If you and your family decide to bring an animal into your home, adopt one (or two).  Don’t buy one from a pet store.  That way you can save a homeless animal from death and your money won’t be used to support the dog and cat population explosion. The goal of the pet shops is to make money so animals in them are often treated as just another "item" to be sold.

    Many of the puppies in pet shops come from puppy mills. These are places where sad, lonely dogs live in small cages under awful conditions and are forced to give birth to puppies over and over again. After about five or six years, the dogs in the puppy mills don’t have enough puppies so they’re killed. If people didn’t buy puppies from pet shops, then the puppy mills would go out of business and the dogs in shelters would find good homes instead of being killed.

    When you are ready to adopt an animal, don’t overlook the ones who may not seem "cute" to other people. These need just as much love as any others and will give you much love and appreciation in return.

    When your friends tell you they want to buy a fancy, pedigree dog or cat, tell them about all the homeless animals who are waiting to be adopted. The dogs and cats in shelters are just as nice as the dogs in pet shops. Shelters even have many of the same pedigree dogs and cats as pet stores. There are also many rescue groups for purebreds, so if people want a specific kind of dog or cat they can always adopt one from the rescue group. You can visit Pet Finders to look for animals that are up for adoption. You can search by breed or zip code to find just the right animal at a shelter or rescue group near you.