Looking for butterflies

If a picture is worth a thousand words .... its no wonder that the ads for puppies in the dreaded free online ad sites stage more appealing pictures than these in their ads.
There is a harsh reality behind many of the ads .. especially in the under five hundred dollar dogs for sale category:

• both parents on site is no guarantee that the breeding stock is being housed humanely.
• puppies born after Oct 30th are advertised as ready to go for Christmas .... whereas reputable breeders NEVER let puppies leave the bitch before eight weeks of age
• The parents of "Purebred" puppies, or pure bread in more than one ad, must both be CKC registered. Most folks are unaware that in Canada, it is illegal to advertise animals as purebred that cannot be registered
• "Designer' dogs are completely unregulated, so there is no possibility that a health guarantee or the protection of proper genetic screening will be available to purchasers.
• Even the price tag should raise a red flag .... the days of being able to find a five hundred dollar pet quality puppy are long gone. The reason purebreds from reputable breeders are so "expensive' is that it costs a fair bit for the proper genetic screening and going to the shows to get the championship points. In truth, even in the eight hundred to a thousand dollar range, reputable breeders don't make money.

None of this is new information. So why, in this day and age do people continue to shop online and in pet stores?

For many people, getting a pet is a lot like buying a house. Most people only buy one house at a time. Nor do they buy a lot of houses in their lifetime. I've never done a survey, but most of my friends only have one or two pets at a time and they keep them for life. (Before the keyboards catch on fire, do bear in mind that I'm not really going to have enough in common with people who mistreat their pets in anyway to become friends, eh? )

If well cared for pets can live for 15 to 20 years these days, it doesn't take a mathematician to add up the numbers .... most people will only bring home three or four puppies in their lifetime.

What does that mean for in realspeak? It means that most folks never have a chance to be experienced at picking out a pet. It means that the people who couldn't adopt ( along with their friends, family, neighbours and coworkers ) because they wanted to enrich their family during the holiday season won't be back for another fifteen or twenty years. Unless of course there is a problem with the pet : (((

These committed pet owners, who are the 'target' market for rescue groups and shelters, can easily go their entire lives without visiting an animal rescue website or shelter. Why should they? People who take care of their own pets and aren't in the market for another pet have no reason to visit.

What time is it? Its time to come to terms with this challenge by using one of the tried and tested ingredients in the No Kill Recipe.... off site adoptions. If the adopters won't come to the shelter ( or the sites ), then its time to bring the shelter to the adopters.

"If nothing ever changed, there would be no butterflies" Author unknown.