Should You Give a Puppy as a Christmas Gift?

A puppy can be a good Christmas gift for someone who has wanted a dog for a long time and has the time and means to care for one, and the research doesn’t back the old fear that gift pets get given up. The ASPCA’s own survey found that people who received a dog or cat as a gift loved it as much and kept it as often as anyone else. The harder question is timing: the holiday week is a rough first week for a puppy, and the ASPCA says the new owner’s schedule should leave time to settle the pet in.

What the research says about gift pets

In 2013, ASPCA researchers published a short study in the journal Animals, “Should Dogs and Cats be Given as Gifts?” A national phone survey of 1,006 adults included 222 people who had received a dog or cat as a gift in the previous ten years or so. The ASPCA’s position statement sums up the findings:

• 96% said receiving the pet as a gift either increased or made no difference to their love or attachment to it. Only seven respondents said it decreased.
• 86% still had the pet in the home.
• There was no difference in attachment between surprise gifts and gifts the person knew about in advance.

The authors also review older shelter research. In one study of about 2,600 dogs relinquished to 12 shelters, the odds of a dog being given up were higher when it came from a shelter, a friend, as a stray or from a pet shop than when it was received as a gift. In another, “unwanted gift” was the reason for only 0.3% of dogs and 0.4% of cats entering the shelters surveyed. A third found dogs received as gifts were at significantly lower risk of relinquishment than dogs that were bought or adopted.

The study has limits, and its authors list them: it was a small, one-time survey, it wasn’t designed only to answer this question, and “love or attachment” was the owner’s own impression rather than a validated scale. Some veterinary groups still urge caution; the Oregon Veterinary Medical Association’s advice, cited in the paper, is to consider the choice carefully. So the fair reading is not “give puppies freely,” but “a well-chosen gift is not the risk it’s made out to be.”

The ASPCA’s conditions

The ASPCA supports pets as gifts with conditions. In its words, it recommends “the giving of pets as gifts only to people who have expressed a sustained interest in owning one, and the ability to care for it responsibly.” It also says:

• Get the pet from an animal shelter, a rescue, friends, family or a responsible breeder, “not from places where the source of the animal is unknown or untrusted.”
• If the recipient is under 12, “the child’s parents should be ready and eager to assume care for the animal.”
• If it’s a surprise, the giver should know the recipient’s lifestyle and schedule well enough to be sure they have “the time and means” to be a responsible owner.
• The recipient’s schedule should be free enough to help the pet settle in, which the ASPCA calls “especially important during the holidays and other busy times.”

Why the holiday week is the hard part

That last condition is where Christmas gets tricky. A puppy’s first days go best with a calm house, a routine and someone home. December brings the opposite: guests, a tree with lights and ornaments, chocolate and rich food within reach, late nights and, for many families, travel. The AVMA’s holiday advice for every pet is a quiet room away from the commotion, which is a lot to ask of a puppy who arrived yesterday.

So here is the version I’d suggest. Give the promise on the day, and bring the puppy home after. Wrap a collar, a leash, a bed or a printed photo of the shelter or the breeder’s litter, and pick the puppy up in the first quiet week of January. The person still gets the moment, and the puppy gets a calm start. If the puppy does come home over the holidays, my guides to dog-proofing the Christmas tree and holiday guests cover the setup.

Questions to ask before you wrap a puppy

• Has this person wanted a dog for a long time, and do they know it’s coming, or could you choose together?
• Do they have the time for a puppy: house-training, short trips outside through the night, training and company?
• Does their home allow dogs, and does their budget cover food, vet care, vaccines and supplies?
• For a child: are the parents the ones asking, and are they ready to do the care?
• Where is the puppy coming from? A shelter, a rescue or a breeder you can visit and check.

Plan the first week before the puppy arrives

The first weeks matter, and they move fast. My new puppy checklist covers the supplies and the first days, and the free first-week checklist prints the plan. The free puppy vaccine schedule builds the vet timeline, and my guide to the socialization window explains why the early weeks count so much. Before the puppy comes in the door, walk the house with the puppy-proofing checklist, and keep chocolate, tinsel and cords where little teeth can’t reach.