Adopt, Don’t Shop
Happy 4th birthday, Olive!
In mid-December, 2015, a young couple strolled into their local shelter to do what they normally did on Saturday, volunteer. This particular couple already had three dogs. The dude’s aging 13th birthday gift, a curmudgeonly Jack Russell terrier by the name of Buddy1 another Jack Russell that was rescued from a family that didn’t want him by the name of Zipper, and finally a Jack Russell that was quite literally left on the young couple’s doorstep2 by an older couple who felt they couldn’t care for her by the name of Wendy.
Louise the day after she was discovered.
On this day, however, the couple walked in and saw a malnourished and barely ambulatory puppy with skin stretched over her bones and a fearful look her in eye. The workers at the shelter had named her “Louise” because she was found abandoned and starving in the woods next to the K-Mart parking lot with her sister the aptly name, “Thelma.” Within seconds the woman had the puppy in her arms and the puppy was holding onto her. They estimated her age to be around 4 months. This puts her birthday somewhere in the middle of September.
The young couple decided to foster this puppy back to health so someone would adopt her and give her the life she deserved. One of the workers quietly pulled the couple to the side to say the veterinarian had given her chances at survival at ~50% due to the malnutrition. If one was to take one look at this puppy, they probably would have reached the same conclusion. A sad reality facing millions of other stray domesticated animals discarded by callous morons.
So the young couple took her home and hoped for the best, but planned for the worse. The first 48 hours were touch and go, Louise slept a lot, had many accidents, and ate like she never had before; mostly because she hadn’t really ate before. Finally, she started to show signs that she was improving, and the first indication that we had that she would pull through was when she decided to walk up to one of our dogs and start pawing and maneuvering into the so-called play position.
By the weekend, the dude was teaching her how to sit and shake and the woman would cuddle her on the couch in the evenings. It was at that time the couple started to discuss whether they had become “foster failures;” meaning that they would adopt Louise and add her to the pack. Well, in a development that should surprise no one, the young couple formally adopted Louise on Christmas Eve 2015. Also, if it weren’t obvious, the dude is me and the woman is my wife, we’re the couple.
Louise, now Olive, about a month after her adoption.
We really took it on the nose from those closest to us, but ultimately, they understood that we could not just give back this wonderful dog after we had invested time and effort into nursing her back to health. We polled our family and friends as to what we should name her. We wanted to name her Isis after the Egyptian goddess and because we really liked the Bob Dylan song, but we didn’t want to have to explain to people that we weren’t terrorists and that Isis is an Egyptian goddess and a great Dylan track. So we narrowed it down to five names, Kay, Olive, Mabel, Aoife, and Flora. It was eventually narrowed further down to Mabel and Olive, and we ultimately decided on Olive because of the olive-shaped spot on the top of her head.
The current makeup of the pack. From L-R, Zipper, Wendy, & Olive.
Some of you might be asking, “she’s obviously not a Jack Russell and you guys had 3 at the time, why break the mold?” Well, we both noted that pretty early on and felt that it was more important to just rescue Olive. So, assuming the editors don’t throw this directly into the trash, you are all probably wondering if there is a reasoning to this walk down memory lane. Well I want to drive home the point that if you’re looking for a pet, you should always think to adopt first. There are hundreds of thousands of great dogs (and cats) in shelters that deserve good homes.
Also, I’d like to channel my inner Bob Barker and say that you should also spay and neuter your pets. The majority of shelters take care of this for you, some even do it at no cost! For some further information and statistics, follow this link. Obviously pet ownership is not for everyone and can’t be done by some due to myriad factors. If you have spare time, stop by your local shelter and volunteer. Shelters are always looking for people to walk dogs, cuddle cats, and just generally help out around the shelter.
I often wonder what would have happened to her if she was never discovered, or if she was discovered too late. She is truly a gentle and calm soul, especially when you put her next to the two Jack Russell Terrorists. So, on her 4th birthday, like each and every birthday of hers, I thank the callous moron that was too selfish to care for her and too cowardly to drop her off at a shelter so she may be given a second chance. The joke is on that person because not only did she get that second chance, but that person really missed out on a great and loving companion.
