Dr. Greenway explains why you should adopt a pet first if you’re looking to add a new companion to your life. Topics covered in this video include shelters, behavior, matching a pet, health, saving a life, benefits of adopting, breeds, history, places to adopt and the relationship between pet and owner.

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TRANSCRIPT:

I’m Dr. Clayton Greenway for healthcareforpets.com. Something I’m going to talk to you about now I’m really passionate about. I really want to try to encourage you that if you’re looking for a new pet to really consider adopting first.

I think a lot of people have fears about this, that they’ll get a dog with a poor background or behavioral problem but these days a lot of shelters and humane societies are working extremely hard to pair up a new pet with a family. They’ll do an interview process and I think you’ll find that they’re quite thorough at making sure that that pet is going to fit your life.

I want you to know that some of my happiest clients are the ones that have gotten a pet that they have saved. I think it brings a whole other angle to that relationship between you and your pet. It really has a greater sense of meaning caring for an animal that really didn’t have a home and didn’t have parents.

I know that a lot of time we want a dog to look a certain way or we might fall in love of a certain type of breed. You may find that breed at your local shelter or humane society but also you can go online and you can look for rescue groups for that breed. So I’m not saying you shouldn’t go to a breeder but I’d like you to consider all possibilities of where you can get that new pet from. Every pet I’ve ever owned has always been a rescue and it’s always made the relationship much more important to me and I wish the same for you.