Black Dog Syndrome

I recently learned about black dog syndrome. It seems that a black dog in a pound is virtually doomed to be euthanized.

Especially large black dogs like labs or lab mixes are passed over for lighter colored dogs.

The first dogs I remember owning were Susie, my bird dog who was stolen, and Blackie my collie. When I was seven years old, my mother left us for a few days to go be with Aunt Betty when our cousin, Nancy, was born. I don't know if she realized it, but Dad took us to see a litter of puppies. I fell in love with the little black dog. I don't know how much begging we did, but we left the farm with the puppy. I promptly named him Blackie.


It's true that I now own a white West Highland Terrier. We adopted him because he was hypo-allergenic, and over the years I had developed an allergy to dogs. His color had nothing to do with how he was chosen.

I'd like to urge you to consider adopting a black dog if you're in the market for a new member of your family.