Shelter pets vs breeder: A personal letter to a friend…
I thought I would share this all with you….Please do not get upset.
A few days ago a good friend I went to high school IMed me on Facebook.
“Hey Bella, do you sell dogs too?”
“What are you looking for?” I replied.
“A husky,” he replied.
“Oh ok.” I typed. “Let me work on it this weekend and see what I can come up with.” I typed.
“Great. Any idea how much it will cost me?” he asked.
“I will research and email you soon.” I responded.
I pondered this for a day or two…deciding what the right way was to approach the matter. My personal opinion (and it is ok if yours differ) is that to adopt a pet in need is to save a life. I carfully thought about it and here was my response:
Dear friend,
Breeders – although some may be good, you are literally taking a life from the 11million pets that are sitting in the shelters. Do you know 11 million pets were put to sleep last year. UGH.
The life of a shelter pet could have been….A pet could have been from a breeder, and a house could have been foreclosed on, family couldn’t afford it or take it to their next home, and the pet ended up in the shelter. Just because it is in a shelter does not mean they are bad. In fact in the over 350 clients we have serviced, the sheltered pets have ALWAYS had the best personalities. These (what were PETS, now animals) have three days there, and then they die. It is a very sad truth.
So what I am proposing is to go to a shelter. Not a pet store (puppy mills), not a breeder (taking away from the lives that could be saved in the shelter). It is the morally right thing to do. We can find you the perfect Husky at a shelter or the county pound. The statistics prove that. It is just a matter of speaking with the right people and can assist in the facilitation of that happening. Okay?
Do you have any questions or objections? I would be happy to answer anything.
Please let me know you agree and I will begin making calls to help find you the perfect pup!
How would you have handled this? What are your thoughts?
3 Responses to “Shelter pets vs breeder: A personal letter to a friend…”
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Danielle,
I could not have said it any better…literally. I am very direct. Then when I mix emotions into it…such would be the case here…it’s usually a disaster.
True, I would have spewed out all sorts of statistics, but an arguement would have ensued with someone…I am sure about how, “certain breeds” should be bred to maintain them, of which I don’t agree, because of what you just said; there are representations of virtually every breed wanted by somebody in a shelter somewhere (but which don’t get adopted by that somebody).
Also, even if breeders think they are doing everything right…they are wrong. And this is not just my personal opinion….this is from the current issue (Sept/Oct) of Bark Magazine. An article there called “The Cost of Perfection; BBC’s Pedigree Dogs Exposed strikes a chord,” exposes what is wrong with what breeders and the national kennel clubs are doing and for how long they have been doing it.
A direct quote: “The researchers studied 10 breeds and found that these breeds had lost more than 90 percent of the genetic variation they had 35 years ago.” Think for minute what that really means.
Read it for yourself at http://www.thebark.com/ issue No. 56
The most striking thing to me in this article (as if the above quote is not enough) is that the researchers compared what they found to the Swedish Model: Their kennel club has a rule that if a breeder sells an animal that breeder is responsible for for 3 years afterward. He/she must refund the $ if something goes wrong with it. Not only that but in Sweden they have, no problems with animal overpopulation, no need for breed rescues, virtually no strays running around, and no endless lists of health problems with their breed animals.
Folks, don’t kid yourselves and say, “Oh, but that’s just in Great Britain.” Sorry, we do exactly the same “methods” here in the US. That’s why we’ve got this horrible problem now.
Read the article…open your eyes for Pete’s sake.
PS: I forgot; they have no puppymills in Sweden either.
Bella, you know good and well I agree with you on this 100%. Either get a dog from a shelter or a rescue (as getting one from a resuce frees up a foster space that can be filled with another new dog rescued from a shelter). So, here is a link for your friend (though Im sure you know of it already Ms. Busy Body lol!) http://ashra.org/ . Hope he or she makes the right decision and saves a life.