I know the urge to have a pure-breed weighs heavily on people's minds when they are considering getting a pet but there are so many reasons why it is crucial that we all adopt animals rather than buy them. In Thailand and my home country it is extremely common for people to shell out hundreds and even thousands of dollars for pure-breed pets when there are likely dozens if not hundreds at their local kill shelter, (A place where they hold unwanted or stray animals for a certain amount of time before euthanizing them.)
The desire to save a dog from being put to death is probably the best reason to adopt, but there are several other reasons as well, some of which may actually benefit you in the end.
src
I can't find statistics on my own country so i will refer to USA instead: Over 3 million dogs and cats are euthanized every year in America, yet the pure-breed dog and cat industry still thrives. Here are some reasons why adopting is a better idea than buying.
Animal breeding farms are typically horrible places
In Thailand there are almost zero regulations or restrictions about these sorts of operations and they tend to be really bad. We can point our fingers at underdeveloped countries but the fact is, these sorts of places, especially the unregistered ones that sell the dogs off the books are pretty awful even in developed nations.
src
The mothers are kept pregnant basically all the time and after a very small amount of time all of their children are taken away from them. We tend to think that animals don't have emotions of attachment towards their young but there is plenty of extremely tragic footage out there that tells a very different story. These "puppy factories" are horrible and will never stop being a thing until the demand stops existing. By adopting an animal you reduce the demand for such businesses and there is less reason for people to have them.
src
If these images, and the reason why these images and thousands more like them exist online don't pull at your heartstrings, perhaps you shouldn't be getting a pet anyway.
Kill shelters normally have lots of pure-breed dogs in them
In our care of dogs just here in Krabi, we regularly run into strays that are full blooded. We've had Labradors, Goldens, Shih-Tzus, and even a Dalmatian in our care at one point or another. The reason why people get rid of their animals is normally because it was a lot more responsibility than they imagined it would be, or they were not actually allowed to have pets where they were renting. Plus there is the omnipresent cases of the thoughtless owners no longer wanting their dog once it ceased to be a puppy.
The top 5 breeds of dogs in shelters in the United States are
- Pit Bull Terriers
- Labradors
- Chihuahuas
- Boxers
- German Shepherd
So if you truly feel the need to have a pure-bred dog, you can definitely do that and there are thousands of them available all over the USA and abroad and you can use resources such as https://www.petfinder.com/ for assistance finding one near you (well, if you live in America.)
Shelter Dogs tend to have a few years on them
I have had pet dogs all of my life and the most difficult part of their upbringing is the first 2 years. Dogs in shelters tend to be a bit older than this and therefore tend to be easier to train, calmer, and more manageable.
src
You also have the opportunity when visiting a shelter to check out the dog's temperament and choose what works for you. This is not possible with puppies since every puppy is extremely cute and "behaves" regardless of their breed. Basically, you get to "try before you buy" and I have been to many shelters and all of them allow you to check out the dogs thoroughly before you choose one and I have never been to a shelter ever that had any sort of high-pressure "sales" environment.
You are literally saving their lives
src
You will get to have a sense of wonderful satisfaction every day when you greet your loyal friend in the morning and know that if you hadn't intervened that there is a extremely good chance that he or she wouldn't be alive at all. The unfortunate part of the stray animal population around the world is that in under-developed countries like Thailand, most of these strays are going to have short lives filled with a great deal of suffering. In Western countries the dogs captured by animal control will have their lives ended prematurely (albeit ethically and painlessly.)
You can be a hero for one of the greatest creatures on the planet and I think that is probably one of the best feelings that a person can achieve in life.
I have been saying this for years, what's the point of forking out so much money when so many are already in need of loving homes, thank you so much for putting this out there.
I am actually pretty pleased with how many people think like this these days. Plus if purebreed is the name of the game I think most people would be surprised about how many purebreed dogs there actually are in most shelters.
Congratulations @kbv.animalwelf! You have completed the following achievement on the Hive blockchain and have been rewarded with new badge(s) :
You can view your badges on your board And compare to others on the Ranking
If you no longer want to receive notifications, reply to this comment with the word
STOPTo support your work, I also upvoted your post!
Do not miss the last post from @hivebuzz:
Support the HiveBuzz project. Vote for our proposal!
On many points I agree with you ... but I also think there needs to be done something about information BEFORE you even can buy a puppy.
You have to prevent so many dogs from entering the shelter. And if breeders do more information and screening, puppy buyers would be more aware of the type of dog they are buying. The amount of work involved in having a dog. Be better aware of certain breed characteristics that may not fit into their lives at all, or that one cannot or does not want to deal with.
And I think breeding should be tied to even stricter rules so that fewer dogs are bred. Perhaps breeders should work towards a method that a litter will only be bred if at least 10 have been found suitable with a puppy diploma (I shout something), on a waiting list.
In addition, one has to get rid of the negative image that dogs from a shelter are always annoying dogs. And the shelters themselves will have to continue working very hard on this.
There are some very good points in there and shocking images of "puppy farms" are not difficult to find. While i do discourage the purchase of pets, if someone is going to do that I think a good rule is that you must demand to see the parents and what sort of state they are living in. If the breeder refuses to allow this, or avoids the subject, walk away.
For people who never owned a dog this can be very hard to see through. I know for me it was...
the good news is that I think that there are a lot of people that are looking at getting a dog by precisely this method. I've had several dogs in my life and they all tended to be "good dogs" but this has a lot to do with the amount of time my family was willing to put into their training.
This is the issue with a lot of people who have this extremely untrue idea that dogs just end up being well-behaved and non destructive on their own. Dogs need and actually like training and without it any dog can be a "bad dog."
I sometimes wish i was in a point in my life that was conducive to having a pet dog... but when that time comes I am definitely going to adopt. From a purely selfish perspective I would love to know each day when i look at my furry friend, that I saved him/her from potential death.
well if an when you get to that point it is good to hear that you plan on doing the right thing and giving a home to a dog that desperately needs one rather than feeding the puppy mill machine. Is there an animal shelter near you?
My dog is kind of a rescue in that the person who it belonged to previously was leaving the country and wasn't willing to endure the expense to transport her. It is the best mistake that has ever happened to me.
That's good that you took the dog on. From the images I see of your posts about her she is well looked after. On the flipside, i fail to understand the kind of person that would "not be willing to endure the expense" of transporting a member of their family.