Changing my tune

Relationships are important at any time of year. From up close and personal to thinly veneered civility, the fabric of our lives is woven by the connections we choose and the ones we discard or reject.
As the holiday season gallops in, we can't help but be more aware of our family and friends. Whether one 'spends like Santa' or 'saves like Scrooge', there are presents to mull over and halls to deck.
For many folks every year, all this warmth and good cheer inspires the push for a pet as a present, either for the kids or the family as a whole. Pet stores do booming business this time of years. There are breeders all around the country who try to make sure there at least one litter of puppies born by mid October to be ready to leave momma in time for Christmas.
I'm a mother and a grandmother .... so I know first hand that getting pets for the children is a cherished romantic fantasy right up there with losing twenty pounds before swimsuit season. Parents looking at bringing a pet home for the holidays want to be prepared to actively engage in the process themselves. As the adults in the house it will be their job to set boundaries for the new pet ... and when the 'novelty' wears off and the busy routine of school/sports/etc starts up again after the holidays, it very likely won't be the children walking/feeding/training and of course pooper scooping after the new pet.
That being said, if the parents are committed to the process, bringing home a pet can be a celebration of love that can teach children valuable lessons about commitment It is not a journey that every family can, or should, make. But for those who are willing to invest the energy and love, a family pet can enrich the lives of everyone in the house.
Now the big question is - should rescues adopt pets out during the holiday season? That's a long standing debate with some fairly firm opinions on both sides. Anyone who used to read my old blog knows that I used to sit very firmly on the 'not a great idea' side of the fence. But a comment was posted to that blog that set me off to investigate. The poster claimed that at a Petfinder conference, she had learned that holiday adoptions actually had a very low return rate. Hmmmm.
And ya know, the poster was right. It isn't the pets adopted from rescue that wind up being surrendered after a few weeks /months. Its the puppies and kittens from the pet stores and backyard breeders that wind up getting the bums rush. Hmmmm.
After all, just think about it. One doesn't "buy" a pet from rescue - one is adopting. Here in NS, both private rescues and the society normally have a screening process built into the adoption application ( with the rumoured/very likely exception of the cape breton branch - but that is a rant for another day )
People can just sashay into a pet store and waltz out with a pet, because for them it is a business and the pet is just another item on the shelf. Pet stores don't normally provide advice and assistance once the sales receipt is printed.
For most rescues, the adoption process is pretty straight up, but its not going to accommodate impulsive decisions by expediting things any quicker. At the end of the day, if someone would pass the screening in September, they should still be able to pass the screening in December.
I still believe that in most cases the new pet should not make his or her first appearance during the peak of the holidays. Pets love routines and would just be confused by all the excitement and distractions. Some rescues will 'hold' a pet until the hoopla has settled down. In other cases, bringing home a new pet a couple of weeks before the actual holiday could be a positive way to teach children about the spirit of the season and divert the focus from the more material things on the wish lists.
Petfinder also has a very cool option called the Promise Certificate, http://www.petfinder.com/petpromise. Its very similar to a gift certificate, in that the giver is promising to pay the adoption fee for a pet that can be sought out after the holiday season. This of course would only be a great option if one is 100% sure that the recipient will pass the adoption screening : )
At the end of the day, I realized several things about the whole holiday adoption bit:

• every pet that is adopted from rescue is of course one less from pet stores and backyard breeders,
• every pet adopted from rescue will be one less pet that is surrendered later when the novelty wears off.
• the pets adopted from rescue are normally altered. Adopters of pets too young to be altered normally get at least a discount for the surgery as part of the process
• adult pets that are adopted may even be housetrained and if they aren't will still train quicker than the youngsters, and of course
• the compassionate act of adopting a homeless pet is very much in keeping with the spirit of the season.

I'm fifty four years old and so have learned the truth of the lyrics of a favourite old song of mine " and in the end, the love you take.... is equal to the love you make.