“A dog is for life, not just for Christmas”. Most of us are familiar with the message promoted by conscientious dog rescue societies. And it must break their hearts to see the sort of “free puppies” adverts currently appearing in shop windows, the wanted columns of newspapers and occasionally on websites.
‘Wanted… free puppy as Christmas present for toddler.’
Dogs are not toys
A living animal should never, ever be given to a child – or indeed to anyone else – as a Christmas present. A dog is not a toy, to be played with during the festive season, then abandoned when a more interesting toy appears on the scene.
Adopting an animal (particularly breeds like pitbull puppies) is a serious and very responsible course of action. A toddler cannot possibly be expected to give a puppy the sort of care and attention it will need. And parents who think free puppies are an easy way to cut down on the cost of Christmas should never be allowed to adopt an animal.
Price depends on breed and pedigree
While many websites advertise puppies for free, this is mostly a ‘shop window’ to get people to enter the site, where they find that most of the puppies featured are in fact being offered for sale. Puppies for sale vary in price from nominal amounts to several hundred or even thousand pounds/dollars, depending on the breed and pedigree.
However, we did encounter one intriguing website (wwwk9stud.com) which takes a thoroughly responsible attitude towards offering puppies for adoption. The organisers explain in full detail why some of their dogs and puppies are available at no cost to potential adopters.
One reason is that they may have too many puppies in their kennels and are not prepared to breed from all of them. They also sometimes have adult animals available. These are mother and father dogs from whom enough puppies have been bred and they are now ready to retire. They are always fully vaccinated, wormed and passed as healthy by a veterinary surgeon.
The kennel proprietors take great care to ensure that these animals go to loving homes where they can spend their autumn years in the sort of style and comfort they so richly deserve.
Are they free… or not?
Finally, what are we to make of the messages coming up on our screens, offering ‘free puppies for sale’? ‘Free puppies for sale’ is a contradiction in terms.
Logically, one might assume that if they are free, they are not for sale and if they are for sale, they are not free.
Further investigation into this strange message reveals that it is not the puppies which are free, but the adverts offering them for sale. Aha, we thought there would be a catch somewhere.
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