This is basically going to be a list of don’ts since the list of dos would take ages to write.
I’m tired of cleaning up everyone’s dog mess. Hasty puppy acquisitions are not only irresponsible, but dangerous for you, your family, your community, and your animals. It is more than just a sad surrender story in many cases. The consequences of impulsively picking that oh-so-cute-i-have-to-have-it-now puppy go far beyond just you and your dog. It is because of YOU that the shelters are full beyond capacity. It is because of YOU that there are innumerable dogs and cats that are euthanized every year. It is because of YOU that people are bitten, tickets are given, and breed specific laws are put into place. Before you think about picking up that puppy, here are a quick list of thoughts to put in before you do so. 
If you have thought, considered, done, or do condone any of the following, you are not adequately capable of caring responsibly for a pet. Until this changes, you should not, under any circumstances, acquire a new dog.
If you have ever surrendered a dog because you just didn’t have time, you didn’t have the money, he was “too hyper” or you moved, you SHOULD NOT get a new dog
If you think you can own a dog because your backyard will provide him all the exercise he needs you SHOULD NOT get a new dog
If you think you’ll save money by buying Ol Roy, and besides, he just likes it *so* much you SHOULD NOT get a new dog. Would you feed your kids cheetos for every meal???
If you have ever thought that you can’t take your dog out because he is “too hyper” you’re an idiot, and you SHOULD NOT get a new dog
If you have ever picked up your dog at the dog park to hold it up and save it from all of the other dogs out of fear, you obviously have not taken ANY time to understand pack behavior and you SHOULD NOT get a new dog
If you pick a puppy because its cute and sounds cool you SHOULD NOT get a new dog 
If you’re too prideful to realize your mistake, and are out to prove something with your new pup, you’re PATHETIC and SHOULD NOT get a new dog
If you don’t understand pack behavior, and haven’t bothered to look it up, you PISS ME OFF, and SHOULD NOT get a new dog.
If you haven’t bothered to research, read, prepare, and understand everything you can before picking a specific and challenging breed of a dog, go to hell, and you SHOULD NOT get a new dog.
If you haven’t educated yourself on vaccinations, parvovirus, county tags, and local pet laws you SHOULD NOT get a new dog
If you think that holding your dog is the best way to protect it you SHOULD NOT get a new dog
READ A BOOK
TAKE A CLASS
LISTEN TO OBEDIENCE TRAINERS
LEARNLEARNLEARN
I’m so tired of this. I’m so tired of bad breeders, and people who haven’t done everything they can to really understand all of the responsibilities and requirements of owning a pet. I’m tired of walking through the shelters and seeing all of the dogs who in 72 hours time will have their innocent lives taken from them because someone was a prideful idiot and refused to take advice like this into account.
Are you guilty of the above things? Don’t get mad at me. Or get mad at me, I could give a shit as long as you LEARN SOMETHING.
Change your behavior. Don’t let your innocent animal pay the price for your ignorance and pride.
Think your dog will be different? You think your dog will be fine? You’re wrong, I promise. It’s an all too repeatable tale, with an all too predictable outcome. I see it all of the time, and this is more than just a personal attack on stupidity. This is a genuine plea to salvage the innocence and spare the suffering your pet has to go through before you realize your mistake. 
Do you think your backyard dog isn’t suffering? He is, and it’s your fault.
My fury comes from having witnessed so few owners with the capability of truly providing a genuinely satisfying and fulfilling life for their pets.
If you are not exercising your dog, you are abusing it.
If you are letting your dog become hyper, and neurotic, and aggressive, you are ABUSING IT. It.is.not.their.fault.
If your dog is constantly whining, crying, chewing, circling, spinning, and running around the house you.are.ABUSING.it.
If your dog stares at you from the backyard, and you know you can’t go out and play with it because he’ll jump on you you are ABUSING it.
We take these animals into our hands and they look at us with the expectation that we will care for them the way that THEY need to be cared for. NOT the way that we think they need to be cared for. These are not people, and we 
cannot treat them the way that we treat people. We have to care enough to understand their language and their needs. Don’t abuse your dogs. Don’t let your family, and your community reap the consequences for your lack of action.
