So....You want to get a puppy.

I want to preface this by saying that I am not anti-breeding, but with breeding comes responsibility. Too often that is not what we see. Here is an all too familiar story of where those puppies come from that are advertised in the newspaper:

This is Cally. She was 5 years old and had at least 5 litters of puppies. I would guess she helped her owner earn some extra cash in the process. Were they advertised "home raised" ? Did she ever get to leave the yard before she outlived her usefulness and ended up at shelter along with her mate who was so badly infected he could barely walk? Did she ever play or go for walks? Did she have any toys or get to at least romp in the yard? Her demeanor told us the answer to all of those questions was NO. Many people tried to work with her and gently expose her to new things. She made progress but every new experience caused her stress. She was depressed in the kennel and would barely eat unless someone hand fed her. We took her for walks and tried to get her to see new people as a happy experience. One young man looked at her for the longest time. When we asked him what he saw his answer was: "sadness... all I see is a very sad soul" Who would adopt her? Where are we going to find a home for a frightened pit bull with saggy boobs who had never got to experience life? How long would she linger in a kennel until she slowly gave up? In the end the decision had to be made. She got to spend her last minutes on the couch with the people she had learned to trust who loved her dearly. There was no pain, no fear just incredible sadness as she silently went to sleep.

Run free sweet Cally.