Plenty of Purebreds

Many people are under the impression that our nation's animal shelters are full of a bunch of undesirable mutts. I have several acquaintances who purchased a dog from a breeder and never even considered going to their local animal shelter first (and subsequently got a big lecture from me). Most rescue groups estimate at least 25% of dogs in shelters are purebred dogs. This is definitely the case at the Lawrence Humane Society as well. At our shelter yesterday I took pictures and video of 8 new dogs--2 of which were purebreds.

This is Carson. He's obviously a Pembroke Welsh Corgi. He is a happy little guy who was found as a stray.


This is beautiful little Bonnie the Beagle. Except for the tiny bit of extra weight she's carrying around her midsection, she looks like she could be a show dog. Look at that perfect pose!

In addition to Carson and Bonnie, there were at least 4 other brand new purebreds in the adoption area yesterday that I just didn't have the time to get pictures of--a Basset, a Brittany, a Dachshund, and a Lhasa Apso. Those are just the purebreds that came into our adoption area in the last week! There were already several Labrador Retrievers, a German Shorthair Pointer, and an American Pit Bull Terrier available for adoption. Our shelter frequently has Rat Terriers, Australian Cattle Dogs, Australian Shepherds, Dalmatians, Boxers and many other purebreds looking for forever homes.

The crazy thing is that I'm only talking about dogs in shelters here. I'm not even taking into consideration the thousands of adoptable dogs who are in the care of breed specific rescues across the country. There are rescue organizations for just about every dog breed known to man, with dogs of almost every age.

The point is that with a little patience and effort (and possibly a little travel), you can almost always search for and find the dog of your dreams to fit perfectly into your family!