During lockdown, one in four people have bought a new puppy with 41% stating their main reason was to have a companion during these isolated times. Yet millions of rescue dogs continue to look for a home, left abandoned or not cared for, all alone. A shocking 3.3 million dogs enter animal shelters nationwide and, thanks to typically bad press and publicity, shelter dogs have always had an infamously bad reputation, based on vicious and aggressive stereotypes. However, this is far from reality. In fact, most rescue dogs are already trained before being adopted and a large number of them have not experienced past trauma and find themselves in shelters when their owners fall ill or pass away.
You might be considering welcoming a young puppy as a new member to the family, so it is important to consider that the average age of animals entering shelters is only approximately 18 months. Rather than spending up to thousands of pounds from a breeding business, why not look to the shelters first. Not only are many of these dogs still pups, but this also will encourage people to join the fight against ‘puppy mills’, where dogs are being commercially bred and kept in appalling conditions before being sold to families who have no knowledge of this forceful upbringing, and therein supporting unethical businesses. As many as 60% of shelter dogs nationwide are euthanized every year because they cannot find a home. This figure alone is tragic, especially as the demand for dogs has increased so significantly over a year of Covid.
When her own faithful labrador, Truffle, passed away at the end of a happy sixteen years, Prune Sampson from Bath knew that, at some point, she would want to have another dog as a companion. Juno, her new rescue mix breed, was the perfect three year- old match. Although a new experience for Prune who has always bred her own labradors since becoming a dog owner in the 1970s, she immediately fell in love with her new dog, Juno, previously Julia from the streets of Romania. So far so good: One happy owner, one adoring pup and chair legs so far intact!
