By Sophia Myers

On a recent guest spot on the Ellen Degeneres show, young actress and singer Selena Gomez shared she had recently adopted a puppy from Puerto Rico using online means.

In the United States alone, there are two million puppies and kittens awaiting adoption. Worldwide, a staggering number of stray, neglected or left-for-dead kittens and puppies are just waiting for people to take them out of the cold. This number increases every second unless you take action and adopt a puppy today. The noblest motivation of all is that you get to save a puppy’s life.

When considering adopting puppies through online means, the first thing you have to do is make inquiries via an animal shelter rather than a breeder or pet store because the former gives you access to reputable websites that they themselves have worked with. Word-of-mouth is likewise tremendously reliable when it comes to remote puppy adoption. Further, they give you access to support services, and variety of breeds that have all been health certified, vet certified, splayed, neutered, trained, and vaccinated.

Aside from the above, here are ways to buy a puppy online safely:

  1. Choose the right puppy breed: Would you like a pure breed or mixed parentage?
  2. With a list of recommendations from your consult with an animal shelter, begin to do your homework by going online before planning your move: Visit websites specifically put up to encourage puppy adoption. petfinder.com or the Better Business Bureau are good places to start searching. Steer clear of websites that heap on platitudes on their sheltered animals as each animal has unique sets of good and bad behavior which you should know right away. If this does not satisfy you, you can run your fingers through a phone book. Even malls conduct animal adoption events so that is worth seeing as well.
  3. Then, it’s time to go beyond the worldwide web and contact the animal shelter of choice to make inquiries about their policy on puppy adoption including returning a puppy, refund terms, and determining a good fit for the puppy and the adopting home. If the shelter is within your area, ask for permission to come and visit with members of your family. If it’s outside of your State or outside of the United States, arrange video conferencing via Skype if possible.
  4. Ask questions about adoption procedures, adoption fees, and shipping. Take notes while you’re speaking with whomever is in charge of the shelter – concerns such as behavioral patterns, age of the puppy (should be at least 6 weeks to 8 weeks old to be viable for adoption and shipping), state of health, health certificates from the veterinarian, visual cues like barking, tail whipping from side to side, and general countenance, physical set-up, environment and condition of the animal shelters and how staff members treat their fellow staffers and the animals. On these, you can request copies, photos, and videos to be sent to you.
  5. Go in depth. Ask the shelter about the criteria and tests involved in their decision to put a puppy up for adoption such as genealogy/lineage and if they have ever euthanized a puppy’s parents – it happens – and you should be informed.
  6. Call the veterinarian who signed your puppy’s health certificate to make sure that everything stated is in order.
  7. If you’ve made a choice and you have other pets at home, ask for help from an experienced “Dog Whisperer” so your puppy can be properly introduced to the rest of the gang.