To Buy Or Adopt?

I’m not talking about kids here. This blog is not an intense piece about child trafficking in India but it’s about KUTTE! It’s about those dumb creatures who we humans love dearly and think they can protect us from all evil. They do protect us from some shit like sadness, depression, frustration, etc. but they hardly help us in any other manner. I find them to be quite useless to be honest and they’re only good at one thing: making you feel loved. And that’s reason enough for me to have one in my life, always.

But I’m not here to write about how stupid my dog is or how much I love canines. Today, I’m talking about a recently discovered dilemma that people face when they decide to get a dog in their family. To buy or to adopt?

Lately, I’ve come across a plethora of advocates talking about the advantages of adopting a dog rather than buying one. They say that buying a dog is not right both morally and ethically. Nowadays it’s suggested that people should rather adopt a dog off a street or a shelter and give that little unloved puppy a loving home.

Now I get the whole deal about people trying to give these unfortunate puppies a nice home but what I don’t get is the whole negativity around buying a dog. They need to realise that not everyone wants to pick up a dog from the streets or get a stray from a shelter. Some people want smaller breeds. Some people prefer bigger ones. It’s just what they like and there’s nothing wrong with that. They also have reasons for those decisions a lot of times. Old people prefer keeping small dogs because they’re easier to manage. People with big houses can keep big dogs and it complements their stature as well.

When it comes to strays, you don’t get too many options like this. I know a lot of people who have strays at home and, in fact, even I’ve always taken care of the ones living around my house. They’re alright but not many people want to take the risk as they’re behaviour is more susceptible to being unpredictable. I wouldn’t prefer to get a stray to my house purely because it’s my old parents who take care of the dog primarily and not me. It’s best for them if we have a small dog, which we do currently, a Dachshund. The strays are also often of the same average size. They all look particularly the same but I’m not being judgemental here. I love all dogs no matter what size or breed. But let’s leave the decisions of buying or adopting to the people and not become too preachy.

Adoption is not always possible since these pure bred dogs don’t often come for free. Educating people is important, I get it. And the whole deal about breeders killing off unwanted pups and it becoming a bad business and all, does not mean people should start adopting strays only. Rather the authorities should put a check on those who don’t practice this ethically and treat the animals badly. The solution does not lie in not buying. It’s like saying that girls should not step out because the cops can’t control the rowdy men. That will be all.