[Silverfoxkit]

It's that time of year again, February, the month of Valentines day. The time of love and gifts, and of consequential ignorance and death, where the puppy mills are raking it in. "Jane" and "Joe" have been dating for a few months and its Valentines Day and "Joe" wants to get "Jane" something special so he goes out and buys that cute little puppy at the pet store for her. Boom, one dead puppy at the pound. Two months later "Joe" and "Jane" break up, and looking at Fluffy reminds her of "Joe", or perhaps the puppy grows up some and starts teething, and its not so fluffy anymore plus with her busy social life she had no time to housebreak it and the "stupid" dog couldn't potty train itself so she dumps it off at the pound, Boom, another dead dog. For what? To prove how much you love him/her? Pets are commitments, not disposable presents. If you are not prepared to own a DOG for its entire life then don't get that puppy! They have a nasty unbreakable habit of growing up. If you are not prepared to own the dog on your own, no matter what happens between you are our sweetheart, then do NOT get that puppy!

[jeepgrl015]

THANK YOU! I completely agree with you. I have been a foster mom for many "gifts" that people got on a whim because it was cute. People need to think before they buy... Keep up the awareness

[Alty]

Great post Silver, very great post.

There is a solution to V-day puppy/kitty/bunny presents.

Instead of purchasing the pet for your partner why not get a gift certificate from the local SPCA. If your partner wants a pet then he/she can go choose the one that matches their lifestyle the best, or, if a pet is not something they desire they can gift the money to the SPCA to help out the animals that need a home.

Purchasing a pet for someone is never a good idea, no matter what the occasion. This isn't a gold necklace that can be put in a drawer and forgotten, this is a commitment of 12 plus years, and the animal deserves to be with someone that actually wants to make that commitment.

Happy V-Day, buy a card instead. :)

[Akoue]

I wish it were possible to rate an OP. This was a great idea!

[starbuck8]

Good post Silver. The same goes for ANY day. Puppymills and backyard breeders are making a "killing" off unknowledgeable people. (Pun absolutely intended) Unfortunately, there are just as many knowledgeable people that buy their dogs from the pet store, the ad in the paper, or even a friend or family member that is blind to this, and are funding the puppymill and backyard breeder INDUSTRY!

Also, when Joe goes out and buys that puppy for Jane, and a few months later, Joe decides he likes Janes friend Suzy better, Janes mom and dad say they are not paying for fluffy's vet bills or to have fluffy spayed or neutered.

So Jane, hoping to get Joe back, keeps fluffy anyway---afterall, nothing is going to wrong with this wonderful puppy that Joe got her! The puppy doesn't need shots or vet visits. The puppy is locked away in the backyard all day! What could go wrong? But fluffy gets bored and digs her way out, of course wrecking mom and dads backyard. Well, fluffy then comes home and a few weeks later they see that fluffy is pregnant! Well mom will have none of this!

So off go fluffy and her puppies to the pound, where fluffy meets up with some of her brothers and sisters that were at the pet store with her! Fluffy wonders where the rest are. Well because they came from the puppmill or backyard breeder, several of them died of parvo because they weren't properly taken care of.

Days and weeks go by, and fluffy sees her friends disappear one by one. She doesn't know where they've gone? They just never came back. But fluffy has her puppies and the hundreds of other dogs at the shelter to keep her company.

Then one day she sees Jane! Well fluffy just knew she'd come back! But Jane walks right past her. Jane must be going to fill out paper work. But no! Jane walks right by fluffy and sees one of her litter. She hears Jane giggling and saying she is doing such a good thing by rescuing a puppy for her new boyfriend Jack! She's sure that Jack will take good care of the new pup, because Jane and Jack are in love! That shelter didn't have the funding to be able to have fluffy's puppy fixed, but Jane promises that Jack is very responsible, and he will take care of this precious pup, because it came from her!

Fast forward to the end. Jane marries Bob, and they have 4 kids! Jane wants her children to witness the miracle of birth!

I know you all know where this was going. Now lets do the math and tally up how many dogs died because Jane was so in love with... what was his name? Oh, and by the way, fluffy never did make it out of the shelter.

If you think this is a fairytale, it's not! It happens EVERYDAY!

The End.