When it comes to adopting a puppy, or any animal for that matter, it might be a toss up between adoption or buying one from a pet store or breeder. But the benefits for adopting a pet seem to heavily outweigh the cons. You get to choose the age of the pet, potentially save a pet’s life, and the cost is lower in all categories. Also, pets that get adopted are less likely to be pure breed which can have more health issues. 

Getting to choose the age of the pet can be beneficial as you get to choose where you start. If you want to train the dog and get the experience of training a younger animal then you can choose a puppy. If you do not want to put in as much effort then you can choose an older and already trained dog. While choosing an older animal could be problematic as they may not listen to you as well, it can save a lot of grief and money on training them. But if the dog was mistreated, it can pose problems to younger children as they don’t know better, and the children will be less likely to give the dog the space it needs to get accustomed. 

Adopting a pet rather than buying it has a lot of merit to it. A lot of people tend to see it as kinder than buying. It also, according to the Humane Society, saves dogs from puppy mills. These horrible things take unwanted dogs and use them to breed more dogs and put profit over the animals health and wellbeing. Adding yet another reason to adopt these animals to save them from fates like that. While it isn’t without it’s cons, I feel it’s much better for animals to be adopted. It can also be cheaper, being only $50-$150 or more depending on if you also get it spayed and neutered before the adoption. Adoption can also be easy to find as normally there are advertisements on popular websites like Facebook or Instagram.

Some animals have to live their lives on the streets or with owners that treat the animal very poorly. Adopting a pet could save a life. while you also don’t give money to companies that see the animals as only money, but buying them also saves them from being more underfed compared to what their diet consists of. Depending on the kind of animal they could also be given an enclosure that’s smaller than they actually require which shortens the lifespan of the pet. No matter your choice, at the end of the day, you could help an animal in need.