Feel free to add more don’ts to this list. I get flustered when I’m emotional about something, and there are a ton of blatant not-to-dos when getting a dog.
I hope that if someone gets angry about this post that they will do everything in their power to prove me wrong IN THE RIGHT WAY. I hope that they get so pissed that they turn around and train their dogs appropriately, throw it in my face, and say that I’m wrong for assuming that past mistakes will carry on for future pets.
This is MUCH different than hanging onto, coddling, and defending their decisions without altering their behavior and setting themselves up for painful failure.
Prove me wrong. I dare you. Even if it means you admit that you’ve bitten off more than you can chew, just do what is right for the life that cannot choose for itself.
omg yes! thank you for this connie! I shall retweet it for stupid people who dont do a full research about the breed first. take their pets to the vet and everything else it entails! oh and dont get a pet if you plan on using your dog as a babysitter for your kids! I could go on forever!
GOOD! Spread the word!
oh and dont get puppies as a Christmas present if you’re not educated on dogs! At the end of the day, its you (not your kids) who is going to end up caring for the puppy and they are a lot of work!
Ugh. I’m passing this along to someone I know. She bought a Beagle puppy at The Puppy Store in CS (I’ll not even touch that), because she felt like “she needed to save it from that place”. In the end she decided she couldn’t keep it because she “required too much time”, and was going to take her to the pound. BUT, it would be ok. “She’ll get adopted quicky, she’s so cute!”.
Exactly! You are not an “animal rescuer” just because you bought a cute puppy that you couldn’t bear to see go to someone else!
PLEASE DO pass Connie’s words along! There is NO reason to allow human ignorance to cause such torturous lives for innocent animals!
GREAT article Connie!
A few more that come to mind.
DON’T buy a puppy for a present for anyone under ANY circumstances — even if they want a puppy they need to make the decision on what puppy is right for them, do their research, meet the breeder and have time to prepare for a new arrival.
DON’T buy a puppy to teach the kids responsibility — since the kids are YOUR responsibility the puppy is also your responsibility and to expect them to totally care for a puppy is unrealistic. To teach them to help care for a living being is another matter but it needs to be under your supervision.
DON’T buy a puppy from any place that doesn’t let you at least meet the mother, hasn’t done health clearances on parents, doesn’t have a contract including a take back/buy back provision and doesn’t interview you to make sure you are a suitable home for a puppy.
DON’T EVER buy a puppy from a pet store and don’t support pet stores that sell puppies by buying anything at that store.
DON’T breed a litter so your children can “watch the miracle of birth” — they will get more info than you bargained for such as seeing a still born puppy, seeing a c-section, seeing mom lay on a puppy and the puppy die, etc. It isn’t all flowers and candy raising a litter.
This is fantastic!
The sad thing for me is that often owners are not so much deliberately neglectful as they are under-educated. They have to learn the hard way, by heartbreaking experience. They get off easy when the heart-breaking part doesn’t include injury to family, friends, neighbors, children, other pets, etc. Most people don’t get pets with the intention of abusing it.
Unfortunately, their neglect ends up making the dog at fault. And the breed, if you are a pit bull. You are an anomaly if you are a Labrador. (ahem)
Everyone knows the rules. And everyone breaks them. Why? Because they simply don’t believe, they don’t realize the potential problems they could create. They didn’t read about the Pomeranian who killed the infant. They see a cute fuzzy face, and it speaks highly of dogs that there aren’t more assaults. (CDC reports 6 times as many ER visits due to human assault as due to dogbite injuries.)
I don’t know how we are going to get people to just THINK. Think critically, think responsibly, think about more than your immediate gratification…. How do we motivate people to think about more than just their own needs?
How do we, the thinkers, cope with the non-thinkers? How do we deal with cleaning up the mess of an estimated 4 million pets euthanized, and 4 million more living in shelter cages?
I don’t know, but like the breed I favor… I’m hanging in, and I won’t let go.