Since the pandemic began, nearly 13 million Americans have adopted, rescued, or purchased a dog or a cat to keep them company, soothe them, or help them remain active.

People are still looking for pets.

This is both great and terrifying news for dogs. Most people who buy dogs in times of crisis get them on impulse and don’t take much time to think about it.

They are, understandably, in a rush or even panic.

A Rover.com survey taken in March found that after the surgery in Covid-19 Pandemic Pet adoptions, 93 percent of new pet parents say they felt healthier.

In January, the Washington Post reported that shelters and rescue groups across the country have been seeing double the number of requests from people to adopt dogs since the pandemic hit the United States in the early Spring of last year.

Many shelters have run out of animals to adopt.

As shelters switched their in-person adoptions to virtual meet-and-greets, they also began competing with rescue groups in different company parts to bring in animals from great distances for people to adopt.

For the first time, people were adopting dogs they had not ever met.

According to the National Poll on Healthy Aging, 10 percent of all people between the ages of 50 and 80 got a new pet between March 2010 and January 2021.

History once again suggests that animals – especially dogs and cats – have come through for people in need. History also suggests that we will not return the favor.

This pandemic pet explosion has enormous – and hardly discussed – implications for dogs and other adopted animals. Some of them obviously good, some almost inevitably ominous.

Even before Covid-19, Americans chose their pets in the most chaotic, impulsive, and sometimes thoughtless ways.

The movement and adoption of animals for adoption and sale is mostly unregulated; what is known is that a significant percentage of these animals will be returned to shelters, and most will be euthanized.

As a dog lover, it has seemed to me for years that countless dogs and cats could be saved if people took the time and trouble to think about how and why they are adopting them and how they will live with them.

It feels terrific to rescue an animal – I have a rescue dog and a farm full of rescued animals – but that doesn’t automatically mean it’s good for them.

The idea of a dog as a moral choice makes people feel good about themselves, but it also ducks the question of whether it’s a moral thing to do to bring the wrong animal into people’s lives for the wrong reasons.

I question the morality of the idea that the best and only way to get a dog or cat is to rescue one. That is sometimes a wonderful choice, sometimes an awful one.

I also challenged the idea that buying a dog is cruel and immoral and that all breeders are unscrupulous and irresponsible.  The right breeder – and the right rescue group or shelter – can almost guarantee a positive experience for humans and animals if both sides take the time to consider the match.

Good breeders know more about the dogs they raise and sell than any other people in the dog world that I have known or met.

How do most people choose dogs?

Uncle Harry had a good one they liked, they saw  Babe, or they listen to the righteous legions who tell them there is only one way to get a dog – rescue it by any means and at all costs.

Millions of people are only too happy to go to the nearest puppy mill, Caribbean rescue group, or mall parking lot and get a dog or cat at risk of inbred, unhealthy, aggressive, or mistreated.

Historically, millions of those dogs will come back to shelters and rescue groups once the crisis ends and reality sets in:

The kid who wanted the dog so badly doesn’t walk him or her on a winter morning or get off his Iphone long enough to play with it or train it or pay the vet bills.

The person stuck at home goes back to work, and the lovely couple who got the rescue beagle decides they don’t want to be tied to the house when they can travel again.

Survey after survey has found over and over again that people who don’t bother to think about how to get a dog rarely train it and can be found shouting and tugging at a dog that is yanking them through the park.

In a pandemic rush, older dogs – often the perfect animals to live with older people and those with busy lives – are ignored for the cute dog or has those adorable eyes. Dogs usually are chosen at the moment; few people stop to think ahead.

A vet friend said if she were in charge of adopting dogs, she would require every adoptee to pay at least three different vet bills before an adoption could be finalized.

Like human health care, animal health is spiraling out of control financially as hedge fund investors take over clinics and vets succumb to the same technology revolution as humans have.

Dogs are costly these days; it’s rare to walk into a vet clinic and leave without a $150 to $200 bill. If the animal is really sick, the cost will be in the thousands.

Many people are surprised by the reality of living with a dog.

They never realized or knew that some dogs pee or dump in the house, bark and enrage neighbors, chew up the furniture, steal food off of counters,  grow up to be large animals that pull them across streets, wrack up staggering health care bills.

Dogs pay a heavy price for human self-centeredness; millions are returned to shelters every year – especially those taken home without thought. We are quick to use them to make us feel better, but we stumble when it comes to being stewards and caretakers for them.

One of the leading causes sof death for dogs is being overweight due to poor diets, too little exercise, or people who think a dog is a furbaby whose only function is supporting them emotionally.

