Last month I came home from work and found my 4 year old frenchie, Lola, unable to walk. After days dealing with the vet, our girl took a turn for the worst and had to be put to rest. It was devastating for our family, but especially my husband and two kids. Lola left behind a frenchie brother named Jett. Jett is the sweetest potato and we’ve been showering him with love and attention because he has seemed kind of lost without Lola. The discussion of whether or not to get another dog comes up periodically and I’ve been looking around a bit. Here’s where my pet peeve comes in: the people who always have to tell me “Adopt don’t shop.”
The reason it bothers me is because getting a pet is a big deal. It’s adding another life to your family’s routine and changes the dynamic a bit. So, I feel like every person who decides to get a pet should get one from wherever they feel the most comfortable. Adopting is great if you find a match but sometimes that doesn’t work out well. Same with going other routes. I also have the opinion that all animals deserve loving homes no matter where they come from. Now, I 100% believe that puppy mills should be shut down so before someone tries to say I’m in support of them, don’t even bother. But for those of us who have pretty narrowed specifics on what we want for our next puppy, finding a match through adoption is proving to be difficult.
I guess I hate the feeling that so many judge a person if they don’t adopt, as if we lack morals or something and it’s weird. Like I said, adoption is great if it works out but it isn’t always the best route for a person/family to go when getting their next pet.
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Backup of the post’s body: Last month I came home from work and found my 4 year old frenchie, Lola, unable to walk. After days dealing with the vet, our girl took a turn for the worst and had to be put to rest. It was devastating for our family, but especially my husband and two kids. Lola left behind a frenchie brother named Jett. Jett is the sweetest potato and we’ve been showering him with love and attention because he has seemed kind of lost without Lola. The discussion of whether or not to get another dog comes up periodically and I’ve been looking around a bit. Here’s where my pet peeve comes in: the people who always have to tell me “Adopt don’t shop.”
The reason it bothers me is because getting a pet is a big deal. It’s adding another life to your family’s routine and changes the dynamic a bit. So, I feel like every person who decides to get a pet should get one from wherever they feel the most comfortable. Adopting is great if you find a match but sometimes that doesn’t work out well. Same with going other routes. I also have the opinion that all animals deserve loving homes no matter where they come from. Now, I 100% believe that puppy mills should be shut down so before someone tries to say I’m in support of them, don’t even bother. But for those of us who have pretty narrowed specifics on what we want for our next puppy, finding a match through adoption is proving to be difficult.
I guess I hate the feeling that so many judge a person if they don’t adopt, as if we lack morals or something and it’s weird. Like I said, adoption is great if it works out but it isn’t always the best route for a person/family to go when getting their next pet.
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.
My response to that is, welp, the puppy in the pet store is alive and needs a home. If no one buys it, it ends up either being murdered or taken to a shelter anyway.
I get what you mean. I don’t support back yard breeders. When my dog passed I felt ready for another about a year later. I wanted a small dog and it needed to be low shedding/hypoallergenic. My son is quite allergic to dogs and it causes his asthma to flare up. He does fine with certain breeds. There is a poodle rescue in my area but most were standards or other breeds. And when I did find one that fit what I was looking for they wouldn’t let me adopt because I didn’t have a fence (I was renting a house) and/or I had kids (they were about 7 and 11 at the time). Even though my kids had grown up with a small dog their entire life. I spent over a year trying to find one to adopt and gave up.
I ended up with a maltipoo. Now this one did upset me. Because my husband decided to get her without asking me. He saw an ad on Craigslist and I’m almost positive it was from a back yard breeder. So I was pissed he paid for her. My autistic son had grown so attached to her on the way home so giving her back wasn’t an option. My husband got an earful from me.
She is a great dog but has a lot of health problems. When she was about 7 months old I decided I wanted a second dog so she had a companion. This time I told my husband he was not allowed to just go get one. I spent time researching and found a reputable poodle breeder. I got a toy poodle. He was quite expensive and my husband was upset at the expense.
However the dogs are 7 years old now and our maltipoo has costs us several thousands of dollars from vet bills. While my toy poodle has only been seen for routine visits and a neuter.
I had one vet judge me for my toy poodle. I stopped going to that vet. I love dogs but I’m limited in my choices because of my son.
So I have always been an advocate for adopting animals, nearly all my cats were from adoption places. The problem we have had is with adopting a dog. We lost our little JRT last summer, she was 15. The problem we are having is the criteria for adoption which so far has included, no young children, no cats, fence at least 6 ft high and no full time workers. My youngest is 10, we have 2 cats, not all our fences reach the requirements of 6 ft high and we both work full time. Our last dog was purchased on the internet at 12 months old (couldn’t move into a flat with the current owner) and before that we had a stray dog a friend had taken in but really couldn’t keep. It is looking like we will be buying a puppy or older dog if the fit is right because we are not the right fit for adoption places.
People are accidentally letting their dogs have puppies all the time, it’s still more ethical to get one of those than from a Breeder.
