Rescuing dogs from abusive situations and bad conditions can change the lives of the dog and the owner. My family and I rescued a dog 3 years ago he has become a completely new dog and has recovered fully from his situation. Around 3 and a half years ago someone found an abandoned dog huddled behind the dumpster in Mississippi. He looked scared, hungry, and thirsty; the person that found him took him to a nearby shelter. When at the shelter he received the name Bam Bam, they worked on getting him healthy again, and looking for a family that was ready to adopt him. Soon after his arrival to a shelter he was moved to one in Pennsylvania, that is when my family saw him. After around a week we decided to adopt him, the process took another week but then he was ours. Immediately after he came home we took him to the vet, they found several different illnesses and did not know if he was going to make it. For the first couple of months he was taking several different medications, and had to get his teeth pulled. He was also terrified if anyone went to pet him too fast or made a sound too loud. However, for the next year we work on potty training him, improving his health, and helping him with these fears. Today he is a completely normal dog, and the happiest, and most playful, dog I have ever seen. He has learned to get along with my two other dogs who look after him, he has also made friends with the neighbor dog next door.

I recommend rescuing a dog over buying one from a breeder. Rescue dogs are immediately grateful to their new owners, and instinctively know that you saved their lives. The shelters are usually overcrowded and they constantly need people to adopt new dogs. When you adopt a dog not only are you helping them, but you are opening room for another dog that needs help. There are around 3.3 million dogs in animal shelters across the country, many of which did nothing to deserve this (aspca.org). Adopting a dog will be beneficial to you as well, dogs have been proven to help with stress, heart health, and prevent depression (huffpost.com). Adopting dogs from shelters will save their lives and help them recover from previous abuse they may have faced.