Utahns can expand the family during "Adopt a Shelter Dog Month"

<span>SALT LAKE CITY – Utahans are encouraged to consider adding a new member to the family during “Adopt a Shelter Dog Month” in October. Carl Arky, director of communications with the</span><a href=”http://www.utahhumane.org/” target=”parent”>Humane Society of Utah</a><span>, says adopting a dog from your local animal shelter has benefits over going to a breeder, or a retail pet store.</span>

<span>”First of all you’re saving a life,” says Arky. “If you purchase a pet from a breeder, that just perpetuates a system that produces more animals, and more animals, and more animals and a lot of those animals end up in animal shelters like ours, ultimately.”</span>

<span>Arky adds, shelter animals are spayed or neutered, vaccinated, and usually cost just a fraction of what a purebred could cost if purchased through a breeder.</span>

<span>Arky says, in general, it seems people are gaining a better understanding of the value in adopting a shelter pet, in Utah and across the U.S. He says such organizations as the Humane Society also are doing a better job of promoting shelter animal adoptions.</span>

<span>”It is catching on but it can always be better,” he says. “We can always have more people adopting animals, thinking about that, considering that as the only option, really.”</span>

<span>Arky says the Humane Society of Utah has hundreds of dogs, cats, and other animals looking for new homes. He says about 10,000 animals are adopted through the organization each year.</span>

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