Obamas Adopt 2nd White House Dog, Name Her Sunny.

[TorchTheWitch]

35. it isn't what they mean

"Adopt" means literally to adopt a pet from a shelter or other rescue organization because they legally have to be adopted - you sign adoption papers to take ownership. That's how the term came to be concerning pets and what it has always meant. People can call their dogs adopted and mean anything they want, but there is a known reason and legal term for what the difference is between an adopted pet and one that is purchased or gifted or found as a stray and kept. These articles calling Bo adopted are doing it because Obama promised he wouldn't buy a dog for their family but adopt a shelter dog, except that's not how they acquired Bo - he was given as a gift. No adoption papers were either necessary nor signed. In promising to adopt a shelter dog for his family Obama meant to both come across as a compassionate person willing to rescue a pet from a shelter or other rescue organization as well as encourage others to do the same because of the glut of unwanted ownerless pets languishing in shelters and rescue organizations. Calling Bo adopted is a deliberate attempt to made it appear that Obama did as he had promised he would concerning acquiring a family dog.

It bothers me when people say they adopted their pet when they didn't. If the pet wasn't legally adopted by taking ownership by having to sign legal adoption papers it's not an adopted pet whether you got it for free or not. And there is a reason why journalist are calling Bo adopted when he was not.

For the record, I don't care whether people get their dogs from shelters, rescue groups, find them as strays or purchase them from a reputable breeder. All three of my Akitas were purchased, the one I have now and the second one from responsible well-respected breeders after I found out the hard way the problems of backyard breeding and puppy mills though I don't ever and will never regret a single day I had with my first Akita that I purchased from a puppy mill since he was a wonderful dog though all his life long health problems cost me a bundle I couldn't afford and caused him unnecessary minor sufferings. He SHOULD have been properly bred and properly raised with his doggie mom for at least eight weeks, and th existence of puppy mills perpetuates the practice of continuing to allow poor breeding and raising of dogs because it's those lousy backyard breeders that do it for money that stock the puppy mills.

There is a place for shelter and rescue pets as well as properly well-bred and raised ones. Proper responsible breeding is important since it produces animals that have the best chance at a healthy life free of disorders that are passed on through genetics. But I will never call my properly and responsibly bred and raised dogs "adopted" when they weren't, and I'm GLAD that they weren't. It's WHY I went the responsible breeder route when acquiring my last two dogs. My dogs are my family, and I want the best chance at a healthy and happy long life for them by not gambling on physical or behavioral issues genetically acquired - been there, done that, broke the bank on it.

That said, it doesn't bother me in the least that the Obama family acquired Bo from a responsible breeder, but it certainly does bother me that anyone calls him an adopted dog when he isn't. He is a physical and behavioral genetically superior dog that was gifted to the Obamas, and had he not been gifted he would have been sold for a considerable amount. In no way was he adopted any more than he was rescued, and saying so is grossly disingenuous, and worse it's being said for a reason - because he dropped the ball on the promise of acquiring a shelter dog.