A Social Conscience

WHAT ARE THE ADVANTAGES OF

ADOPTING A PET?

That ‘FEEL GOOD’ feeling is priceless. Save your carpet, your shoes or perhaps your sanity. Contrary to popular belief, shelter animals are usually

healthier than breeder pups. Put puppy mills out of business. It’s the right thing to do!

CAN YOU GET PURE BRED DOGS FROM A

SHELTER?

YOU TELL US!

A REPUTABLE BREEDER:

Breeds only for the purpose of preserving or improving the breed and never for ego satisfaction, financial gain or "because she/he ought to be bred at least once".

Does genetic testing for defects such as hip dysplasia before breeding, as well as pedigree analysis for less obvious faults.

Provides pre- and post-natal veterinary care for the bitch and her pups.

Begins a medically-sound inoculation program before the bitch is bred and continues it when the pups are the proper age.

Is willing to supply previous buyers as references and not just those who bought show dogs or who co-own dogs with the breeder.

Is able to provide written certification of freedom from genetic diseases that affect the breed.

Belongs to a local or regional breed club and is willing and able to supplythe names of officers and members of that club as references.

WHAT IS A REPUTABLE BREEDER?

SIX COMMON MISCONCEPTIONS ABOUT PET ADOPTION

MYTH #1: I don’t know what I’m getting.

Shelter staff and volunteers are a

wealth of knowledge and

information. And they are usually

available after the adoption to

answer questions or address any

concerns.


MYTH #1: I don’t know what I’m getting.Continued…

Purebreed

Crossbreed

Mixed Breed



Let's say you went with this scenario. Will knowing his breed composition predict what his temperament will be when he grows up and/or if he is a good fit with your family?

No, not really. Because even though he is ‘purebred’, you don't know whether those individual DOGS were typical for their breed. Heredity is not perfect, so there are many purebred dogs that don't look very much (or especially ACT very much) like their breed is supposed to.

So just because your new puppy has purebred ancestry doesn't help you to know what those individual dogs were actually like – and therefore you don't know which genes and traits they had available to pass on.

Finally, even if you somehow KNEW that all of your puppy's ancestors had the "expected" genes for their breed.....many of those genes will be conflicting. Stubborn vs eager-to-please, friendly vs aloof, noisy vs quiet....when a purebred puppy inherits a jumble of conflicting genes, you don't know which of those genes will "trump" the others, or which ones will blend together to form some intermediate result.

You have the same exact problem with Crossbreed dogs, except you have one more breed to work with.

Purebreed Crossbreed



Mixed breed dogs tend to have moderate temperaments. Why? Because the extremes of temperament and behavior often seen in purebreds are less common in mixed breeds.

Now, it is certainly possible for mixed breeds to be very energetic or very independent or to have very strong chasing or barking or digging instincts. But many purebreds were specifically BRED to have those temperaments and behaviors, because they aided the breed's performance of his work (herding, hunting, guarding, etc.). Whereas in mixed breeds, extreme temperaments and behaviors are by happenstance rather than deliberate design.

Because their temperament and behavior tends to be more middle-of-the-road, mixed breed dogs are often more flexible and can adjust to a greater variety of households and lifestyles.

Mixed Breed


MYTH #2: I can’t find what I want at a shelter.

Using all the resources now available to this animal loving country, you should never have a problem finding specific breeds. As an example, Petfinder has a fantastic search engine allowing you to

filter by location, breed, gender, size and age.


MYTH #3: I can get a free pet so why pay an adoption fee?

When you adopt from your local rescue shelter, this has already been taken care of. Adoption fees average under $100 and if

you’ve been to the vet lately then you know this is a steal!

In most cases, your ‘free’ pet won’t be spayed or neutered, have age appropriate vaccinations, a heartworm test or microchip.


MYTH #4: I’ll be ‘rescuing’ a sick puppy from a pet store.

Actually what you’ll be doing is perpetuating the sale of pets for financial gain.

FIVE COMMON MISCONCEPTIONS ABOUT PET ADOPTION

MYTH #5: Pets are in shelters because they didn’t make good pets.

There is a myriad of reasons for why pets are in shelters but the above statement is definitely not one of them.

As a whole, our community is very irresponsible when it comes to pet ownership.

Pets are in shelters for one reason – there are just too many of them. Did you know that even if breeding was outlawed for 5

years that there would STILL be a pet overpopulation in our country and that animals would STILL be euthanized daily in our shelters?

If you could give only ONE reason why you should choose pet adoption over purchasing from a breeder, what would you say?

BECAUSE IT’S THE RIGHT THING TO DO!

No one wants to hear that healthy, adoptable pets die every day in our shelters but that is the sad reality. In our community alone, over 14,000 pets enter our shelters each year and 75% of those

animals are euthanized, mostly due to the lack of space.

A Social Conscience

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