I short story thought up on the bus ride home one day.
A couple was talking to each other about getting a pet. The wife wanted an energetic animal because she was very active. The husband wanted a big animal because they had plenty of room and he didn’t want something that could get into small spaces and hide. They both agreed on a medium to large sized, energetic dog.
“Let’s go to the shelter. They have all kinds of unwanted dogs there.” The husband suggested.
“Great idea!” The wife agreed and they set out to the local pet shelter.
A puppy waited at a kennel at a pet shelter. Whenever someone would walk by he would bound happily up to the wire door and his whole body would wag back and forth. He would bark and jump, and ask for them to play with him. But the people would mumble something and walk away. He had been there for about a month, but the space was limited and the shelter had reached over maximum capacity.
The couple had been to five shelters and there was only one more in their county.
“There’s got to be at least one dog that would fit our lifestyle.” The woman persisted.
“Okay Hun. We’ll try one more.” They drove toward the farthest one in the county.
A woman wearing a sad face came to the puppy’s kennel. The puppy, as usual, bounded happily to the door in all his wiggliness.
“I’m sorry little guy.” She unlocked the door and bent down to clip a leash to his collar, and he gave her a big wet kiss. She stood up and led him out of the kennel, where he promptly bounced and barked around her feet.
“It’s just too bad nobody wanted you.” The lady said dejectedly. She recalled sullenly the day this energetic puppy showed up at the shelter. Everybody was sure he’d get adopted within the week. She led him down a darkened hall, where the happily bouncing puppy would never come back from.
The couple arrived at the shelter ten minutes after their perfect companion-to-be was euthanized. They settled with a smaller, less energetic breed than they had hoped to take home. If they had come just a little earlier, or the shelter had waited just a little longer, a dog and family would have had the perfect companion and the shelter would be able to move another dog into the empty kennel knowing they had made someone happy for a long time.
Don’t wait; give a loving pet a life-long home before it’s too late.
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Well, it's all true. Needless amounts of animals are killed each day because no one goes to give them a new home. Instead, they keep breeding those who don't need to be bred, leading to more being put in shelters, more deaths, etc.