Camp Bow Wow® - Columbia Foster Dogs Available for Adoption

Rescue Rather Than Purchase | By: CBW Corporate Marketing

Animal shelters across the United States are quickly becoming overcrowded and underfunded. Tough economic times are forcing families to give up their pets due to a lost job or the realization that the time, money or energy to take care of a pet does not exist. More than half of the animals in shelters are euthanised because they are unable to find a home.

While people still make the decision to purchase a pet from a store or breeder, there are many advantages to rescuing a pet from an animal shelter.

Benefits of rescuing rather than purchasing

Adopting from shelters reduces the demand for puppy mills.
- Puppy mills are large dog breeding operations that sacrifice the health and safety of animals in order to turn a bigger profit. Puppy mills supply many pet stores or sell animals on the internet. Problems with puppy mills include over breeding, inbreeding, poor quality food and care and overcrowding.
The money you spend at shelters goes towards taking care of other abandoned animals.
- Shelters take in hungry, abandoned or homeless animals and give them a place to sleep, food, vaccinations and check ups.
Many shelters offer services to help make the adoption process as easy as playing fetch.
- Among other services, shelters offer advice about pet parenting, how to choose the right breed for your family, how to train your new dog and classes about dog behavior.
Best value
- Most animal shelters are non-profit organizations so adoption fees are considerably less expensive than purchasing a pet from a pet store or breeder.
- Working with a shelter gives you a higher chance of adopting a pet that has been vaccinated, dewormed and spayed or neutered.

When the time is right for you to adopt a pet be sure to consider rescuing an animal from a shelter in order to help ensure more animals have the chance to find a home in the future.

To see how Camp Bow Wow is working to find great families for homeless animals, please visit the Bow Wow Buddies page.