I encourage people all around the world to adopt homeless dogs or if they are considering getting a dog to at least shop at the animal-welfare organizations like our own and to not shop for designer breeds. Puppy mills are horrible places for the most part and you'd be surprised how many purebred dogs are in shelters right now. They may have that special breed that you are looking for and if they don't, they normally have a network of other organizations and will find one for you.
However, as much as I would like to see as many dogs as possible get adopted, pet ownership is not for everyone and many people who think they are doing the right thing end up simply abandoning the dog again and this is not good for you and especially isn't good for the dog.
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When you see that cute little face inside the cage and it melts your heart, congratulations, you've taken the first step to making the world a better place for dogs. However, this is not a good time to "impulse buy" even though the dog is generally free aside from some processing and charges for shots. I think that most people, especially first-time dog owners, don't really understand what they are getting themselves into. Dogs are a lot of work and outside of extremely rare situations, are going to make your life considerably more difficult, at least at first.
Dogs chew on stuff and ruin things even when you provide them with a ton of toys and chewables, they will dig up your yard and they will bark and pee all over the place. You have to have the patience and spare time to train them otherwise.
Sometimes when people see how well-behaved my dogs are they think immediately that they would also like to adopt a dog but even though I am kind of in the business of getting as many dogs adopted as possible, I encourage people to approach this situation with a great deal of thought and even point out the worst case scenarios to them. My dogs are well-behaved because I spent YEARS training them to be that way. They didn't come like that out of the box. They have destroyed just about anything they could get their little paws and teeth on in their lives and most other dogs are going to do this as well.
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In a tragic story that I recently heard about a couple who had just purchased a home had decided that they wanted some "yard dogs" for security and also company. This couple seemed like the perfect people to take on the job and had said that they have had family dogs in the past. They came to a shelter (this was not our own) hung out for a while and then a little too quickly decided upon 2 dogs that they were going to welcome into their lives. This was an amazing day for the animal-rescue organization in question because adoptions are such a rarity, especially from relatively affluent people that seem as though they will be able to provide a very good life for the dogs.
It was only a couple of months before we started getting complaints from people who had seen that the dogs were penned up in small crates or tied off to a tree for most of the day. Apparently, this same couple has a penchant for gardening and the dogs were doing what dogs do and that was to tear up their gardens. The couple also complained that the dogs were barking too much as if this was a surprise that a dog would do this. This is what almost every dog does and I don't understand the surprise.
Rumors started to spread in the community that the couple had been talking to friends about their plan to drive several hours away from the house and simply drop the dogs off somewhere, abandoning them yet again. This was after just a couple of months.
The animal-rescue organization in question approached the couple and without too much judgement told them that they had heard the rumor and pleaded with them to not do the drop-off in the middle of nowhere but to instead return the dogs to the shelter. The couple denied the rumor's truth, but just a few weeks later there they were, at the shelter, dropping the dogs back off.
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There are many stories of the middle-off-nowhere-drop-off happening and even a few tragic videos of the dogs getting out of the car, thinking they are off for an adventure, only to be really confused as the car drives away leaving them there confused and not knowing what to do. I think it takes a special kind of heartlessness to do this and I understand ok? Dogs can be a pain sometimes but this is not the right way to handle things.
As shameful as it might be to return dogs to the shelter that you got it from, this is highly preferable to simply abandoning them. We need to at least give them a chance and when someone does this, it is extremely likely the dogs will be in big trouble because they do not no how to live in the wild.
So here is what I am trying to say to most people out there: Dogs are a lot of work and you might think you are up to the task but we all need to think about this more realistically. While we love them, dogs will almost always make your life more complicated than it was before you got them and many people are not prepared for this.
I highly suggest that people who are considering adopting a dog go to the nearby shelter and volunteer for a while before impulse shopping for a rescue. This way you can see how much trouble a dog can actually be and also get a better chance to understand the individual nature of the dogs that are there.
You might be thinking "I don't have enough time to do that!" and if that is the case, you certainly do not have enough free time to take care of a dog in your own home. Some animal-rescue centers also have temporary adoption programs where you can take on a dog for a trial period and then return them to the shelter. While this is not ideal, it is better than abandoning the dog in a field somewhere.
The fact of the matter is that adopting a dog is a wonderful thing but if you are not up to the task it can be the opposite that benefits neither you nor the dog. This is a commitment of many years of your life and some people simply can't do it and this is ok. If you are an animal lover but realize that you can not have them in your home it would be far preferable to volunteer your time to a shelter rather than adopt a pet that you ultimately do not have the time to care for.
If you would like to see how you can help out or simply spread the word, please visit our website at
http://krabianimalwelfare.org
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