Have you ever helped save a life?  Well now you can with adoption!  Adoption doesn’t only apply to people, but it also applies to animals. Animals can be found at shelters all around the United States, preferably at no-kill shelters.  Two of the most commonly found animals at shelters are dogs and cats.

I rescued my pit bull Coco from a local Long Island shelter, Almost Home Animal Rescue and Adoption.  We found the local shelter online and when we chose the dog we wanted, the experience only got smoother from there.  We called to schedule an appointment with them to meet Coco because she was being fostered and once we met her, the whole family fell in love with her. Within that week, Coco was brought to our home by the couple who fostered her because they had to come and make sure that the people who were taking her in were not lying about the home they are living in.  The woman who was giving Coco to us cried that she had to give her away, saying she was one of the best dogs she’d ever had, but she knew Coco would be better here so she could have a chance to foster other dogs.  This was my first experience with adoption and I could not have been happier about how easy it all was for the shelter and for my family.

Sadly, other families might not have it this easy.  There are not many honest shelters or, in general, places to buy animals.  In states such as Pennsylvania, Missouri, and Ohio, there are puppy mills that mistreat dogs in order to make more puppies and sell them to pet stores and create an illegal profit.  It is highly recommended to not buy dogs from pet stores due to the slight chance that they may be from a puppy mill and if you buy a dog from there, you will be supporting puppy mills accidentally.  It is safer and better for everyone to adopt instead of risking supporting puppy mills.

Even though it is safer to adopt from a shelter, it is still better to be safe and look into where you are potentially buying your animals from.  There are plenty of animals to adopt in the United States safely.  Everyone should take the opportunities they can get to make an adoption a safe adoption.