this is why animals shouldn't be christmas presents

Earlier in the day, there was a CL posting (must have been flagged because it's not there anymore) from a family looking to rehome a puppy that a friend gave them as a christmas present. Unfortunately, the friend didn't know they were moving to Arizona and couldn't take the dog

this is what's currently on craig's list in my area:

Pitbull Puppy for Sale

I have a 8 week old male pitbull that I am looking to rehome. I bought him for my daughter for Christmas but she is terrified of him. I really can't understand why because he is the sweetest dog. He has never been agressive towards her. If he walks past her she starts screaming. He is doing pretty well with Potty training and will wine when he has to go. I have food and dishes that will go with him and i also took him to Petsmart to be washed when i bought him. I have had him about a week hoping that things will change and my daughter will like him but she hasn't. Please email me back with a # and i will call you. I have a picture of what he looks like now and what he will look like as an adult. I am asking a small rehoming fee to cover some of what i have spent one him. The most important thing to me is that he finds a good home because he is a great dog.

That is exactly why we shut down all adoptions for Christmas and why I am 'hiding' a sweet baby kitten at home because even when I had her in the shelter with me when I was out all day, someone thought she would make a great gift for her 7 year old nephew without even checking with her sister!

I imagine we will have plenty of can you help us calls when we reopen tomorrow morning too

I saw people selling puppies out of the back of their SUV Christmas Eve at K-mart. I really wish they'd chase people off for doing that as I see several do this year round.

I should ask my boss what our store's policy is. I'd love to kick people off the property for selling animals out of their vehicles.

Yup I don't allow people to view kittens the week leading up to Christmas unless they've had a kitten down for awhile and I definitely wouldn't let someone take one that was ready.

We did allow some people to take them home as long as it was before the 23rd and the whole family came in to choose the animal. Some working couples etc have a week off for Christmas and it is the best time for them to get an animal and spend settling down time with it but it really depended on the people adopting. For the majority of people we said they could put a hold on the animal and pick it up starting the 27th so they wouldnt have it on Christmas day and a lot of the people who wanted it as a gift said nevermind and left.

At our rescue, the rule is that the animal cannot be adopted for someone else... ie: as a gift for someone. The adoptor/ person taking care of the animal has to be there to be interviewed, fill out paperwork, etc.

And we do follow up as best we can, given that we are an all-volunteer operation.

Originally Posted by icklemiss21

We did allow some people to take them home as long as it was before the 23rd and the whole family came in to choose the animal. Some working couples etc have a week off for Christmas and it is the best time for them to get an animal and spend settling down time with it but it really depended on the people adopting. For the majority of people we said they could put a hold on the animal and pick it up starting the 27th so they wouldnt have it on Christmas day and a lot of the people who wanted it as a gift said nevermind and left.

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If they're willing to wait until after Christmas it's a good sign they're genuine!

Thats what we think too, we don't allow gifts either, the person who will get the cat has to pick it and do the application but we do have cute cards people can take saying they promise to pay for the animal of the persons choosing from us with the condition that the adopter is approved.

I am in tomorrow and Sunday for pickups and new adoptions and several of my favourite cats, including one of my ferals are going home so it will be a bittersweet weekend

I offended a woman as they wanted to get a kitty for grandma for christmas as a surprise. Told her no surprises - we had to talk to grandma.

At the shelter here, we do adopt out animals around Christmas, but if it is a gift the adult must be the primary caregiver, no surprises, whole family has to meet the pet, etc.

You can not adopt here the week of Christmas either.
There have been so many problems.
They will let you get a voucher and give it as a gift.
The family can come in after christmas and pic a pet them self.
My sister just adopted a cat for her sons christmas gifts.
My brother in law and her took the kids and let them help decide what cat to get.

We actually stopped the first week of December, one rescue was 10 days before but they were the only ones. We dont start homing again till the second week in Jan, to make sure everyone is over the festivities.

Originally Posted by strange_wings

I saw people selling puppies out of the back of their SUV Christmas Eve at K-mart.

I really wish they'd chase people off for doing that as I see several do this year round.

I should ask my boss what our store's policy is. I'd love to kick people off the property for selling animals out of their vehicles.

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That is absolutely horrid. I have never heard of something like this.
Is that even legal?


Many many stores here do NOT sell puppies or kitties. In fact, I can't think of one that does

I know of one that used to.

I have dealt with my share of people wanting to buy snakes for xmas presents. I do allow some to do so, it all depends on the person. A father buying one for his son for xmas, when both are highly into the hobby.... no problem. Someone who emails me saying "What do you have for $20, I want to get my kid a snake for xmas" ummmm... warning bells right there.

Snakes are slightly different than cats/dogs....in that they are used more as a disposable pet hence the "what do u have under 20" type of emails. I'm not saying cats arent, but in my experience, here, snakes are definately treated as disposable moreso when bought as xmas presents. (if the reciever doesn't like it, it gets disposed of somehow)

I guess I am on the fence about adoptions over xmas.

