From the Streets to Our Hearts: The Mission of Adopting, NOT Shopping

If you’re on dog Instagram (“dogstagram”), just scrolling on your explore page, or maybe a fan of Barstool Sports, chances are you’ve heard of Miss Peaches. Famous, commercial actress, and multi-home owner, Miss Peaches… is just a cute rescue dog!

Instagram: @famousmisspeaches

This sweet girl and her “papa” (David Portnoy) are going viral for their sweet relationship and for spreading awareness on backyard breeding, adopting instead of shopping, and offering a helping hand to pets who have gone through rough patches. Before finding her forever home, Miss Peaches was rescued from a backyard breeder and animal hoarder.

Miss Peaches has stolen the hearts of animal lovers across the globe, for her adorable face and her new, luxury life. Her instagram account has inspired many to look into the crises pet’s face regarding finding the right homes: homeless pets, lost pets, and victims of backyard breeding all face distress, and it is our job to change their lives, like Dave and Miss Peaches.

Backyard Breeding

While Miss Peaches’ adoption journey has opened doors to pet adoption recognition and donations through her clothing (I must admit- I have the Miss Peaches face tee) and Georgia peach merch, a humble adoption story will always save a homeless pet’s life.

According to the Humane Society, roughly 70 million pets are homeless, including the 6 million shelter animals looking for their forever homes. Buying your pets from breeders like backyard breeders and puppy mills, that focus on pumping out specific animals over their health and care, not only influences more sick and miserable animals to be bred, but removes the spotlight from these homeless, shelter animals.

It is a misconception that you can’t find anything but a mutt in a shelter, with 25% of shelter dogs being purebred. In fact, my shelter dog is a purebred American Pit Bull Terrier.

If you know you want a purebred dog, or a specific breed of dog has always been your favorite, there are purebred and breed specific rescues out there! You can search for breed specific rescues on PetFinder or look at the social media pages of your local shelter, as they will often make posts of their most recent shelter residents.

Camille Akers: Lola the Purebred Pitbull

Dr. Lori Kirshner puts it simply on Animals Today Radio: breeders view the lives of these animals as a business. “Responsible breeder. That’s an oxymoron. They don’t love dogs. They know exactly how they are harming our dogs by their breeding practices, and if they truly love dogs, they wouldn’t be harming them” (Kirshner).

Putting the dogs’ breed over their health and safety is thoughtless, and understanding the consequences of where your dog comes from can help you avoid that. The example Kirshner uses is pugs: “Pugs are at risk for hip dysplasia as well as von Willebrand disease, which is a genetic bleeding disorder caused by low levels of clotting protein in the blood. Pugs also have a risk of getting pug dog encephalitis, also known as PDE, which is a fatal inflammatory brain disease that is unique to pugs” (Kirshner).
Keep kissing your wrinkly, cute pugs, but it is possible and necessary to do so without supporting a breeder that sets aside the dog’s future diseases in order to get a check. If you’re interested in listening to the podcast, click here: Animals Today Radio Archive.

Adopt, Don’t Shop

A phrase popularized in the ‘80s by animal rights activists in California, it highlights the importance of adopting animals from shelters rather than supporting unethical breeding practices potential in private breeders in pet stores. Embarking on an adoption journey is the first thing that comes to mind when hearing about adopting over shopping, but there are many other ways to support shelter animals, such as fostering, volunteering, and donating.

When you foster pets, a shelter animal will live in your home until a permanent home is found for them. Fostering pets is a great option for people who have the resources and determination to help one-on-one with a shelter animal, but are not ready or unable to adopt. Not only will this provide the pet somewhere cozy to live and a daily pal, but provides much needed socialization that will help prepare the pet for their future home. You can and should teach you foster dog commands like “sit” and “stay” and make sure your foster cat is comfortable using the litter box and behaving correctly within your lifestyle.

In order to get into fostering, you must submit an application to a foster program at your local animal shelter or rescue, which most offer. You will most likely provide documentation and be asked to conduct an interview, though there is no doubt the entire process will be worth it!

Doing research on your local animal shelters, you will find they are often looking for volunteers to assist with taking care of the animals and adding joy to the animals’ day! While walking a shelter dog, cleaning up after the shelter animals, or grooming the pets will not alone relieve the stress of the workers dedicated to finding homes for these pets, those actions will give those sweeties much needed tender love and care.

If you specifically want to see animals off to new homes, volunteer your time at pet adoption events. These events require lots of planning, marketing and skilled workers in order to be successful, and yet they could change a pet’s life! (My adoption event dog is sitting on my lap as I’m writing this).

Since the pandemic, the number of animals seeking home in shelters has increased, while adoption rates have not. In 2023, according to the national database Shelter Animals Count, shelter populations have grown by a quarter-million. With this increase in animals, not only is it more important than ever to stay informed, but there are hundreds of pets you can volunteer to help and socialize with. Unfortunately, as comes with overpopulation, euthanasia rates are unacceptably high, with 8.5% of shelter animals being euthanized in 2023. This is often due to a lack of resources or health issues presented in animals. Donating to your local animal shelter is a major way to help combat these problems, and you can always donate physical items instead of participating in monetary donations. Oftentimes, shelters need materials such as: pet beds, food, toys, bathing products, and sometimes your local shelter will post a wish list on their website! National companies are an option, but supporting your local shelter will guarantee help to pets and overall help the pet community within your area.

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Lost Pets

If you find a homeless animal, understanding the best procedures can save the animal’s life and lead them to their forever home!

1. Safely gain possession of the animal: if you ever feel that the animal presents a danger, call the police or animal control
2. Check if the animal is wearing a collar or microchipped, and if they are, contact the owner to get the pet or get them scanned so they can get back home. It is important to check for the difference between lost, owned animals and homeless animals the need to be brought to shelters
3. If the animal has no identification, bring them to the shelter, so they can be reunited with any potential owners or find a new home
4. If you have the time, make posters or post online that you found a lost pet, in case they do have an owner. Using a platform like Nextdoor, a social media website specifically for neighborhoods, can help notify you on lost animals in your area and which homes they belong to

Shelters, although not uniformly ideal, provide safe housing, medical care, and rehabilitation these helpless animals would not be able to find on the streets. In 2023, 2.6 million shelter cats and 2.2 million shelter dogs were adopted. By stepping up, you could add another animal to this list.

Our dazzling dogs and cats provide unconditional love, companionship, and a unique type of happiness, enriching our lives in countless ways. The act of caring for a pet instills a sense of responsibility and empathy, encouraging us to be more attentive and nurturing. Pets improve our daily lives and offer us a sense of purpose. By caring for pets, we not only enhance their lives but also profoundly enhance our own.

Unfortunately, we live in a world where people try to exploit those who cannot speak and our desire to care for pets, so it is important to stay informed in order to make the best decisions for your animal and all the other animals looking for homes. As long as you are loving a pet with genuine devotion, thinking of ways to offer support in this time of crisis, and spreading awareness, you are helping. Your love and loyalty to pets is one of my most important parts of the process, and one of the best ways to stay confident that you are indeed helping as many animals as possible.

Who knows, maybe your support will help a pet like Miss Peaches get spoiled the way they deserve.

X: @barstoolsports