Are you a Shopper…or?

Charlie Bear here.

ADOPT or SHOP. That’s the question. When you go looking for a dog to add to your home, what do you do? Let’s say you want a pure bred dog. And you’ve had your heart set on getting just that right breed of puppy. So you go online, find a breeder, negotiate a price, have the dog sent to you or you pick it up, and life is great, right?

Not always right. Sometimes those “pure bred” dogs don’t turn out to be pure breds at all. And that high price you paid? Sometimes you’ve handed over three or four times (or more) what you would have ordinarily paid. But hey, I understand where you’re coming from. We want what we want, right?

But there might be a better way. Did you know there are rescue groups for just about any breed of dog? There are people out there…dedicated, concerned people…who scour the shelters to pull out any of their breeds. These people save the dogs’ lives. They even have dogs that people gave up for many reasons (even puppies).

Wonderful people like Bernie Berlin of “A Place to Bark” and the people at places like Best Friends Animal Society, work tirelessly to save dogs and to make sure no more unwanted dogs from breeders or puppy mills enter the world unnecessarily.

A shelter dog found a home with Marion Bond West & Gene.

So maybe the next time you could consider:

SHELTER DOGS – there are tons of them out there. Take a chance on finding your furever love at a shelter.

ADOPTION / RESCUE GROUPS – many, many across the United States. Look them up online and find your perfect companion.

Ever consider adopting a senior dog that needs love during it’s final years? And what about a difficult dog…like I was? Lots of people think shelters are full of difficult dogs. Not really true. “Difficult” dogs usually don’t make it past the three or four day limit in a shelter. Not only that, but if you see a dog in a shelter that doesn’t look like a model of good behavior or has a scowl or growl on its face, maybe it could be that it’s just not happy. Would you like to live in a small cage with a concrete floor without love and companionship and the softness of a home?

Consider a dog like me. I didn’t want to be rescued. Heck, I ran away from being rescued. And when I was given the chance to make it in a home, I fought back. But that’s the rub (excuse the pun). When I got loving attention, kind words spoken to me, patience and a lot of time, I became the good dog these Peeps knew I could be.

Won’t you at least consider giving a shelter or rescue dog a chance? That’s my public service announcement for this year. I feel passionately about this, and I’m sorry if you think I’m hitting you over the head with it, but please, please consider helping out dogs who need a home.

A good friend gave us this mat, and even though I’m not technically a “shelter” dog, I surely did need shelter and love.

Wiggles and woofs to you from me and my furry friends out there,
Charlie Bear

www.bjtayloronline.com