When you adopt a dog, you have a better chance of finding the perfect match for your family. Rescue volunteers tend to have a pretty good grasp on the dog's temperament, so they can help match you and your family with the perfect dog for your personality and your lifestyle. This is a great way to ensure that you don't have to bring the dog back because he just wasn't what you expected.

Rescue dogs are generally kept up with their vaccinations, spayed or neutered, and microchipped before or right after you adopt the dog. This helps cut vet bills tremendously. Yes, you have to pay an adoption fee, but that is generally a mere percent of what the shelter actually spent caring for the dog and vet bills, which means it's just a mere percent that you have to pay for something that would have normally cost hundreds.

Generally, rescue dogs bond rather quickly and deeply with their new owners. Usually, these dogs are uprooted from a happy home due to divorce, death, or some other lifestyle change, that they do go through a mourning process, so once they've found a loving home again, they want to please the new owners as much as possible to hopefully ensure that they won't be homeless again. Even dogs who were picked up from the streets, never really knowing a good home, will bond quickly to hopefully ensure that they won't be rummaging through the trash for their dinner.

Remember, if you are looking for a pure bred dog, please stay away from pet stores. The majority of pet stores get their puppies from puppy mills, which tend to be very unhealthy and prone to health conditions throughout their lives. You may think that you're getting a good dog, but if you look at the pedigree, most puppies from pet stores are severely in-bred, which has the potential to cause severe health conditions and behavioral concerns presently and down the road.