NO Christmas puppies!

[BC_MoM]

There are so many puppies for sale in the newspaper classifieds with headers such as "Making this Christmas Season MAGICAL! Buy a puppy! Ready to go by Christmas.....".... it's absolutely HORRIBLE.

[cyber-sibes]

I work a few hours a week at our local Mall, and tonight was a huge charity event. My two co-workers & I walked past the pet shop and stopped to look at the puppies. ALL of them were designer breeds with clever names . My coworkers remarked how they cost as much as purebred dogs, too. And they all looked very unhealthy. Oouzing eyes, runny noses, matted fur, many looked like they had skin problems and were underweight. PT has spoiled me - I know what a healthy puppy is supposed to look like, and I felt so sad for these poorly bred puppies. M I'm sure they were bred as "Christmas gift puppies" as it's only a few weeks till Christmas. I wonder how many will end up in shelters by spring? I wonder how many will end up dying due to problems from poor breeding?

[Sophist]

I am a big fan of the "Christmas Puppy basket". My older beagle, Jasper, was 8 weeks old and ready to go a few days before Christmas, and his breeders had made it known from the very beginning that none of these puppies would be sent home until safely after the new year, and offered at no cost to send a basket with a leash and collar of your color choice, a squeeze-toy, a puppy care booklet, lots of photos, food coupons, etc. They ever offered to throw in letters 'from' the puppy or santa or whoever with an message for either Channukah, Christmas, or Kwanzaa. I didn't take them up on it since he was for me, but I like the idea of having at least one more extra step in there preparing kids for a puppy.

[Sophist]

Forgot... for what it is worth, when I was younger, my mom did something similar when I was trying to talk her in to getting guinea pigs. I had to read the whole book that came with it and pas a little test my mom made from the book before I could start looking for an actual guinea pig. My brother and sister who got similar packages were both very excited and satisfied to get them on Christmas, but lost interest in their desired pets before they reached the end of their books, and just dropped the idea by the middle of January. No doubt, if they had been given the actual animals, they would probably have been 'done' with them by then too, and this way spared the pets from being 'disposable' and my mom from a guilt-trip.

[Freedom]

Wow, smart mom!!!