The NAPRP Blog

Jan 16

Written by: NAPRP Admin
1/16/2009 7:12 AM

First I want to thank those of you who took the time to respond to my question last week, which was "why aren't more people considering the pet adoption option?" I got some great feedback. Here are a few quotes for you to consider. They are indicative of the basic PR problem we deal with every day.

• Many people "feel they don't want the 'baggage' that comes with a rescue or they are not comfortable with a dog they haven't raised from a puppy."
• "Part of the problem is with the shelters themselves. Adopting a dog or cat is adding a member to the family and too many shelters are abrupt and business-like; unwilling to answer questions and concerns."
• [Potential adopters say] "I have children and don't want a shelter dog because most of them have been abused and we can't trust them around my young children" Or the classic, "I want a purebred dog" Or, "I want to buy from a breeder so I can have a certificate of health and all breeders make sure their dogs are healthy and vaccinated."
• "People go to the pet stores and puppy mills out of convenience they do not want to go through the extensive interviews to get a dog or cat."

The way to deal with these myths is to confront them. Are there articles you can write for your local paper on these topics? Can you talk to local media and ask them to do a story to shed light on some of these issues? Changing mindsets takes time, and it takes a lot of people saying things like "there's actually NOTHING wrong with pound puppies," "shelters are NOT depressing," "you CAN adopt a purebred," "shelter pets are NOT always abused," "dogs from breeders are NOT always healthy," and "rescues WANT to adopt to you."

I know many of you are out there constantly trying to educate people, but I want to encourage you to keep at it! Change doesn't happen overnight, but if we all do our part to spread the word, it's the animals who benefit. And that's what it's all about ;-)

Again, please feel free to share your thoughts. I love hearing from you!  So feel free to send me an email...

- Susan

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