It might end up in the trash; I can see where it would get annoying after a while. It will never end up in a shelter.

14 thoughts on “The Best Dog To Give As a Holiday Gift”

  1. Great point.
    I really wish people wouldn’t give animals as gifts.
    Even if the other person knows and consents, it often ends up being a rash or unthoughtout decision.

    Our SPCA sets up at the mall every holiday season. I know they get A LOT of pups placed, but I wonder how many end up back in shelters.

    We had a family visit recently that wanted to adopt 2 horses for their kids for Christmas. The kids clearly were not nearly as enthusiastic as the parents. We didn’t have any suitable for them, but they still found a few they were interested in. I think they were more solid already on the “idea” of getting a horse. Anyways, we talked them out of adopting any of ours, but who knows if they found a horse or two somewhere else.

    Mary

    1. I thought dogs and cats were a bad risk but horses — geez! What are these people thinking. I guess that whole pony-for-Christmas mentality is still in effect, only people think they’re doing a good thing when they adopt.

      Yeah, I’m of mixed mind about adoption centers at malls during the holidays. It’s better than buying from a puppy mill-fed pet store I suppose but it’s still the worst time to take any animal home and expect it — and the humans — to adjust.

  2. I agree Edie: I just don’t think it’s a good idea, especially for the dog or any other animal, to give them as a gift and especially a gift for kids! The adoption centers around the holidays are okay in my opinion because they should still be checking people out before they allow them to adopt. If they aren’t then not a good idea. Too many animals end up back in shelters when they’ve been given as gifts.

    1. Who knows – maybe there is a psychic connection way across the continents. As it happens, I was going to be a bit more of a nag myself — my post last year on the topic went into a LOT of detail — but I decided to go for the picture being worth a thousand words principle this time (given that I don’t get paid for those words on my blog). Now my articles are another story….

  3. This is suddenly a point of argument in the shelter community – some believing they can weed out the likely to return candidates. The open admission shelters especially should take the chance and if they put in guidelines like ” the person you are giving the gift of a life to” has to be present and choose their own “present”, that stops a lot of returns, and likely saves a lot of lives. There is nothing worse than that “surprise!!” of a dog or cat that the receiver wants nothing to do with…poor pumpkins!

    I have to wonder how Tashi would react to that dog in the video – as good hearted as he is, he might slap him after the second or third too long chirping session – bwahaha!

    1. I agree that having the recipient choose their gift is much better than having a pet chosen for them. I would still advocate for an IOU of a shelter pup (or kitty) instead. Adding a new pet to the household during the holidays is a recipe for failure, no matter how well suited the pet may be to the family under better circumstances, ie., without noise, lots of visitors, excitement etc. And, sadly, there are a lot more candidates to choose from after the New Year.

      I think Frankie would run and hide from that scary chirping dog!

      1. …or Frankie might react as he did to Clare’s dog:)) Yes, the whole holiday crush of visiting and visitors leads to a very confusing introduction to a household for an already stressed animal. When we get people wanting a new family member just before a holiday, many ask if we can hold the animal until after the holiday rush.

        But for the ACCs of this world where “time is up” means “you 20 dogs in that cage line – you die today”, I can’t argue, holiday hell and all – even if returned they get that one more chance.

        1. Good point, Mary. If even one life is saved… and I’m sure there are a lot more than that who get a second chance. This is not a perfect world, so why argue abstract principles as though it were?

  4. I suppose each case needs to be considered individually. We adopted Kelly at Christmas time but our kids were both in high school, we were not planning to travel and had no holiday visitors coming, we have a small family and there was not a lot of extra commotion going on, and I knew there was no way we’d ever want to return her! Nine years later and she’s still the best gift we ever got.

  5. Agreed. Living creatures are not nice gift ideas. Not unless the recipient has made a well-thought out choice to adopt a pet and has been part of the selection process from the very start. Adding a new family member at this time of year can be very stressful for both the animal and the humans. Usually it is best just to wait.

  6. okay, finally! i should really have made this post much earlier. i’ve gone for a lot of detail haha. maybe next year, i’ll go pictorial like you too 🙂 xox

    p.s. am starting a new comment rather than replying to yours so that i can link you to the post. devious eh?

    1. Very devious! Thanks for the link. Lots of good advice that must have taken you a long time to gather. That’s why I went pictorial!

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