I recently read a Twitter thread where the poster posited that buying dogs from puppy mills was actually BETTER than adopting because all rescue animals are “broken”. AND people need to stop making her feel guilty for always buying from pet stores.
It’s that time of the year (I’m writing this just before Christmas) when people buy puppies (don’t get me started on what a bad idea it is to buy a living creature for someone else as a surprise!) I understand (not necessarily agree with, but understand) there are legitimate reasons why people shop for pets instead of adopt (even though there is a rescue for every imaginable breed out there, and puppies are HARDER to home, but I digress), and there are (supposedly) responsible breeders in addition to horrific puppy mills. I even agree that you don’t know what you’re gonna get from a shelter (Or a breeder! Or an ad on craigslist!)
I found my dorky little dog Baileycakes at a shelter. Even though she is a “designer” puggle, she was a two-time loser, a boomerang dog that kept going back into the system. She’s sweet and adorable and affectionate and healthy and young and house broken.
She’s also headstrong, stubborn, neurotic, and (was) scared of her own shadow. She had to be taught that other dogs could be friends and food was always going to be available, and most importantly that she was safe and loved. And eventually, with patience and time, she calmed down and became a great dog.
Baileycakes isn’t perfect. In fact, she’s a spoiled brat. (But she’s MY spoiled brat!) And I adore her. Every time I think of the first person who bought her from a puppy mill only to abandon her a few months later, or the adopters who returned her because she was a handful, I am filled with rage and sadness.
But more than anything, I think of shelters full of perfectly wonderful dogs that deserve to be spoiled brats never getting a chance at a real home because of people who shop at puppy mills, or people who abandon their pets and I am reminded to always #adoptdontshop. Please.
#BaileyBarks #RescueDog #OliviaBlacke
PS: I use the hashtag #BaileyBarks whenever I mention Baileycakes for a reason. And it’s not that she barks a lot. I mean, she does (but she’s gotten so much better!) but because when she came home with us, Baby Shark was already popular and got even more prevalent during the Nats World Series season. It is not uncommon in chez Blacke to hear us singing (to the tune of Baby Shark, of course)… Bailey Shark (do do dododo) Bailey Farts (do do dododo) Bailey Sharts (do do dododo) Bailey Sparks (do do dododo) Bailey Parks (do do dododo) Bailey Barks (do do dododo). She’s also leaned to do her little army crawl to the tune of Bailey Shark, which is so adorbs I could just die. Anyway, #BaileyShark was too on the money, so #BaileyBarks it is!
Can’t get enough puggle? Baileycakes has her own Instagram account filled with adorable puggleness!
