CosmoDoggyLand: The Perfect Match: Dogs Are Not Toys Campaign

Selecting the adequate companion involves the assessment of many factors that go beyond how the puppy looks like through a store's window. Furthermore, most of the pooches given at Christmas come from pet stores which in many cases obtain their puppies from overcrowded puppy mills. Therefore, many times when you purchase a dog you are supporting puppy mills, where the latter live in horrible conditions and without adequate veterinary care or love. The holiday season is the time of the year where shelters are busiest since lots of pets are abandoned when people want to go on vacation and do not have place to leave their pets.

Those who have decided to bring a dog to their families can start looking at the nearest shelter and consider adopting a pooch, which is the most reliable way of finding the perfect companion you are looking for. Some organizations have special programs to foster a dog sometimes for short periods of time or foster a Puppy Mill survivor. For instance, Halfway Hounds has Camp Paws, which provides you with the chance to give a homeless pooch a weekend away at your home. As long as dog ownership is understood to be a contract for life, the Christmas season is a very good time for the family to bond with the new furry member.

With the goal of building awareness and preventing people from giving puppies as Christmas presents, the ASPCA has released a video explaining the reasons why dogs are not toys. The video is a good way to teach children, who usually ask Santa for a pet, that they must be responsible for their new friend and not think about them as toys.