Adopting Your New Best Friend Written by Best Friends Animal Society’s Humane Education Department 1

A dog can be a member of your family. 2

A dog can be your very best pal. 3

Dogs love to play and have fun with you! 4

Dogs love attention and time with us. 5

You can share your feelings with a dog. 6

And dogs will listen to our stories. 7

But how do we find the right dog? Where do we go to find our new best friend? 8

Some pet shops sell puppies. 9

But there are lots of dogs waiting for adoption at shelters and rescues. 10

What is the difference between buying a dog in a pet store and adopting a dog from a shelter? 11

The dogs in shelters and rescues have all lost their homes… 12

They have lost their families. 13

Some have never even had a real home before or anyone to love them. 14

They are all waiting for new homes, and hope that someone will pick them for a new best friend. 15

But many wonderful dogs in shelters never get homes because people buy puppies from pet shops. “Please adopt me. I am older but I will love you with all my heart.” 16

Many puppies for sale in pet shops come from “puppy mills” – places where mother dogs are kept in tiny cages to have their babies. 17

The puppies go to pet shops to be sold, but the mother stays behind to live in a cage forever. She will never have a home of her own. 18

For each puppy sold… 19

… a dog in the shelter won’t get a home. 20

21

22

23

Shelters and rescues have puppies. But keep in mind they don’t stay puppies very long. 24

If puppies aren’t trained properly… 25

… they will start chewing, barking, digging and going potty everywhere. 26

Guess what happens then? 27

Yup, they are dropped off at the shelter. 28

What can you do to help? 29

You can tell your friends and family about all the dogs waiting in shelters for new homes. 30

At the shelter, you can choose a dog who is a little older and wiser! 31

Then everyone will be happy. 32

A better world through kindness to animals. 33