Adopting a Puppy or Dog From a Pet Store Adoption Event
Many of the more progressive pet stores have now come to the realization that selling puppy-mill puppies is a bad, bad idea. Instead, they are now working together with animal shelters and rescue groups to hold adoption events in the stores.
This is a very welcome change. These events are typically held on weekends, when the rescue/shelter volunteers bring some of their most adoptable pets to the pet stores to show to the public. This is a good opportunity for the shelters and rescues to reach a different group of potential adopters. As they say, different strokes for different folks - some people will absolutely not look through lists of adoptable dogs on websites, but if they can walk into a pet store and "browse" through some cute dogs wagging their tails and showing off their irresistable personalities, they will choose that option rather than buying a puppy-mill puppy. Some rescue/shelter groups hold similar adoption events in places other than pet stores. For example, many groups bring "adoption vans" to busy shopping areas or other outdoor community centers. It's basically the same idea carried out in different settings.
Pros:
- More Convenient - Rather than making arrangements with a rescue group to meet one specific dog you might be interested in from looking at websites, you get to see multiple dogs together in one place. You might be thinking, "What's the big deal? I can see even more dogs in one place if I went to an animal shelter instead."
, Sure, you can see multiple dogs by going to a shelter as well, but at an adoption event you get the benefit of seeing some dogs that live in foster homes. Foster homes can typically give you much more information on the dog's temperament than animal shelters can. When dogs are scared or anxious and sitting in small cages amongst a bunch of other barking and equally anxious dogs, they won't react in a way that allows you to see their true personalities. A lot of dogs labelled "aggressive" at shelters become perfectly loving and well-behaved dogs as soon as they are taken out of the shelter environment. Dogs in foster homes are much more relaxed and make better candidates for adoption because it allows you to select a dog that is a good match for your particular lifestyle. Please understand that we are not saying that it's bad to go to an animal shelter, but simply that these adoption events provide an additional option that may work better for many people. Animal shelters certainly serve a tremendous need and require our support because they are necessary as long as there aren't enough foster homes to take in all the homeless pets. The good thing is, once the dogs in the foster homes are adopted out from a successful adoption event, it allows more dogs to be pulled out of the shelters and placed into foster homes so that they too can have a chance to become adopted next.
- Pre-screened Candidates - Most of the time, rescue groups will bring the most adoptable dogs to showcase to the public at these adoption events.
This usually means puppies, young adults, and middle-aged dogs with great temperaments and in great health. If you are a first-time dog owner, and you had to browse through all the available dogs on your own, you might not be able to pick out the best dogs. But at these events, the best candidates are already hand-picked for you. And by "best" candidates, we don't mean that some dogs are bad and should be shunned. It is our belief that for every dog there is the right person or family out there that would be a great match for it. But what we do mean is that some dogs have some issues and will require a more experienced and/or more committed dog owner who has the time and abililty to work on those issues with the dogs. So by "best" dogs, we are talking about the well-behaved, sweet-tempered, easy-going dogs in perfect health that will work for a large majority of the public in a wide variety of living situations. These are the so-called most adoptable dogs.
Cons:
- Purebreds Less Likely - If you have your eyes set on a specific breed, and would really like a purebred dog, then this option might not work for you. Most purebred rescue groups work with only one specific breed, and do not tend to participate in these adoption events. If you think about it, it doesn't make much sense to bring a whole bunch of dogs all from the same breed to a public event when you are not going to be able to offer much of a choice to the general public. So typically the overwhelming majority of dogs brought to these kinds of events are mixed breeds.
Page Last Updated: October 4, 2021
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