Guest post, co-written by BTRC volunteer Brigitte Larsen and guest writer Nomi Berger.

Why rescue a dog instead of buying one from a pet store or from an online site like craigslist or kijiji?

There are many reasons, all of them humane.

To rescue a dog is to save that dog’s life. Rescue groups are often the last safe haven for sick and senior dogs, abused and abandoned dogs. They’re often the only escape route from an overcrowded pound or a high-kill shelter.

Because rescue groups first place these dogs in loving foster homes, they’re socialized with other animals as well as with people. They receive any veterinary care they need and they’re either trained or re-trained before they’re deemed ready to be put up for adoption.

They’re also microchipped, spayed and neutered, and brought up to date with all of their necessary vaccinations.

And all of these costly, but essential, services are included in the rescue’s very reasonable adoption fees.

Can the same be said about a puppy purchased from a pet store? Or from one of those online websites?

Not likely.

And it only proves the old saying: “buyer beware.”

Because most of these young innocents were born inside those horrors called puppy mills. Crammed, together with their siblings and their overbred mothers, into small, filthy cages, never knowing freedom, never feeling the softness of grass beneath their paws.

To buy these dogs, no matter how sweet their faces, is not only paying to take a chance, but also paying to support the unscrupulous breeders who breed them, not for love, but for profit.

It’s said that saving a dog in need makes that dog doubly grateful. But anyone saving that same dog is, by extension, doubly blessed. Blessed by knowing that they will have a forever companion, who will love them faithfully and unconditionally. Blessed by knowing too, that by opening up their hearts and their forever homes, they’ve kept one more precious life from being lost.

It’s our hope that if you’re looking for a special addition to your own forever home, that you’ll consider only one option: adopting a rescue.