Too many shelter dogs await an uncertain fate where overpopulation is still a problem.
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We post a lot about shelter dogs and why adoption is a great choice for many folks looking for a dog. Orvis also works with the Petfinder Foundation in its mission to support shelters around the country. (My own best friend, Pedey, even got a chance to play a role in the campaign.)
An essay on The Daily Beast really gets to the heart of the issue, though. The authors offer a stark view of the life of a dog living where he is not wanted, either in a shelter or in a bad home:
It was not a friendly divorce. The man got custody of the lab—now a full-grown dog—not because he wanted the dog, but because she did. Meanwhile, the day the man’s wife left, the lab was no longer allowed inside the house. There were no more walks or visits to the dog park. The back yard was mostly cement, and except for the negligible shade of one California buckeye tree, there was nothing out there for the dog at all.
Adopting a dog is important not just because of what it offers for the dog’s future, but because it saves the dog for what is often a desperate present.