“I want a purebred!’
“I want a dog that I can easily train!”
“The kind of dog I want, only professional breeders sell!”
Have you ever heard someone say one or all of these things as a reason to buy a dog instead of adopting? I know that I have.
If you want a purebred, you want a purebred. That is totally A-Okay. But, hear me out, you can adopt purebreds too!
Not all dogs that are up for adoption are mutts, there are a lot of purebreds that are also in shelters. Instead of paying insane amounts of money for a purebred, why not go check out the animal shelters and see if they have any purebreds?
You’ll be saving a life, and saving a boatload of money.
The idea that dogs from shelters cannot be trained is a very dated way of thinking.
“But Megan, you can’t teach an old dog new tricks!” You might say. To that I say: you’re wrong.
A lot of times, when older dogs are adopted, they already know a lot of commands from their previous owner or even from the shelter. With any dog you bring into your home, you’ll have to go over the ground rules- no peeing inside, no jumping on furniture, the basics.
Adopted dogs can learn all of these things as well, no matter how old they are. The most important thing about training an adopted dog is to not wait to do it.
Once you take an adopted dog home, you have to start enforcing the rules, or they will never learn what is wrong.
So, you want a Maltipoo (a cross between a Maltese and a miniature Poodle), which means you have to buy it from a breeder, right?
Wrong!
While it might take more searching, chances are that any fancy cross of dogs will be up for adoption at a shelter.
You never know, while you’re at a shelter looking for that beloved Maltipoo, you might just have your heart stolen by Chiweenie.
Adopting a dog not only changes that dogs life, but it also changes your life.
Becoming a dog owner is a lot of responsibility, there will probably be some bad days where your dog eats your favorite shoe or pees on your brand new carpet. While there will be bad days, there is also a long list of benefits.
1. You have a new best friend
Like it or not, once you start caring for that dog, you are the new light of their life.
Dogs may not be around our entire life, but we are there for their entire life. While you might look at your dog and know that you probably only have a little more than 10 years with them, that dog is looking at you thinking about how it gets to spend the rest of its life with you.
2. Having a dog makes you healthier
Dogs need walks, humans need exercise. See the link between those two?
Having a dog increases the amount of exercise you get, it can also lead to increases in being outside, and socializing.
Dogs not only offer benefits for physical health, but also mental health. People that are dog owners are seen to be less lonely, and less likely to experience depression due to the companionship from our furry friends.
3. Dogs make you more attractive
Okay, keep up with me on this one.
It was actually studied that if you have a dog with you when you ask someone out, they are more likely to say yes. People often find responsibility attractive, and taking care of a dog shows a lot of responsibility.
So, at the very least, if you need to up your dating game, consider adopting a dog!
Till next time,
Megan Franklin
The Underdog 