Dog bites are skyrocketing, reports the CDC. Lots of people know nothing about the animals they are bringing into their lives and the lives of their children.

So what do I mean by THINKING!

Just that, really. Think about getting a dog: the best ways are one: a responsible and experienced rescue group, breeder, or shelter. Since breeders, shelters, and rescue groups are not regulated in most communities, the dog or cat seeker plays Russian Roulette.

Many shelter workers admit that when they want to see a dog adopted, they suggest that the dog was abused or mistreated. It works.

Many people are drawn to that option because it makes them feel good.

How can people tell?

A responsible rescue group, for example,   does not hand dogs out in mall parking lots fresh up from Alabama or Mississippi without knowing much of anything about the dog, his or her health, or the person who would get a dog that way and bring the dog home.

If people are irresponsible in getting a dog, what kind of caretakers will they be for the dog?

Irresponsible rescue people – there are tons of responsible rescue people –  are the people who bring heartworm and dog bites and behaviorally challenged dogs up North and spread the disease without fostering them or getting to know them.

Those dogs need help, for sure, but simply hauling them around the country without being checked or tested isn’t necessarily what they need.

Vets say heartworm and other diseases are spreading all through the Midwest and Northeast now because people are simply picking up dogs in the deep south and putting them up for adoption.

Bud, our Boston Terrier, had heartworm before we adopted him because heartworm is a deadly and expensive disease. A highly responsible rescue group refused to give him to us until a vet cleared him, the group spent $1,000 to get him well before sending him to us.

We paid the bill before receiving him.

There are lots of good, experienced, and very conscientious rescue groups. You can tell because they drive you crazy, asking more questions than they could need to know and make you feel inadequate about your house and fencing, your work, even your age.

But they give the dog a fair shot at justice and good care.

There are lots of great shelters as well, and lots of bad broke and irresponsible ones.

If nobody asks you any questions, go somewhere else.

If they sell dogs out of the back of their vans or SUVs, go somewhere else.

If they tell you the dog is terrified or aggressive because they were abused, go somewhere else.

Dogs can’t talk; we usually have no idea what happened to dogs before they ended up in a shelter. People love to say are abused, especially if we know nothing about them.

That way, the owners have excuses for the dog’s behavioral troubles and can avoid train them while expecting great sympathy and understanding.

Because the honest truth is that a dog who is several years old and comes out of a shelter or puppy mill in Arkansas is not usually going to be easy to train.

Beware that researchers and vet groups say that dog abuse is real but not nearly as widespread as people are led to believe.

The term often helps to get adopted or purchased when there is no evidence to back up the claim.  Caribbean “rescue” groups are notorious for selling dogs with horror stories to rich Americans.

They don’t sell many “happy and healthy” animals. There is not much of a market for them.

Be careful. There is nothing wrong with getting a happy and healthy dog; it doesn’t mean you are immoral or inadequate as a human being.

And nobody will come up to you on a big city street and ever say, “meet Sandy, she is a happy and healthy dog who has always been loved and well treated!”

The ethos is not “how can I find the right dog for my family and me,” rather, it’s often “how can I rescue an animal in need.” That’s too narrow a range for healthy animal adoptions.

As I said, I believe there are three good ways to get a dog: An experienced, respectable rescue group, an experience respectable breeder, an experience respectable shelter.

I take months, even years, researching dogs and breeders or rescuers before I take one home.

I have never been disappointed by or gotten a dog I didn’t want or was shocked to get to know. That’s because I know precisely what I want and work hard to get it. I’m not known for being disciplined, but I stick to the plan when I’m getting a dog.

I am by no means perfect, but I take my responsibility for stewardship very seriously. My dogs so so much for me. I owe them the same.

Responsible rescue groups and shelters are thoughtful and careful about matching dogs up with humans because a/they want the dogs to be happy and b/they don’t want the dogs to come back.

They know what is likely to happen to them.

You should know that the no-kill shelter idea is, to me,  a cruel solution to a deepening problem (I can’t think of anything worse or more abusive for a dog than speaking years or a lifetime in crates waiting for a volunteer to come to take them for a walk in the park.)

It’s the classic example of selfishness human-animal syndrome – the dog pays the price for us to feel better about ourselves. The real problem – there are way too many dogs out there in need of homes – is rarely even mentioned by the people who say they are advocates for animals.

One of the great things about dogs is that they haven’t yet learned to be hypocrites.

A responsible breeder works hard to breed dogs that are healthy and have good temperaments. We owe them a lot for keeping the best traits of dogs alive while the animal rights movement does everything within its power to make sure those traits soon disappear and that dog bites on children skyrocket.

