Dog Basics Part 1: Should You Go For Dog Adoption or Not?

Deciding what kind of dog to own is one of the biggest decisions every owner must make. But whether it’s dog adoption or not, you still have to make the decision.

Getting a dog involves lots of social, ethical and practical decisions.

And that includes the way you acquire your dog.

2 Ways to Get Your Own Dog

Dogs can be found anywhere. But mostly, there are two main ways you can get yourself a dog: buying from a breeder or dog adoption through animal rescues or shelters.

1. Buying Dogs from Breeders

Potential owners can buy themselves a dog from dog breeders. These dog breeders intentionally but selectively mate their female dogs with other male dogs. This results to the bitch being pregnant and delivering puppies. These puppies are therefore sold to buyers for profit.

However, there are some issues with non licensed breeders who indiscriminately mate their female dogs without proper handling and corresponding health and ownership papers. These cause trouble with future owners as these practices don’t protect them from receiving healthy and defect free puppies.

2. Adopting Dogs from Shelters  

Another place to find your future dog is the dog shelter. Dog shelters house more dogs of any breed, age and temperament. These dogs were rescued and taken away from harsh environments and abusive owners. Because of this, lots of dogs stay in the shelter resulting to overcrowding and eventually euthanasia. That’s why, many shelter push the idea of dog adoptions around the country.

However, many shelter dogs have acquired behaviors that may affect their potential owners. These behaviors were brought out because of bad experiences they’ve had in the past.

Adopting Versus Buying

There are many factors and issues that surround these 2 dog acquiring methods: cost, dog behavior and social effects.

1.  Cost

Because of the processes involved in producing puppies, many dog breeders choose to sell high. This means “bred” puppies are more expensive as many steps and precautions are taken just to make sure they’re healthy as they are. Shelter dogs tend to be cheaper as they only involve grooming and occasional vaccine shots already provided and paid for by the shelter.

2. Dog Behavior

Bred puppies have no training yet so they are most likely to be trainable. On the other hand, shelter dogs have past experiences that the shelter may have cured temporarily but might crop up in future situations inside your home. This can prove more stressful and risky for the owner more than the dog itself.

3.  Social Effects

Many groups cite ethical standards whenever discussing these two options. For humane animal advocates, adoption reduces dog shelter population and gives these dogs second chances at life whereas breeding advocates believe breeding reduces attack risks, future behavior problems and prevent health issues from happening since the dogs they raise have complete blank slates.

Dog adoption or even buying dogs for sale can be one of your methods in getting yourself a dog. One of them may appeal to you but both  have their own set of responsibilities, advantages and disadvantages. It’s up to you, the owner, to decide which way you’ll choose in order to achieve the goal of having perfect dog in your life.

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Question: What method are you most interested in? Do you think one method is better than the other?