Ever since our first night together, it has been the same routine: I arrange Kai’s bed, use his favorite sock of mine to coax him into it, and then slowly I crawl into my own bed. The entire process is truly a joke, though. No matter how comfy I make his bed or how many socks I give him to chew, I can count on having a slobbery tongue across my face as soon as I shut my eyes. Next thing I know, there’s a forty-five-pound puppy taking up more than half of my queen size bed. A six month old, forty-five-pound, goofy eared “beagle” to be exact. I know you’re probably thinking, “How in the world did you end up with a mutant beagle?” Trust me, I ask myself that same question every day. Kai was much smaller the first time I saw him clumsily running around that cage and instantly fell in love with those goofy ears of his. The shelter told me he was a “beagle mix” and would be no larger than twenty-five pounds full grown. I quickly found out that the only thing “beagle” about Kai was his coloring. Six months later, I now have a hyper puppy who is already double the size he’s supposed to be. I may have gotten a little more than I bargained for that day, but as I look at him sprawled across my bed peacefully sleeping, there is no doubt in my mind that I would adopt him all over again. It’s a great feeling knowing that I gave him a life that he never even knew existed outside of that cage. When I look into his big brown eyes, I see all those other shelter animals and I am driven to do more to help.

Scrolling through Facebook lately, I see countless pictures of cute purebred puppies and kittens that are for sale. My heart breaks into a million pieces when I see people are actually paying thousands of dollars for purebreds and then I scroll just a tiny bit further down my newsfeed to see the local shelters post that they will have to start euthanizing because they are so overloaded with animals. I get it, I really do; purebreds are beautiful and everyone has their dream pet, which probably doesn’t include the traumatic past that some shelter animals come with. It does take a lot of patience and understanding to gain relationships with those animals that do have a bad past. I think that is what scares some people away from adoption - the idea that all shelter animals are sickly or troubled. That is definitely not the case, though. There are many perfectly good pups just waiting for their forever home. So in hopes of trying to bring a little more awareness to animal shelters, these are a few of the many reasons why adoption should be everyone’s only option:

1. You are saving a life.
2. You will gain a loyal companion like no other.
3. Watching their transformation is the greatest gift.
4. They have personalities that are uniquely their own.
5. You are guaranteed to laugh every day at their goofiness.
6. Most are a mixed breed, so you will have a dog unlike anyone else's.
7. You will be reminded every day of your good deed.
8. They will make your house a home.
9. The love you give to them will undoubtedly be returned back to you tenfold.
10. If you adopt a puppy or kitten, it will be a surprise as to what they will look like. (Don’t always trust what the shelter tells you because they are only guessing. So expect the unexpected!)
11. You will be woken up every morning by their kisses of gratitude.
12. Adopting is much cheaper than paying for a purebred. Plus the small fee covers your pet to getting its shots and being fixed.
13. It’s the one decision you will never regret.

If you are thinking about adding a new furry member to your family, I encourage you to please check out your local animal shelters. So for fellow people of Acadiana, here are links to a couple of shelters in our area: Angel Paws, Lafayette Animal Aid,