Buy or adopt a dog?

Content: Buy or adopt a dog?

• Adopting a dog: The advantages
• Adoption as a second chance
• Healthy dog ​​(almost) guaranteed!
• Adopt or buy a dog?
• Adopting a dog: The disadvantages
• Dog with a past
• Buying a dog: The advantages
• A breeding dog is predictable
• Beginners have an easier time with a purchased dog
• A whole dog’s life
• Buying a dog: The disadvantages

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Adopting a dog: The advantages

There are several advantages to adopting a dog from a shelter.

The most important argument for adoption: When you adopt a dog from the animal shelter, you save it, give it a new home and at the same time, a place is freed up in the animal shelter for another animal in need. Animal shelters only have a limited amount of space. If there isn't enough space, sick and elderly animals are put down. That's sad, but unfortunately it can't be denied. It's definitely a great, satisfying feeling to know that you're giving a dog in need a bright future as your loyal friend and companion.

Adoption as a second chance

It is often unclear why an animal has to spend its life in an animal shelter and there can be a variety of reasons. Perhaps your future companion has run away, been abandoned or has been living on the streets for a long time. It could also be that its former owner could no longer keep it for health, professional or family reasons, or in the worst case, its owner has died. Whatever the reason, every living being should have the right to a good life and a second chance - regardless of the dog's age. Whether you give a puppy or a "senior" a new home and the chance of a happy life - your new companion will certainly thank you.

Healthy dog ​​(almost) guaranteed!

In animal shelters, dogs are in good hands until they find a new home. They are given a comprehensive medical examination, cared for and well fed. When adopting a four-legged friend, you can be almost certain that it is healthy and that any existing illnesses are known. When adopting a puppy from an animal shelter, the risk of the animal suffering from a genetic disease is also very low. The dogs there are rarely purebred and genetic defects are comparatively rare in mixed breeds.

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Before you decide on a new family member from the animal shelter, the animal and the person have the opportunity to get to know each other better. For example, you can visit your dream dog several times before adoption, take it for a walk and play with it. Like every person, every dog ​​has its own individual character: one may be loud and lively, another more quiet and reserved, some a little fearful. Look carefully and choose an animal whose character suits you and that you get along with. After all, you will be together for a dog's life at best and so you should get along as well as possible. The staff at the animal shelter know the habits of the dogs they have taken in and are happy to help with the selection and placement.

If you adopt a dog, you can be sure that you are not supporting illegal animal breeders or criminal, animal-harming activities. Animals, including dogs, are a business for illegal breeders, with which the dealer usually wants to make as much profit as possible. That sounds sad and heartless at first, but it doesn't change the fact. That's why it's not surprising that some dogs are bred and raised en masse under terrible conditions. Although an animal shelter has to operate economically, its main goal in most cases is not profit. Its primary goal is to help the dogs, find them good homes and give them a better life.

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The costs of adopting a four-legged friend are very low compared to buying one. When you adopt a dog, the animal shelter signs a protection contract with you. You only pay a small protection fee for the selected animal. For dogs, this is usually between 200 and 350 euros. With this amount, you also support the animal shelter!

As many positive aspects as there are when adopting a dog, you should also consider the disadvantages when considering whether or not to adopt:

Dog with a past

If you decide to adopt a dog from a shelter, you must be aware that it has a past that you know little or nothing about. Your new animal companion has probably already experienced a lot, including unpleasant things that may have even traumatized it. Such dogs are often considered "difficult." It is now up to you to show the animal in the coming weeks and years that the time of loneliness, fear, restlessness or insecurity is finally over. You can now gradually wean your four-legged friend off of any unpleasant behavior that he may sometimes display and that is based on his previous experiences. This sometimes requires time, empathy and a lot of patience.

An animal welfare organization should stand for something good - actually! Unfortunately, there are also dubious animal shelters and animal welfare organizations that only want to make money from needy animals. Be careful! So take a good look and find out more about the animal shelter before you hastily choose a dog there.

The first source of information is usually the website of such an organization. Aside from the structure, design and language used, you should make sure that the site is updated regularly and that you receive comprehensive, open and honest information about emergencies, foster homes and placements.

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Every dog ​​is an individual with a different temperament and character. However, purebred dogs often display typical characteristics that are generally known.

This makes buying a dog somewhat predictable and therefore attractive for many potential dog owners. The future owners then know at least roughly what they are getting into in terms of size, weight, certain character traits, etc.

Beginners in dog ownership in particular often feel more secure when deciding to buy a dog rather than adopting one. The animal usually has the characteristics typical of the breed, is well socialized and you know exactly what it has experienced so far.

Despite everything, you can't plan everything in advance and you will certainly experience one or two surprises, even if your dog comes from a good home and grows up under loving supervision. Because there is never a guarantee that the dog will be "perfect" in terms of health and character.

When you buy a puppy from a breeder, you get to experience it from a very young age and enjoy watching it grow up. It is often possible to visit the puppy a few times before you buy it.

This way, your new family member gets to know you a little and, ideally, builds trust in you. You can also choose your dream dog from a litter of several puppies.

Of course, buying a dog also has disadvantages. So that you know what to consider when buying a dog, we have put these together for you here:

If you want to buy a dog quickly, you should be on your guard and always be cautious. This can be a sign that the breeder is not reputable. If this is the case, the dog may not be suitable for you or, in the worst case, it may have illnesses that you are not informed about.

A trustworthy dog ​​breeder will not rush you and will never try to talk you into buying their animals. Quite the opposite: they should ask exactly what kind of environment they are putting their animals in and whether you are up to the task. The four-legged offspring should also not be younger than eight weeks old when they are sold.

Dog from a breeder - quite expensive

An animal is not a commodity. Nevertheless, breeders sometimes charge a lot of money for their puppies. Why? Because serious, professional dog breeding is associated with high costs. Buying a dog from a breeder can therefore be quite expensive for you - depending on the breed of dog you want, of course - and in any case it is considerably more expensive than the protection fee at the animal shelter. See also: How much does a dog cost?

You wouldn't believe it, but the appearance of dogs is also subject to fashion trends. Their appearance is bred to suit people's wishes. This often ends in animal cruelty, or breeding for cruel reasons. Because of cruel breeding of fashionable breeds, purebred dogs often suffer from genetic diseases or deformities.

A topic that Peta has devoted extensively to:

“ These 17 “pets” are cruelly bred | Characteristics & diseases ”

It's also worth thinking about: We humans are often outraged by inequality of opportunity. But what about the equality of opportunity for a dog from the animal shelter if you decide, without thinking and for the sake of simplicity, to buy a puppy from a breeder?

You may be depriving a needy dog ​​from the animal shelter of the chance to live a happy life in a beautiful, familiar and trusting home – in yours!

Conclusion

We are used to simply buying things that we want. But a dog is not an object, it is a living being, and the decision to get a dog is a matter of the heart. As long as animal shelters are overcrowded - even with puppies and pedigree dogs - every animal lover should think carefully about whether to buy their animal companion or whether it would be better to give a new home to a dog from an animal shelter.

Dogs in animal shelters are no less suitable or less suitable as loyal companions just because someone else has decided to give them up for whatever reason. Thousands of animals are waiting to be adopted. Weigh your decision carefully and consider all the pros and cons when buying or adopting a new four-legged friend.

If you decide against getting a dog from an animal shelter, we will of course also tell you how to best go about buying a dog !

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