I back this 100% (all of my dogs have been rescues). I’ve frequently thought about volunteering at our local humane society, but knowing myself as I do, I know I’d end up adding more dogs to the two I already have, so I content myself with donations.Report
That is something that takes a great deal of restraint for me too. Usually I just think of introducing another dog to the already fairly large pack, and that is enough of a deterrence. That is when I try to get friends or family to adopt the dog(s) I like so i can keep hanging out with them.Report
I don’t drive used cars and I don’t date single mothers.Report
To each his own, but I’ve done both, and all my dogs have been rescues, and I have no regrets.Report
I assume you’re not a single father.Report
This is going to sound either like devil’s advocacy or concern trolling, and maybe it is, but I sometimes wonder about the ethics of forgoing adoption and getting a dog from a puppy mill pet store instead. I agree that the puppy mill/pet store industry is despicable. The few times I’m in a mall and walk by one of those stores, seeing those dogs makes me extraordinarily sad. I won’t say I literally cry, but sometimes I want to when I see them.
One very sensible way to combat the puppy mill industry is to refuse to patronize it. (And I do refuse. If I ever do get a pet, I would adopt.) But in the meantime, the dogs in the pet store are sentient animals suffering or bound to suffer. Wouldn’t it be a good thing to relieve the suffering of one or more of those animals by purchasing it? I realize that by doing so, someone is actually supporting the very process that creates more suffering. But for any given dog, it could be a godsend.
I don’t mean this at all as a criticism of your post, but it’s something I’ve wondered about, and not just with puppy mills. I also think about it when I’m urged not to patronize a certain store because of the way it treats its employees.* The idea is to reward the good employers and punish the bad employers. However, if the selective patronage actually works as intended, the bad employer might close down and the workers I’m trying to help would lose their jobs. I realize the analogy isn’t exact and fails, like all analogies do. But I do wonder about that.
Again, I know that all sounds concern trollish. But it is something I wonder about from time to time.
*Given my recent post on Chick-fil-a, one might think I do the same thing. That wasn’t my intention in writing that post, but I can see how someone might come to that conclusion.Report
I definitely see what you’re saying here. I don’t want people to not necessarily buy puppies or quit breeding (responsibly) if that is their hobby. It is merely a call to action on an issue I feel strongly about, and I want people to pause before they *buy* a puppy and think about puppies and/or dogs at shelters first. I have been in your shoes, though, walking by or into a pet store and seeing those puppies who also deserve good homes, and I like to think that they end up in good homes, although some end up right back at the shelter or abandoned once they aren’t puppies anymore. It really is a one of those things that you can’t solve completely without affecting someone, but there are ways to improve.Report
Thanks for the nice response. I felt a little inconsiderate bringing it up because by doing so, I was changing the topic.Report
Ehh, you know the economics as well as I do. If, by some miracle, everyone stopped buying puppy mill pet store pets it would be potentially* bad for the existing generation of pet store pets but extremely good for an almost infinite number of future prevented pet mill pets. It’d also be extremely good for all the shelter and responsibly bred pets that’d be homed. Economically I don’t think your argument maths out.
*But let’s be real- most of those pets wouldn’t be thrown in a grinder- grinders cost money- they’d probably be.. well.. abandoned to shelters which would then rehome them.Report
I know my comment was unclear, but my concern wasn’t really about the pet stores.* I’m more concerned specifically with the current pet mill pets.
You’re right that the economics doesn’t really math out. However, if an individual animal is saved from a horrible fate and given the love it deserves, then that’s a good thing, regardless of the fact that purchasing that animal reinforces the industry that produced its precarious situation. Likewise, forgoing offering that animal a home affects that specific animal and (in at least some cases) introduces it to suffering, all for the purpose of the the animals who are spared that fate in the future.
In other words, I suppose that a consequentialist argument maintains. I, in fact, buy and would abide by that argument (if I were to get a pet, which I probably won’t). But there’s a cost, and the cost is not saving the animal that might have been saved. It’s a difficult cost to measure only by the economics issue. (I hope that’s clear.)
*Having said that, I realize now I wasn’t even thinking about the well-being of the workers. But while I always regret someone losing their job, I wouldn’t mind if pet stores, or at least those that engage in practices that I consider inhumane, go out of business or change their practices.Report
With one exception (a retired breeder from a show-cattery) all the cats that have owned me over the years have been hard luck kitties. They were worth the extra effort & then some. Shelter & foster cats make for great companions.Report