My husband and I have the pleasure of taking care of and loving our 3-year-old Jack Russell/Chihuahua mix.

We named her Eve because we adopted her Christmas Eve in 2012.

It was right after we got engaged, and adopting a puppy seemed like a very good next step. Plus, growing up, we both had dogs, so we knew we wanted a puppy in our lives.

But we also knew we wanted to adopt, not shop.

According to humanesociety.org, “Six to 8 million pets end up in shelters each year. Half of those will probably not be adopted.” Six to 8 million! And most pets end up homeless by no fault of their own, humanesociety.org also states.

Although we adopted Eve from the Animal Welfare Society of Monroe, in Stroudsburg, Lehigh Valley has many animal shelters, such as Animals in Distress, Furry Feet Rescue Inc., Last Chance Ranch Animal Rescue, Lehigh County Humane Society, Peaceable Kingdom, Pets in Need, The Center for Animal Health and Welfare and The Sanctuary at Haafsville.

So many wonderful pets are waiting to be adopted at these shelters, and many times, if not all the time, when you adopt, you also walk out with free or discounted neutering or spaying and vaccinations, a toy for your pet and treat or food samples, among other things.

According to their website, “the ASPCA encourages everyone to make adoption their first option” because often when you purchase a dog from a pet store, your dog probably has come from a puppy farm, also called a puppy mill.

ASPCA.org states, “A puppy mill is a large-scale commercial dog breeding facility where profit is given priority over the well-being of the dogs.” ASPCA believes puppy mills are overcrowded, have unsanitary living conditions, provide little veterinary care, food and water and often have cages with wire bottoms.

The website states puppy mill puppies are more prone to “congenital and hereditary conditions including heart disease and blood and respiratory disorders. In addition, puppy mill puppies often arrive in pet stores and in their new homes with diseases or infirmities ranging from parasites to pneumonia.

“Because puppies are removed from their litter mates and mothers at a young age, they also often suffer from fear, anxiety and other behavioral problems,” ASPCA continues.

Just because we adopted Eve and did not buy her from a pet store does not mean she does not have any anxiety problems. Trust me; she does. Eve has separation anxiety.

It is better than it used to be, but she still does not like when we leave the house. She does not even like when we are outside the front door even though she can see us from the window.

When I get frustrated with her clinginess sometimes, I try to remember someone threw her in a box and tossed her on someone else’s back porch. That person brought her to AWSOM. We noticed she was deathly afraid of cars driving by when we took her for her first few walks, so something must have happened between her and a car.

We adopted her; we rescued her. Why wouldn’t she be clingy?

Adopting Eve is something we will never regret. If we had to do it all over again, we would ... and we would still pick her.

Stacey Koch

editorial assistant Catasauqua Press Northampton Press Whitehall-Coplay Press