Adopt dogs, don't buy dogs

I know the urge to have a pure-breed weighs heavily on people's minds when they are considering getting a pet but there are so many reasons why it is crucial that we all adopt animals rather than buy them. In Thailand and my home country it is extremely common for people to shell out hundreds and even thousands of dollars for pure-breed pets when there are likely dozens if not hundreds at their local kill shelter, (A place where they hold unwanted or stray animals for a certain amount of time before euthanizing them.)

The desire to save a dog from being put to death is probably the best reason to adopt, but there are several other reasons as well, some of which may actually benefit you in the end.

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I can't find statistics on my own country so i will refer to USA instead: Over 3 million dogs and cats are euthanized every year in America, yet the pure-breed dog and cat industry still thrives. Here are some reasons why adopting is a better idea than buying.

Animal breeding farms are typically horrible places

In Thailand there are almost zero regulations or restrictions about these sorts of operations and they tend to be really bad. We can point our fingers at underdeveloped countries but the fact is, these sorts of places, especially the unregistered ones that sell the dogs off the books are pretty awful even in developed nations.

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The mothers are kept pregnant basically all the time and after a very small amount of time all of their children are taken away from them. We tend to think that animals don't have emotions of attachment towards their young but there is plenty of extremely tragic footage out there that tells a very different story. These "puppy factories" are horrible and will never stop being a thing until the demand stops existing. By adopting an animal you reduce the demand for such businesses and there is less reason for people to have them.

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If these images, and the reason why these images and thousands more like them exist online don't pull at your heartstrings, perhaps you shouldn't be getting a pet anyway.

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Kill shelters normally have lots of pure-breed dogs in them

In our care of dogs just here in Krabi, we regularly run into strays that are full blooded. We've had Labradors, Goldens, Shih-Tzus, and even a Dalmatian in our care at one point or another. The reason why people get rid of their animals is normally because it was a lot more responsibility than they imagined it would be, or they were not actually allowed to have pets where they were renting. Plus there is the omnipresent cases of the thoughtless owners no longer wanting their dog once it ceased to be a puppy.

The top 5 breeds of dogs in shelters in the United States are

1. Pit Bull Terriers
2. Labradors
3. Chihuahuas
4. Boxers
5. German Shepherd

So if you truly feel the need to have a pure-bred dog, you can definitely do that and there are thousands of them available all over the USA and abroad and you can use resources such as https://www.petfinder.com/ for assistance finding one near you (well, if you live in America.)

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Shelter Dogs tend to have a few years on them

I have had pet dogs all of my life and the most difficult part of their upbringing is the first 2 years. Dogs in shelters tend to be a bit older than this and therefore tend to be easier to train, calmer, and more manageable.

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You also have the opportunity when visiting a shelter to check out the dog's temperament and choose what works for you. This is not possible with puppies since every puppy is extremely cute and "behaves" regardless of their breed. Basically, you get to "try before you buy" and I have been to many shelters and all of them allow you to check out the dogs thoroughly before you choose one and I have never been to a shelter ever that had any sort of high-pressure "sales" environment.

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You are literally saving their lives

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You will get to have a sense of wonderful satisfaction every day when you greet your loyal friend in the morning and know that if you hadn't intervened that there is a extremely good chance that he or she wouldn't be alive at all. The unfortunate part of the stray animal population around the world is that in under-developed countries like Thailand, most of these strays are going to have short lives filled with a great deal of suffering. In Western countries the dogs captured by animal control will have their lives ended prematurely (albeit ethically and painlessly.)

You can be a hero for one of the greatest creatures on the planet and I think that is probably one of the best feelings that a person can achieve in life.