I highly agree with "those who are doing the adopting, need to be the ones owning the animal".

Shutting down adoptions the week of xmas, I don't know about. Me, this year, I was looking for a kitty... my hubby finally relented, and Kizzy was an awesome xmas present, from me to me LOL. But if Kizzy had not have come to me, I would still be looking, and the closer it got to xmas, the more "I'm getting a kitty for xmas" I would feel. I know I'm in a slightly different spot than others, especially since I've been wanting a kitty again for years, and it just happened to be 2wks prior to xmas.

But I would have waited till after xmas if I had found a shelter kitty and that's what they requested. It would have been hard, (I'm one of those, have to do it now persons when I find out I'm able to do it) but I could have waited.

^Reptiles and rodents always get the short end of the stick. They're usually treated as disposable in stores to begin with. At least a lot of people are scared of snakes, so you don't see the parents wanting to buy their four year old a snake. For some reason though they think a turtle, tortoise, or even a baby iguana makes the perfect pet - something that's much more difficult to care for than most reptiles are.

And I don't know if it's legal here. No one really cares about BYBs. An animal has to be in pretty bad shape and the newspaper has to print something about it before anything is done. There are still a lot of people hiding their fighting dogs in this state due to how rural it is.

Originally Posted by strange_wings

^Reptiles and rodents always get the short end of the stick. They're usually treated as disposable in stores to begin with.

At least a lot of people are scared of snakes, so you don't see the parents wanting to buy their four year old a snake. For some reason though they think a turtle, tortoise, or even a baby iguana makes the perfect pet - something that's much more difficult to care for than most reptiles are.

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Trust me I know It is something us reptile breeders have to deal with quite regularly. People don't think reptiles are "pets" as much as cats/dogs are... We have iggy rescues here, you can adopt an iggy who was abandoned/mistreated, etc...not so much now, but several years ago, iggies were very popular xmas presents, of course when that cute lil 12" iggy grew into a strong 5' iggy, they were abandoned, mistreated, etc. (but I suppose this is not the place for that discussion.... I only brought up reptiles because this thread is about giving animals as presents and reptiles are the only animals I sell, so I relate it to that)

And I don't know if it's legal here. No one really cares about BYBs. An animal has to be in pretty bad shape and the newspaper has to print something about it before anything is done. There are still a lot of people hiding their fighting dogs in this state due to how rural it is.

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Not much different than here. Aside from I've never heard of, or seen, someone selling animals out of the back of their truck. That is just sad.

There's always people selling dogs. I hate when they have them out there in summer. Summer here means 100+F degree heat...
The store I work at doesn't have any signs saying no animals allowed (not sure why there isn't one?) so some people will bring their little dogs in with them. One was a woman that had bought a puppy at that K-mart parking lot - she had the tiny thing tucked in her shirt. They'd had the puppy a month already and it was still so small, she claimed that the person she bought it from said it was a rat terrier. I told her it looked more like a teacup chihuahua to be that small at nearly 5 months old. She didn't care though, poor buying choice aside she did adore her little dog and it had been to the vet... and the husband came in a few times with it, too, tucked in his shirt. So sometimes it can work out ok for the animal.
Now that I think about it... I believe the woman said it was a birthday present for her.

I've bred some of my reptiles. My golden geckos because I'd had them so long and wanted some captive bred babies out of them. As it turns out, the species is too skittish for captive breeding to make much a difference on tameness. And my ornate box turtles - an oops clutch (they came together from a person who no longer wanted them, and females stay fertile for a few years so I couldn't have prevented it). I wouldn't dream of selling any of them. Simply not knowing what could happen in another home worries me too much to ever part with them. I don't know how you can do it.

The shelter where I adopted Shelby has a policy of not adopting out their black cats during the month of October.

It seems there was a problem a few years back of someone adopting black cats for use in a 'haunted house' and then abandoning the cats once the house closed for the season.

Makes me mad that people STILL advertise puppies/kittens for Christmas presents. Ethical breeders never let their pups/kittens go around Christmas time.

Sad too. If they had taken their child to a shelter to look at dogs, they would have known she was afraid. Now a poor pup has to suffer for the parent's stupidity!

It makes me sad all the pet stores here are open late selling kittens and puppies on Christmas eve!

I agree, that animals should never be a gift...

Get kids, or who ever is wanting the pet, some of the essentials for caring for the pet (like collars, leads, food, dishes, a crate), but tell them you will go pick out a pet AFTER the holiday. That way you know that you are getting the right pet\\child combination, because the child is able to meet the pet before choosing it.

Giving pets as a gift, imo, is never a wise idea...even for birthday gifts; the pet can quickly be forgotten in all the hustle and bustle of the day, and then the family hates it because it's either too noisy, or too destructive.

All the breeders I know will not let cats go as gifts.
You should see all the ads here for cats and dogs now.
They were christmas gifts and no are not wanted.
In october the pound here will not let black and black and white cats be adopted because of what people do.
They also do not let rabbits adopted around easter either.