Tasha and Others

Archive for March, 2011

Recently, I was walking along a beach in Southern California, where it seemed as though almost everyone had a dog of some variety. As I walked along, I started asking people where they got their dog. Many of them replied that they had purchased their dog from a breeder or private party, which disturbed me greatly.

Being an advocate of animal welfare, and dog rescue in particular, I felt the need to convey my opinion. Did these people not know that there are dogs waiting in shelters to be adopted and loved? Did they not care about giving an abandoned or abused dog a chance at a forever home?

I wanted to spread the word about the importance of adopting companion animals from shelters and rescue groups. I wanted to make people aware of how spending great amounts of money to buy a dog was a selfish act, especially when that money could be used to help shelters and rescue groups keep going.

As I gathered more disturbing responses from dog owners, I started to visualize just what form a message would take to help people stop and think about rescuing a dog rather than buying one. In the interest of spreading awareness about dog rescue, I struggled with the exact wording, but then it came to me—bold lettering on a t-shirt that said simply: “Why Buy? Rescue a Dog.”