Planning on buying a pet? read this first..it might save a life

[Karin]

Some info a lot of people don't know:

Did you know that when a dog is rescued from the pound 
(instead of purchased from breeder or pet shop), he/she 
knows its been rescued? You will never find a more loyal 
friend then that who knows you just rescued him/her! 
Isn't just this one fact alone enough to make you want 
to rescue/adopt instead of purchasing that cute puppy 
in the window who will surely grow up into an adult dog anyway?

1) About chaining or tethering your dog:
Well you say "my dog is an outside dog and prefers
to be outside 24/7 he has a dog house and food and my 
parents always did that no matter the weather conditions 
outside, dogs for thousands of years have been ok with 
that, and I work all day so what should I do?" None of 
these are legitimate excuse. Just don't get a dog if you
plan on doing that. If you get one as a cheap alarm system,
please consider investing in an alarm system that doesn't 
feel pain, heat or cold. They aren't that expensive and not
cruel to an animal. The fact: we have domesticated dogs over 
thousands of years, so they are no longer as able to deal
with harsh weather conditions such as cold or heat as much
as you think. This is an old school mentality, and from many
instances in history, old school mentalities must change and 
have changed in other areas, so why not in this one?

-Please Google: "chaining your dog" to get REAL facts about
this horrible and cruel practice.

2) 99% of pets in this country should be spayed/neutered: 
Your pet is no different!
Think of the misery and cruelty you will be preventing.

-Some 70,000 puppies and kittens are born every day in the U.S. 

-Between four million and six million pets are euthanized
every year because they are homeless. 

-That means between 11,000 and 16,000 pets are euthanized
every day simply because they are homeless. 

-An animal in a shelter is killed every 1.5 seconds. 

-Only one animal in 10 born in the U.S. gets a good
home that lasts a lifetime. 

These alarming statistics present a good enough reason,
all by themselves, for preventing more pet animal births.
Simply put, the widespread failure to spay or neuter dogs 
results in homelessness, misery, cruelty, and death.

3) Why adopt instead of buying from pet store OR breeder:

-Pet stores: dogs come from puppy mills, often with degenerative
diseases that don't come out till years down the road
bread in horrible conditions, mom and dads have their 
vocal cords cut so owners of puppy mills don't get annoyed by
"annoying barking" often the barking is due to pain.
New born pups are in wire cages, sometimes have their paws
ripped off. Those are the pups that don't make it to the
pet store. Most die in agony, and select few end up at the pet shop.

-Breeders: Well you say "I buy from reputable breeders" even so
by buying a dog from a breeder, you just sealed in the
fate of 1 dog you could have saved from a local shelter.
"Well I want a pure breed dog" you say? want into any local shelter,
breed rescue, on any given day and you will find a pure breed dog
that was abandoned, or abused, save this pure breed dog!

-"Well I want a puppy because puppies are so cute, and i want
the puppy to know me from a young age..."
Plenty of puppies at shelters who are put to sleep every single
day because you just bought one!
And don't forget, puppies grow up very fast, so if you 
are not in it for the long haul, if you only 
like dogs when they are puppies, please spare the dogs 
any future torture, and just don't get one. Its the hard, but
responsible thing to do if you are deep down inside a good person.

Did you know that when a dog is rescued from the pound 
(instead of purchased from breeder or pet shop), he/she knows 
its been rescued? You will never find a more loyal friend then 
that who knows you just rescued him/her! Isn't just this one fact
alone enough to make you want to rescue/adopt instead of purchasing 
that cute puppy in the window who will
surely grow up into an adult dog anyway?