You want to adopt a pet?
Here are some things to consider

Are you a responsible pet owner?

The millions of us who own pets believe that we can honestly say yes to this question. However, most of us do not support the humane society or the local animal shelter by adopting animals from those programs. This is the responsible thing to do as a pet owner.

I am not suggesting that every pet owner needs to go adopt a pet from the shelter, but a monetary donation is a great way to insure that these programs can keep going. Also if you are a pet owner that breeds your pet, make sure that the people who adopt a pet from you are going to be responsible and will provide a good home to the animal.

At times this may be difficult. When our dog had puppies we had to deny one couple from buying one of the puppies. We have Labrador retrievers. They typically have very large litters. Our dog had twelve puppies that we needed to find homes for. My husband is a hunter and our dogs are whistle- and hand-trained so several hunters had requested a puppy prior to the litter arriving.

However, because she had such a large litter we had two puppies that were not spoken for. We ran an ad in a weekly sportsmen’s paper and we took applications from people who wanted to adopt a pet. We had developed a questionnaire that we used as an application form. The questionnaire asked how many hours a day the animal would be alone, how much time the owner had to exercise the animal and how often they typically take their animals to the vet.

Some people think that this is a strange form to fill out, but we feel that we have an obligation to the breed to make sure that the people who are going to own the dogs are going to take good care of them. We check out each person who wants to adopt a pet from us. We want to make sure that the animal is getting medical care, good food and exercise.

We also want to make sure that the animal is neutered or spayed if the owner is not going to be responsible in researching the breeding lines.

The retriever breed is very common, so it is important to keep healthy blood lines for those of us who want pure breeds. Because of the number of retrievers available, some breeders are trying to breed specialty lines in regards to color or skills, such as pointing. This can cause bloodlines that are too close, which results in dogs that have high medical needs.

Our system of asking questions to the people who want to adopt a pet from us is not going to make a huge difference, but at least we feel we are not adding to the problem of weakening the breed.