue near us and was told they haven't received greys in 3 years as the racing industry in the US has been on the decline. It's funny - I've always objected to racing and that was great news, but I'm now lamenting that I will likely never own my dream dog unless I go to a breeder, which I would prefer not to do as there are so many adult dogs that need homes... except the dogs that need homes are not the kinds of dogs we want or can adopt.

It does make me feel selfish for basically denying a sweet small dog a home in place of a larger dog we want. I have to just accept that I need to be selfish to be happier though. If we didn't get a dog we truly wanted, I think we would always just feel dissatisfied even if we get a great small dog. I now am also wondering if I would ever feel satisfied if I never got a greyhound. Adopting one in the future was something I told myself I'd do for years, but now it seems a lot more out of reach.

I don't know, maybe we should just look into a breeder. Why does that feel so wrong to me? Or perhaps we could look at Craigslist for a loving adult pooch who needs a new home. Or ask the shelters around us to put us on some sort of waitlist until the right dog comes along.

In any case, I think we'll be dogless for another while. At least I have my cat.