When it comes to getting a dog, most people choose to buy a puppy. And who can blame them? There are few things in this world more endearing than a playful puppy. Yet unfortunately, this leaves a lot of animal shelter dogs in one of two positions: a lifetime of living in a shelter – or an early death.
So there’s your first reason why you should adopt a dog instead of getting a puppy – you may well be saving an innocent life.
But what other benefits are there to adopting a dog over buying a puppy?
It’s easier to ascertain the personality of an adult dog:
Although in most cases when you spend a little bit of time with a puppy you should be able to gain an idea of its personality, with most animal shelter dogs what you see is what you get. If you want to be certain of how an adult dog will fit into your family, you will generally be best off adopting a dog from a shelter.
Animal shelter dogs are usually house-trained:
And most people would agree that house training a puppy is one of the biggest downfalls to joining the world of puppy parenthood. Not to mention the fact that…
Puppies love to chew things:
Sofas, cabinets, cables – they’re not picky – when puppies are teething they will chew anything and everything they can get their teeth around. While there is no guarantee an adult dog will have this habit, a love of chewing is far less common in fully grown dogs, and in most cases the staff at the animal shelter will be able to tell you whether or not a particular dog seems to have a penchant for chewing.