Last week, I was talking to one of my best friends about her new apartment. She was excited about moving, and I was happy for her. She told me that she was planning to get a new dog once she was moved in. She loves animals, so I thought that was great and didn’t think much else of it. A few days later, she sent me a text and told me that she was the proud new mom to Cooper, a six week old Shi Tzu. On edit, Cooper was born on May 14. That’s the good news. Unfortunately, she bought Cooper from a local pet store. That’s the bad news.
This is the same store that sells local residents “Gourmet Mutts”, as I like to call them. I am talking about “Puggles”, Bulldog/Pug mixes, and “Schnoodles.” Some of these dogs are $900!! Why anyone would pay these people $900 for a mixed breed dog (or any dog) is beyond me, when five miles away there is an animal shelter that is literally busting at the seams with mixed breed dogs.
First, let me say this. I don’t blame my friend for buying Cooper at the pet store. I wish that she had chosen the animal shelter instead, but I can certainly understand how hard it would be to walk away from those sweet, cuddly puppies in the cages. She is a good person who loves animals. Many people get sucked into believing that they can save the animals if they adopt them and give them a good home. I have met Cooper, and he is indeed irresistible. Still, there is a bigger picture here.
This particular puppy store just doesn’t get it. There is an entire page on its website dedicated to bashing the local animal shelter because, evidently, they wouldn’t accept a donation from the pet store, and they refuse to work with them in any way. Well, of course they don’t want the puppy store’s money, or its name associated with the shelter. Here is why. As long as puppy stores like this are in business, whether they are buying from breeders or puppy mills, millions of animals will die needlessly. Furthermore, if the animal shelter were to associate itself with this puppy store, then it would essentially be saying that it is all right to buy instead of adopt, when it is not. I don’t believe that “responsible” breeding is any more ethical than puppy mill breeding when almost ten million animals are euthanized every year. From Wikipedia:
According to the American Humane Association, an estimated 9.6 million animals are euthanized in the United States every year. Out of 1,000 shelters responding to a survey, 2.7 million of 4.3 million animals or 64% were euthanized. 56% of dogs and 71% of cats that enter shelters were euthanized. 15% of dogs and 2% of cats were reunited with their owners; 25% of dogs and 24% of cats were adopted. The majority of these are euthanized at animal shelters, typically after a standard period of time (ranging from several days to several weeks for unclaimed stray animals).
That information is staggering. It is never all right to breed or buy animals. They aren’t handbags or shoes. They aren’t something that you play with when they are babies and then throw away when they become too much responsibility. Animals depend on us to be kind and ethical. Until people begin to take responsibility for themselves and their pets, the problem will never be solved. Please, encourage people to adopt from a shelter or a rescue, to spay and neuter, and to take responsibility for their pets!