The first thing I do when I think about getting a new dog is THINK.

-What do I want from the dog? What can I give the dog? It’s not just about what I need, it’s about what the dog needs.

If it’s a big and active working dog – a border collie, Lab, Retriever, Dalmation, Russell Terrier, Australian Shepherd, Jack Russell Terrier, Cattle Dogs, Poodles, Husky, Bernese Mountain Dog, Cocker Spaniel, you need to think hard about the kind of life you live and can offer the dog.

They need stimulation, work, and exercise.

If you are sedentary, or live in a small apartment without your own yard, or have no ready access to ponds or parks, think about a different kind of dog, a smaller, quieter, and less active one – Pomerrians, Cavalier King Charles Spaniels, Bassett Hounds, or older dogs who are well trained but slowing down (ask your vet for ideas, or find a vet to talk to our go online and look.

It is quite possible to have a wonderful dog live a quiet life without a White House fence and still have a good job and work late sometimes to boot.

Many older dogs would be delighted to sit quietly at home and doze or look out the window while you work. That is a far better life than any shelter can offer.

I live on a farm, but I’m a writer, and I’m at the computer much of the day. I have a lab; my wife has a border collie.

My Lab loves to sit by my feet when I write; she also likes to walk in the woods, swims in the pond, visits nursing homes,  and chase a ball hundreds of feet out into the pasture.

I throw the ball for her several times a day, and she walks in the woods once or twice every day.

The rest of the time, she does her therapy work at nursing homes and high schools or lies at my feet while I write.  She stays out of my way when  I’m writing.

A good contract, for her, for me.

The active dogs must be active.

They must have work. They must have stimulation, exercise. Without those things, they can often become neurotic or aggressive. That is not a moral choice.

People talk all the time about a “moral” way to get a dog. Here’s my idea of a moral way: Think of the dogs, and not just yourself. Think about what you can give the talk about and not just what you can take.

Think about giving the dog a life you can share with him or her and doesn’t simply make you feel noble for getting it.

Think about whether you want a dog that will never harm a person or other animal or whether you want a potentially aggressive dog but will take responsibility for it.

The problem with Pit Bulls is not the dog; they make lovely pets.

The problem is the people who train them to fight and kill and then abuse them sell their puppies. They should be punished severely, not the dogs.

Breeds and breed characteristics do matter.

Cold weather dogs often top the lists of child biters not because they are mean but because they lived in environments where there was little available food, and when a child puts his or her face down on their food bowl, they often get bitten, and the bites can be severe.

There are now about 72 million dogs living in houses in the United States. According to the CDC, dog bites – especially those on children – are epidemic. Two years ago, there were approximately 800,000 dog bites on people in the United States.

Cesar Milan doesn’t talk about this in his best-selling books on having a “perfect” dog. Rescue and shelter groups and breeders won’t tell you that more than 50 percent of those dog bite victims are children. More than 12 percent of adults bitten by dogs require medical attention, 26 percent of children bitten end up in an emergency room.

Seventy-seven percent of biting dogs are owned by the victim’s family, a relative, or a friend of the family.

Pediatric groups warn that severe facial injuries to children from dogs are rising rapidly all over the country. That’s not a moral choice.

According to the CDC, dog bites are a greater health problem for children than measles, mumps, and whooping cough combined. They are more common than bike accidents, playground injuries, mopeds, skateboards, or ATVs.

Dog bite treatments cost more than a billion dollars each year. The most common victims are boys ages 5 to 9, and children, in general, are most frequently bit in the face, neck, and head.

So when you get a dog, think beyond the fact that your child thinks the dog is “cute” or that you have been persuaded that rescuing a dog is the only moral way to get one. There’s nothing more about having your son or daughter or niece or nephew bitten, most often in the face, head, or neck.

A good rescue group will screen the dog for aggression; a good shelter will do the same. A good breeder will work on breeding dogs with no history of aggression or illness or body structure problems in their line.

They are among the very few sellers or rescuers of dogs that can almost guarantee one of their dogs won’t bite.

When I search for a dog, I memorize the most frequent biters: Chihuahua, English Bulldog, Bulldog, Pit Bull, German Shepherd, Australian Shepherd, Lhasa Apso, Jack Russell Terrier.

It’s up to you, not me, whether to get one of the dogs, but you certainly ought to know the list.

James Thurber, the great dog writer, and lover, had a dog who bit most of the people in Columbus, Ohio, and whenever one of his dogs bit somebody, his mother brought them some chocolate, and all was forgotten.

That was decades ago.

