Throwaway Puppies: Don't Abandon Them!
Many of us have found ourselves unable to resist stopping by a pet shop to see the puppies they sell. Aren’t they cute? A puppy, no matter what breed it is, is always fun to look at. The fact that they are so cute leads many people to buy them impulsively without thinking about the huge responsibility of caring for a living creature. This can lead to the terrible situation of so-called throwaway puppies.
This compulsive buying leads to another one of society’s evils: abandonment. That’s just one of the tragic consequences of buying pets in stores. And, worse still, people do it in a compulsive, spontaneous way without thinking about what they are doing.
Because of this, the term “throwaway puppy” was coined to describe this form of abandonment. Why does this happen? Because people fall in love with a puppy in a store, and buy it on a whim. Then, when it grows up, they abandon it, either because it’s not so cute anymore, it’s too big, or because they don’t like its personality.
What’s wrong with our society? Don’t we say that dogs are a man’s best friend? They have already proven themselves to be our friends. But what about us? What have we done to prove it?
The danger of buying puppies in stores
Let’s forget about abandonment for a minute, and discuss what buying puppies from stores involves. Yes, purebred dogs are very cute. Our first impression of someone or something always comes from what our eyes see.
However, when someone wants a purebred dog and has the money to buy one, they forget that there are hundreds of puppies in shelters and on the streets, looking for a home. They may not be purebred, but they are just as cute as dogs with a pedigree (if not more so).
Buying a puppy from a store is the same as collaborating involuntarily with puppy mills. In puppy mills, females exist only to give birth, and they do it dozens of times in their lives. When they can no longer do so they are slaughtered, no matter how old they are.
The puppies that have been born undergo a selection process. Those that are not “perfect” are put down or abandoned, because only cute ones can go in store windows. Remember, people judge by what they see…
Once they have chosen some puppies for the stores, they put them in trucks with unsanitary conditions. They are locked in cages (ten in a cage) with hardly any living space, and no room to move. They have to do their business there, with very little food and water. In fact, half of these puppies will barely survive the trip.
However, there are plenty of people looking through pet store windows, thinking about which puppy to take home, no matter what it costs.
Throwaway puppies
Once you have a puppy at home, then what? Well, everything is great at first. You have a new friend, and someone who is happy to see you when you get home. However, he will also do his business all over your home, which can really get annoying over time.
And then there are the vaccines, and the microchips–having a puppy isn’t cheap! You’ll have to take him for a walk 3 times a day, and you can’t go away for the weekend without getting someone to look after him. There are so many responsibilities that most puppy buyers never even think about.
So then what happens? People realize that having a puppy is too much effort. Plus, it’s already growing and doesn’t look as cute as it once did, so they abandon it. It gets added to the long list of throwaway puppies.
Please, if you’re thinking of adopting a puppy, first think about all the responsibilities involved. Don’t support puppy mills by buying from pet stores. And lastly, please, please, don’t abandon your dog!