If you love puppies, don't let them die

Before I started this Citijo contest blog, I had to think long and hard about what topic I really wanted to cover.  To be honest, I'm a pretty apathetic person.  But this last week, some things really got me to thinking about doggies.  I love dogs.  Ever since I've been a child I've always had a loyal pet dog, and the best, healtiest and sweetest of all of those dogs were always mutts.  Mutts are more loving, just as smart and, in my unbelievably biased opinion, usually cuter than purebreds.  Too often, imbreeding and puppy mills and all sorts of other things result in purebreds frequently encountering health and behavioral problems.  In any type of animal, recessive genes only come out when there is no dominant gene to defeat it.  Some recessive genes aren't bad, things like red hair and blue eyes certainly aren't problems, but other ones are.  Sickle cell anemia is a recessive gene that only affects people who are products of two carriers.  With dogs, it's the same thing.  The hip dysplsia frequently found in German Shepards could be easily avoided by regularly breeding them with other dogs. 

I think there's a common myth with mutts that they are ugly and stupid.  This, just like the myths that all pit bulls are baby killers, is just plain silly.  I think it's a damn shame that people sound shocked when I tell them my dog's a mutt.  Is it that hard to believe that a sweet, well behaved and adorable animal doesn't cost thousands to breed?  No, I got the most wonderful dog I've ever had from the pound for $60.  He was housebroken, had his shots and can walk with me without a leash.  I never had to teach my dog anything, and yes, he is full blood-mutt.  Maybe he's a little pitt bull and a little corgi, maybe bull dog and sharpei like the shelter said when I got him.  Bottom line is, I don't care.

This brings me to another point, no matter what kind of dog you like, you should always go to the local shelters to adopt one.  30-40% of shelter animals are purebred dogs, many of them even cute little pups.  These dogs are just looking for families to go home with and many of them will be put to sleep if no one comes to save them within 30 days.  How would you feel knowing your fate depended on someone falling in love with you within the next 30 days?  Not only that, but you couldn't go looking for them, you had to hang out in a cage until they happen to show up?  It's not a very comforting scenario.  I want to cry when I think that if my dog hadn't been put on the adoption program (meaning they weren't going to put him to sleep, no matter how long it took to adopt him out), he would have already been dead.  My Percy dog was caged up at the pound for 4 full months before I found him.  Do you have any idea how many other dogs weren't on the adoption program and were put to sleep in those 4 months alone?

Still, some people insist on only having little puppies that are pure bred.  It's one thing to go out and seek two very well bred dogs that are not related and have no health problems, but tons of people just head down to their local pet store and pick up the cutest puppy in the window.  Most pet shops get their papered pups from "puppy mills," aka, they have a handful of unloved mother dogs there solely to breed over and over.  It's extremely hard on any female animal to breed non-stop, and these dogs don't even get love and affection in the meantime.  On top of all that, once they can't breed any more, hasta la vista doggy.  These mills are also filled with parasites and disease.  I can't even tell you how many kids I know adopted a dog from a pet store only to have it die within the first 2 months because of some horrible disease it had before it even got to the pet store.

For the sake of all dogs, please spay or neuter your pet.  The last thing the world needs is more animals in the shelters.  Also, spaying can make dogs less prone to cancer and neutering can drastically reduce the chance your dog will become roadkill.  Did you know 70a% of all dogs hit by cars are unneutered males?  Now that's saying something!

So please people, if you want to get a dog, please consider going to the shelter and if you absolutely must have a pure bred puppy, at least spend the money and get a healthy baby from a good breeder, not some pet shop window display that encourages them to keep forcing mommy dogs to breed sickly babes.  And consider a mutt while you're at it, because they are the best dogs in the world.

  Percy thanks you!

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