Abandoned dogs can be found anywhere in the world and sometimes, we just don’t pay attention to them. Usually, when people want a pet friend, they opt for a pure-bread dog, which is just fine, but you need to pay a lot of money and you don’t help any dogs get a home. By adopting a stray dog from the shelter, you will help them regain confidence and have a friend for life. Not only that, but you will also save their life as we are going to see later in the article.
Many people have countless questions about the behavior or temperament of an adopted dog and some of them are discouraged by the physical appearance. When they buy a purebred dog, they know exactly what the dog will look like in adulthood and they may have some expectations about his behavior. Most of these worries are unfounded because the shelters choose only sociable, easy going dogs to be promoted for adoption. If you’ve ever wondered why you should adopt a dog, here are a few reasons to convince you of this:
1. Save a dog from the shelter, save one from the streets!
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In order to rescue more dogs, the shelters need to have free spaces. According to ROLDA when you adopt a dog from the shelter, you free up space, which means that they can bring more dogs in and get them away from the streets. Adopting will make you feel good for being able to help two dogs. So, when you decide to adopt a dog instead of buying it, you save two lives.
2. You become responsible
Saving a stray dog or adopting it from a shelter is a decision that should not be taken in a hurry because it will mark the rest of your life. Therefore, adoption will help you become more responsible, having a lifetime friend that depends on you.
3. Dogs are living things – don’t encourage sales!
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When you buy a dog from a pet store, from a breeder or through the internet, you contribute to the increase, legal or not, of the level of exploitation of the animals in order to mate them and, in some cases, this is done in poor welfare conditions for dogs. Needless to say, buying a dog from licensed breeder or other sources will cost you quite a lot of money and nothing guarantees the lifelong health of your dog, given the difficult conditions in which its parents are often raised.
4. Rescue dogs are resistant to illnesses
Of course, mutt dogs must be vaccinated and dewormed and they may get sick and need a veterinarian. And this is because the state of health of each specimen depends, to a large extent, on the conditions in which it lives, on the food it receives and many other factors.
But mixed-breed dogs are, first and foremost, protected from genetic diseases that can occur as a result of inbreeding that can cause severe defects. Also, mutts are protected from health problems characteristic of certain breeds, selected excessively based on their physical appearance. Because of their background, the strongest puppies survived and their bodies got stronger every time they overcome an obstacle (injury, cold). If you take care of it, a mutt tends to live longer than a purebred dog.
5. It improves your health
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Dogs contribute to your mental and physical health. Spending time with a dog calms your high blood pressure and can even lower your blood cholesterol levels. Then, walking or running with a dog keeps you in shape. Besides the improvement on your health there are other benefits of adopting a dog:
- keeps you active
- improves your social life
- builds your self confidence
- adds meaning and purpose to life
- reduces depression, loneliness and isolation
6. You gain a true friend for life
In a shelter, no matter how well cared for, a dog can’t receive direct attention all the time and the love he needs. Also, if you sometimes feel isolated, after adopting a dog you will never feel the same way again. Both of you will gain a friend for life. The love of a dog has no limits, it will accompany you for better or worse and your new friend will be waiting for you at the door every day.
7. Children learn about animals and how to take care of them
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A dog in the house will help your children learn to be more responsible, because they have to take care of it too. In addition, children learn from an early age to respect other living beings, to be aware of the “feelings” of animals and, in essence, to become better. On the other hand, the dog will be an ideal partner for play and fun!
8. Former street dogs are extremely smart
The specialists observations show that the dogs that lived on the streets are often more understanding, more attached, more devoted and more eager to please their owners, more malleable and easier to train. They seem to have a special wisdom and they seem to appreciate more the quiet life they were lucky enough to have, thanks to you, the adopter.
9. If you adopt, your dog will be unique!
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When you choose to adopt, you can be sure that no one will have a dog like yours! The color, the proportions, the temperament – are unique. That’s because your new companion is the result of unexpected crossings between different dogs living on the streets. If you are worried about the way the dog you have adopted will look at maturity, this is not the case: any veterinarian can approximate the age of the pup and the height at which it will reach maturity.
