Finding a pet in the time of COVID takes patience and persistence.

When their nearly 16-year-old terrier mix, MaeBee, died in mid-May, my niece Laura and her husband, Tyler, weren’t in a hurry to get a new dog. But some things had changed in their life – most notably, they now have a 5-year-old daughter, Aanika. The COVID quarantine also played a role.

“It made sense to look,” Laura Henderson said. “If we found a dog that felt like a good fit, we knew that we could be home and acclimate together while Aanika was there, because at that point we were assuming she would be in school in the fall. If housetraining needed to be done, we’d be home to do it.”

She began searching on Petfinder.com, but any dog described as “good with kids” or “housetrained” was adopted almost instantly. She went from looking daily to looking multiple times each day. Most important was a good relationship with Aanika.

Wailani Sung, veterinary behaviorist at San Francisco SPCA said “We do not have the same number of animals at our shelter like we did before COVID, but we have a steady number of animals coming into our shelter.”

After nearly a month of looking, the Hendersons struck gold with Moose – now named Joon. The 2-year-old American English coonhound (based on a DNA test), listed on Petfinder, had been taken in as a stray at a shelter about an hour away from their home.

“We went to meet him without any expectation that we would be necessarily taking him home,” Henderson said. “He was really attached to the woman who brought him in, but when she left, he immediately went and sat next to Aanika. He just sat there and let her pet him. He was super-gentle with her. It seemed like a match.”

They brought him home, and the same evening, had a socially distanced porch dinner with friends who were driving through from North Carolina. There were four children all together, and Joon luxuriated in all the petting. “It was pretty immediate affirmation that he was gentle and liked little people,” Henderson said.

Many families are still spending unusual amounts of time at home. Sung recommends that potential pet adopters think ahead three to six months, when people start going back to the office full-time. People who have already adopted should start now to accustom pets to being home alone. (You can find tips at fearfreehappyhomes.com/separation-anxiety.)

Some advice: Instead of searching only for pets that meet your criteria, read all the listings, Henderson said. It’s too easy to miss pets who might otherwise be a good option.

For cats, ask to see video of how the cat behaves in the enclosure or interacts with staff members, Sung said. Some cats are shy with visitors.

Pet Connection is produced by a team of pet-care experts headed by veterinarian Marty Becker and journalist Kim Campbell Thornton of Vetstreet.com. Joining them is dog trainer and behavior consultant Mikkel Becker. Send pet questions to askpetconnection@gmail.com.