I always took that saying to mean don’t go to a pet store that sources their animals from puppy mills, or to a backyard breeder who’s breeding goodness knows what and how. Shelters and reputable breeders are OK.
And I’m sorry for your loss, it’s always so difficult having to let go of a furbaby. I hope you find your next love soon.
‘Adopt or shop responsibly’ is a much better line in my opinion. Your not doing a rescue dog any favors if its not the right fit for your family, and not all homes are right for rescue dogs. And unfortunately, rescues can be unethical as well. It’s not uncommon for rescues to straight up lie about problems that a dog has to get it adopted. I just saw a post yesterday about a rescue dog who got returned after it escaped its kennel and mauled a cat. And the rescue was down playing it. So get the dog that’s right for you and your family, just make sure you do your research before hand and go with an ethical breeder or rescue
There is nothing wrong with going to a responsible breeder it’s just that 99% of people don’t have any idea what that means. Not a puppy mill does not mean responsible. Good breeders have waiting lists, they have one or 2 dogs that they breed once a year. There is no such thing as an ethical breeder who breeds any cross breeds. There is no such thing as an ethical breeder who breeds any brachycephalic dog, like frenchies, it’s cruel and these poor dogs suffer and very often die young as you are witness to. People don’t want to hear that though because ‘they are so cute!’ Please do your research on these breeds before deciding to get another one.
Agreed I am a devoted dog person and have had several dogs from shelters. And one purebred dog raised in a stable stress free environment with lots of enrichment.
It can make a huge difference if you would like a better chance at traits that make dogs good family pets—emotional stability, friendliness, confidence…
Check out the work by the Functional Dog Collaborative! It’s really interesting and they do advocate for ethical breeding of pet dogs
We thought we were going to have to shop rather than adopt a few years ago, but we took advice from a friend who is heavily involved in the animal welfare end and she told us what red flags to look for if buying to avoid puppy farms. We found a family who owned 2 working farm dogs who were well looked after, and they had a litter of pups. Just as we were ready to approach them an adoption came through.
So if you need to buy, just do your due diligence, you can buy and still avoid the puppy Mills
Have you tried websites like Petfinder? If you want a specific breed it might be a wait to get from your closest shelter, but websites like that let you find options from shelters all over, so it’s extremely handy if you want a very specific pet.
You might have to travel a bit farther, but you’ll find what you’re looking for and be able to adopt.
I agree with everything you said.
There’s a puppy store at a mall near me where they absolutely have puppy mill type dogs. Half the dogs cards list some kind of health issue (Parvo, etc), and for even a “Teacup” chihuahua, you’re paying minimum $2,000 at this store, max $7000. Their dogs are so expensive they even offer a loan program. Their dogs are not papered, and you’re also having to pay for shots too. They also do not walk the dogs (Ive asked employees), and some of their bigger breeds are kept in little cubes that cant be bigger than a 3 x 6 foot all day long. The only time Ive seen them bring dogs out is to put them in the “play box”, where customers can pet and interract with the dog. Which usually means 10+ kids all swarming the dog at once, which cant be good for the dogs mental health after being locked in a box all day. Their whole process is just cruel, and ridiculous.
People have protested the store for years, but nothings ever come out of it.
Normally there should be very small numbers of dogs in shelters. Only the ones lost and owners looking and happy reunions, or ones whose owners died and those need new homes. But what we have nowadays is irresponsible people stupid mistakes cast aside and marketed as “such a good dog, someone will give them a forever home”. But when you look what’s there then you see “no other pets, no children, private garden with high strong fence, professional trainer on speed dial” which basically means a normal family with kids and cats/dogs and some life going on better not even look at those. Most from breed mixes that in some countries need the owner be over 18, pass a special training with exam at the end and renew this qualification every 3 years. That is if the shelter is honest and reveals this info at all. This is why l think “adopt don’t shop” call is unethical. Condemns unsuspecting kind hearted people to years of abuse by an animal who is aggressive, fearful, unsocialised, comes with expensive health issues. Some return them, some take them to be euthanised for behaviour, some suffer for years. I know l will get answers with success stories, yes, it happens too. Unfortunately the heartbreak happens too often. What we should be doing is stopping puppy mills, by legislation, by educating their potential customers, even one by one. Because puppy mills is the source where the irresponsible owner #1 gets their dog that “easy come easy go” gets discarded to the shelter.
I am so sorry.
I don’t judge buying from reputable breeders, but do your research. Backyard breeders and puppy mills have learned a lot of tricks to make themselves seem legit.
And while it’s possible, it is always going to be difficult to find a pure-bred puppy to adoption. If you’re willing to adopt a dog who’s out of the puppy stage it’s not too difficult to get a specific breed through a rescue. We currently have three pure-bred dogs who are all adopted.
Whether you find a pet through a breeder or shelter, they are all ADOPTED. Find a pup you love, it doesn’t matter where if you’re not the shelter dog kind of person.