The Humane Society Association of New Mexico Uses Color Coding to Help Match Pets to Homes

We headed for the Animal Humane Association of New Mexico main campus which is located at 615 Virginia Street SE in Albuquerque as a family. I always felt the best way to select a new member of the family was for the entire family to have the opportunity to meet our potential adoptee. The area is not one of the best in town, but the place is beautifully kept up, clean and well maintained yards. I had to double check the address and the sign to be sure we were at the right location as it was very quiet from the outside. Visitors would never guess that there were several dogs and cats waiting to be adopted inside.

We walked through the doors and, for once, my children were behaving beautifully. We were greeted warmly and after pleasantries were exchanged, I was asked to fill out a brief survey about my family and what we were hoping to find in our adopted family member. She told us that the survey would help determine just what type of pet we were interested in.

After filling out the survey, it was scored and we were told that based on our survey, we would probably be most satisfied with an "Orange" pet. The Animal Humane Association of New Mexico has developed two programs that helps to ensure that pets are adopted into forever homes. The first test checks the animal to see how aggressive and possessive it is and helps to determine if it can be adopted. Very timid animals and highly aggressive animals may not be able to be adopted until they have had extra care and training.

The pets that are ready to be adopted are classified into three groups after a second assessment. The first group is the couch potato purples who are very laid back and there idea of exercise is to get off the couch and walk to their food bowl. The Orange pets enjoy short walks while the Green pets seem to have boundless energy and are always ready to go for a hundred mile run.

After learning about the classification program, I had to agree that we were an "Orange" family. Though we are active about the ranch and with our lifestyle, we are not the type who enjoys athletic endeavors. We were definitely interested in a dog that had the potential to help us out with the livestock though.

As we went out to the kennels, we could see all of the animals available for adoption and had a good idea what was meant by the color coding on each kennel. There were tiny dogs, big dogs, and medium sized dogs. Of the twenty dogs in residence, two were of breeds that we had been considering during our discussion of adopting. One was a blue heeler cross, and the other was a Border Collie cross. The blue heeler had an orange tag and the Border Collie had a green tag. This was confusing to me as usually, the blue heeler breed was normally more of a go getter than the Border Collies.

The lady explained that the blue heeler was actually an older dog and the Border Collie was crossed with the more aggressive chow and was also just over a year old. That would definitely explain the differences in color coding.

We were able to play with each of the two dogs in a fenced yard. Both dogs were friendly and either would be a good addition to our family. I was surprised when my family began to lean towards the Border Collie rather than the blue heeler, but I have to admit, I agreed with their choice. The Border Collie seemed very intelligent. There was just something about the way he moved, the way he focused on each one of us and seemed to be able to anticipate our moves. The chow part of him could be seen in the longer coat and the tail that curled up over his back. He was truly a beautiful animal.

Thanks to The Animal Humane Association of New Mexico, we were able to adopt and bring home a dog that was a perfect fit for our family and lifestyle. Laddie turned out to be one of the most intelligent dogs I had ever seen. He had received the best genetics from his crossbreeding and was loyal to his family and protective when strangers came around from his chow bloodlines and just amazing when he was working with the cows. He had the ability to understand my commands on working the livestock and he and I worked many pens of cattle throughout our years together.