March 23 - National Puppy Day

National Puppy Day is an unofficial holiday that takes place every year on March 23.

​The purpose of this day is not only to celebrate puppies and the cuteness overload of looks and antics associated with them, but to shed light on the cruelty that takes place in puppy mills and to encourage adoption from overcrowded shelters and rescues.
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Created in 2006 by animal expert and behaviorist Colleen Paige, the day was designated to bring awareness to the abusive and inhumane practices in these mills, where female dogs are continuously bred to produce puppies to sell for profit. Conditions in these facilities are often deplorable, and when the adults are no longer able to reproduce, they are regularly abandoned or euthanized.  

The way to fight back against puppy mills is to adopt from shelters and refrain from purchasing animals from pet stores and other sources that obtain puppies from mills to sell for profit. The buck stops here!  This is a prime example of supply and demand. If people will adopt homeless animals from shelters rather than purchasing from back-yard breeders and puppy mills, there will be no demand for such an appalling industry.

(Please note: the author of this article is not referring to reputable kennels that breed and show purebred dogs).

On National Puppy Day, many shelters and rescues will hold “open houses” to allow people to visit with get to know adoptable dogs that need a home.
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Want a puppy?  ADOPT, DON'T SHOP! Avoid puppy mills.  Check out local shelters and rescues instead. There is already an overabundance of puppies being born into this world -- they need homes.

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Shelia Huffman, Contributor
Shelia recently moved to the Greenwood community of Midland from Dallas where she was a staff writer for White Rock Lake Weekly and a columnist for Bubblelife Media.  A retired travel agent and event planner, she has  been an animal activist her entire life.  Shelia  has a daughter and son-in-law in Midland, a grandson in Dallas and a granddaughter at Texas Tech. She lists cooking and writing about food, and,  of course, playing with her Terrier Mix rescue, Penelope, as some of her favorite things.