surprisedentistry:

It’s garbage!!!!!!! 

It’s tragic, but pet homelessness and shelter euthanasia isn’t really a numbers problem. The underlying issues are varied and complex (including shelter and rescue management and regional differences), but at the end of the day, one of the biggest issues has to be the disconnect between the dogs that are available and what prospective adopters are looking for. 

Many dogs in rescues and shelters have temperaments or undesirable behaviors that will make them poorly suited for many adoptive homes. This includes a lot of high energy dogs, undersocialized dogs, or dogs with resource guarding and/or reactivity issues (even potentially treatable ones). This will also include dogs of disproportionately represented breeds or dogs with special medical needs.

There are many wonderful adopters who absolutely would be happy with one of those dogs, but not enough to meet the need that exists.

Given this, dog welfare will always, always benefit from good breeders who are:

• breeding temperamentally and physically sound dogs

• who are establishing strong foundations in their pups’ early lives and socializing them in a way that will serve them well into adulthood

• who make a lifetime commitment to their dogs’ wellbeing (especially when this means taking a dog back if a buyer is suddenly unable or unwilling to care for it)

Put together, these things drastically minimize the likelihood of those dogs ending up as a pet homelessness statistic (or as a dog bite statistic….or as one of the uncalculated number of frustrated, miserable dogs whose needs are quietly going unmet). 

I would rather see someone get a dog from a breeder that fits their lifestyle, than see someone rescue a dog that doesn’t. I have known many wonderful, kind people who take on shelter dogs with sad stories and end up in over their heads with an unhappy dog. Who does that help? Is that really a rescue?

A final note: “adopt don’t shop” rhetoric tends to paint all shelters and rescues as being benevolent and trustworthy. The majority are, but some really are not, and I would love to see more conversations about unethical rescues in addition to unethical breeders.