Adopting A Dog? Ask The Shelter These 3 Questions.

You’ve finally saved up a little money. You have a stable living situation. It’s been a long time coming, but you’re finally ready to do the most grown-up thing possible: Take care of someone other than yourself.

The next step is crystal clear. Time to start looking for your dream dog. For many of us, that means heading to the local shelter to rescue a scrappy little companion whose life you can enrich with treats, long evening walks and the most vigorous of belly rubs.

First of all, cheers to you for choosing a shelter over a breeder or pet store. So many experienced pet parents — including us, Raj Punjabi-Johnson and Noah Michelson, co-hosts of HuffPost’s Am I Doing it Wrong? podcast — can attest to the joy of giving a rescue a great home.

And if you have a preference for a certain breed, you’re in luck. Contrary to popular belief, shelters house every kind of dog. “We recently posted a gray poodle named Izzy on our social media, and she has this frou-frou gray hairdo,” said Rachel Ziering, founding executive director of Muddy Paws rescue and pet adoption expert, on this week’s episode. “We get poodles, we get Shih-Tzus, we get maltipoos — and we get puppies. So it might take a little longer [to get] whatever you’re looking for, but we do get all kinds of dogs.”

So dream big (literally, if you want a huge dog, please check out Zeiring’s unbearably sweet 162-lb. foster pup Earl, who also made an appearance on this episode). And when you think you’ve found your new bestie, remember to ask these questions to ascertain whether the dog will be a good fit — because the goal, after all, is to gallop off into the sunset together and live slobberly ever after.

Straight out of the gate, Ziering suggested, you should ask about the pup’s temperament. Are they very outgoing or a bit of an introvert? Are they anxious or generally unbothered? These are important personality traits of a pet that will help you decide if they will be able to comfortably acclimate to your lifestyle.

“And then in terms of medical, you’re going to want to make sure the dog has all of its basic vaccines and testing and all of that stuff,” Ziering added, “which any reputable shelter is going to be doing.”

You also want to ask about the dog’s social behaviour around other animals — especially if you live in a city. In this case, she says, you’re really going to need a dog who can kind of tolerate and get around in busy, heavily populated streets. “Have you seen the dog with other dogs? Have you seen the dog with cats?” Ziering prompted. “And usually the answer is no there. But in a foster-based rescue, sometimes the answer is yes.”

In terms of what you should ask yourself before signing those adoption papers, Ziering advises taking into consideration your own social and travel habits to making sure you’re able to really give your new pet the attention and care they require. “If you don’t feel like you’re in a good place to give a dog or cat a forever home, foster,” she added. “It’s beautiful. We need fosters more than anything. We can’t take dogs from shelters unless we know that we have a foster home for them.”

On this episode, we also talk to Ziering about why certain pets end up at shelters to begin with, and all the ways we can help a new pet feel comfortable and safe, so click here to hear the full episode or listen wherever you get your podcasts.

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For more info about Muddy Paws, head here.

Have a question or need some help with something you’ve been doing wrong? Email us at AmIDoingItWrong@HuffPost.com, and we might investigate the topic in an upcoming episode.