In 2021 if your dog bites somebody, he will most likely be put down, you will be sued, and most likely, fined. Your family will be traumatized.

Think about it.

It is your decision. If you get one of those dogs, which is a perfectly fine decision, you have no right to pretend the dog can never bite or be a danger, and fail to take any steps to warm people.

Your moral responsibility is to protect your dog and other people and dogs.

Experienced shelter workers and dog fosterers, and rescuers can help you make good decisions if you ask them and listen to them. So can good breeders. And so can old-fashioned leg work.

Online, you can find people who own different kinds of breeds. You can talk to vets or veterinary organizations. You can buy books that tell you about different breeds, rather than $30 tomes about perfect dogs (there is no such thing.)

The most moral way to get a dog is to think about it.

What kind of life can you offer the dog? How do you want to live with it? Do you want a dog that will lounge around the house while you read?  A dog you can take to your Aunt Mary’s house without fear or danger?  And play with her kids without fear? Any dog can bit, but you can lower the odds.

Do you want to hike with the dog or take it swimming at the beach? Maybe do therapy work or agility? Are you anal about cleanliness and can’t bear dog food, occasional vomit, or diarrhea on your new carpet?

Can you afford a dog? If so, do you know that the first year of dog ownership will cost (excluding the cost of the dog) anywhere from $1,314 for smaller dogs up to $1,843 for the larger breeds, according to the ASPCA?  That includes most one-time expenses – spaying, neutering, training, initial medical fees, and a crate.

Keep in mind that veterinary fees are rising at an average rate of 30 percent a year. If your dog is seriously injured or gets ill – our first Boston Terrier contracted esophagitis, and we spent nearly $3,000 on vet bills before he had to be euthanized – the cost will be a lot higher.

Because of rising veterinary costs, surveys are finding that many people just are skipping shots and routine veterinary care. That is dangerous for the dogs, and also, for people. It is not a moral choice.

My last thought: the first thing I do when I think about a new dog is to close my eyes as if in meditation and picture the life I want with my dog – in my case, a writing companion, a walking companion, my wife, and her life, a dog that spreads love and is safe for anyone to touch or pet, even if there are no absolute guarantees, and they shouldn’t without asking.

They almost always forget to ask.

As part of her training, I took my therapy dog Zinnia into a classroom to socialize her with crowds of screaming children. Before we got five feet, there were 20 or more fourth graders in an Albany Middle School all over her, shouting grabbing her, pulling her tail. She was muzzled, just in case, but I  watched her tail. It never stopped wagging. It never has.

What about the winter? The summer? Sleeping? Traveling? Riding in a car?  Running off? Is the dog a difficult-to-train nose dog – a beagle, bloodhound? Or a dog that never runs off –  border collies, most Labs. Being left home on vacations or when I need to go out?

I imagine my life with them, in every season, and then I go out and do my homework and research and find the dog I imagined or dreamed about.

No one who tells me the only way to get a dog is my friend or a friend to dogs.  I listen to my own heart, soul, and imagination.

And then, I imagine bringing the dog home to share my life and the life of my family in peace and love.

Can they sit quietly for hours when I work and respect my life? Am I prepared to train them every day for the first five or six months of life?

Dogs are addictive traditionalists.

What they first do is what they want to do every day for the rest of their lives. It is very difficult to untrain a dog that has not been trained or has been trained badly. Training is an exercise in spirituality, not obedience.

It is our joint language, the way we communicate with them.

A major reason many dogs get returned to shelters is that people can’t or won’t take the time to train them properly. If you are the kind of person who just won’t do it, give yourself and the dog a break. Get a different kind of pet.

Four weeks at Petco is fine, but training a dog goes on forever and takes patience, trust and focus. It is, for me, the very least we can do for them.

If you’re interested, here is a list of what trainers say are the hardest dog breeds to train. 1. Beagles. 2. Rottweiler. 3.Siberian Husky. 4. Bassett Hound. 5. Chinese Shar-Pei. 6. Afghan Hound.

The easiest dogs to train: 1. Poodles. 2. German Shepherds. 3. Pumi. 4. Papillon. 5. Cardigan Welsh Corgi. 6. Golden Retriever. 7. Collie. 8. Labrador Retriever. 9. border collie. 10. Doberman Pinscher. 11. Shetland Sheepdog.

This piece is already long enough; I hope to offer some thinking points. The explosion of pet buying has not slowed yet; if this helps even one person and one dog, it is more than worth it for me.

My way has worked for me, and as there are so many people getting pets right now, I felt morally obliged to share what I know.

I  hope it helps.