If you’ve never been on Pinterest, imagine a never-ending cork board with pictures of shoes, makeup ideas, recipes, books, and puppies. So. Many. Puppies. Pictures of puppies, quotes about puppies, even things to buy your puppy.. or maybe that’s just mine because my Pinterest is my perfect world. Let me tell you, if volunteering at a dog rescue or animal shelter has ever been a thought, go do it now. Literally get up from your computer and go play with those pups. It is the most rewarding experience to be able to give so much love to a dog who has either had nothing, or has had it all and had it taken away. Who knows, you might even fall in love with one and decide to take him home. Thats what I did last spring and it has been the best experience of my life.

I'll start from square one. The winter of my senior year of high school, my family had to put down our first rescue dog. I knew I would be moving out in the spring, into a dorm, and it just wasn’t a good time for another dog. Losing a pet is never easy, but during my freshman year I was able to start volunteering at Yelp! Baton Rouge, a no-kill, non-profit dog rescue here in Baton Rouge. Over the next few years, I moved out of a dorm, started working, and couldn’t spend as much time up at the facility. I had fostered a few dogs short-term, but during our block party fundraising event, I fell in love. I knew it was time to open up my home to this sweet pup so he became my foster, and now I'm not letting him go. I’m here to tell you why us ‘rescue people’ are so interested in everyone adopting, not buying a dog.

There are so many homeless dogs in America, it's ridiculous.

According to the ASPCA, over 3.9 million dogs enter shelters each year in America. Of those, some are adopted, some are strays who are returned to their owners, and about 1.2 million of them are euthanized. Literally killed for causes completely out of their control. If you adopt a dog from a rescue or shelter, you open up space and finances for that organization to pull yet another dog off the streets, out of an abusive situation, etc.

We get pure bred dogs in shelters too.

So, you don't want a rescue dog because you think you want a specific breed. Well, shelters have plenty of pure bred dogs. There are even rescues that specialize in rehoming a specific breed. People buy a puppy and decide they don't want to keep it when it is no longer small and fluffy. They "can't take care of it anymore" or "it does't get along with my other dogs", or maybe even my favorite, "we're having a baby so we can't have a dog." Whatever the reason, these expensive, beautiful, pure bred dogs end up in shelters waiting for the perfect family to appreciate and love them. There are also plenty of mixed breeds who usually have less health problems, better temperaments, and can be trained as service dogs and working dogs.

You could be supporting a puppy mill.

You know, those facilities that basically mass produce puppies. The ones that keep dogs in tiny crates for their entire lives and pop out puppies litter after litter. It's not healthy, it's not ethical, and its definitely not properly caring for the dogs. Why would you want to buy a dog from a pet store, or on craigslist, or from God knows where, with the knowledge that you could be supporting puppy mills? Honestly, half of the dogs in puppy mills end up in shelters because of health issues or because they are too old to produce more profit, er I mean, puppies. If they don't have anyone buying puppies, they won't keep poppin' them out, so let's all stop buying them.

These are only a few of the many reasons I support dog adoption over buying a dog. Now, keep in mind I know breeders aren't all bad, but unfortunately the ones that are ruin it for the rest of them. In my opinion, there are too many dogs out there without homes to be supporting breeding. Remember, Adopt don't shop!