Persuasive Speech

Branden Wetsel
Persuasive Speech: Audience Assessment

Specific Goal: My audience will agree that adopting a pet is a better option compared to buying one from a
breeder.

Type of Claim: This is a claim of Value

Ethos: Primary Ethos:

a) Competence: I have only ever adopted animals in my life, same with my parents, we do not
believe in purchasing from breeders due to the fact that they are just trying to pad their pockets and
some breeders are actually cruel and use unsafe practice when breeding the animals.
b) Fairness: I will have to add in the benefits of purchasing an animal from a breeder to be fair
to those who still believe that is the best option.
Secondary Ethos: I will cite 5 authoritative sources

Audience Assessment: Most of my audience members will probably have an attitude toward my proposition
that is highly favorable

Adaptation to Audience Attitude:

a. Common ground: I intend to go over the positives of adopting as well as the positives of purchasing an
animal from a breeder or pet shop and show why the adopting positives far outweigh the breeder
positives.
b. Latitude of acceptance: My audience is full of animal lovers and will feel strongly about wanting to
adopt an animal after hearing all the positives that adopting an animal can bring. I intend to use
emotions to get the audience to see that adopting an animal saves a life as well.

Baby Steps: I have made the proposition easy to believe by getting to the emotional side of things. I want the
audience to understand all the good that adopting a pet can bring and how it can make a difference, not just in
their life but also that animal’s life.

Pattern of Organization: I will use problem-solution as my pattern of organization.

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 Persuasive Speech: Outline

Time to Adopt A Pet

Introduction

I. Hook: Pets! We all love them and agree that they can make our lives a whole lot better… But which is better
when it comes to getting a pet, adopting or buying? I am here today to share with you the reasons I
believe adopting is better.

II. Ethos: All of the pets in my family aside from one have been adopted, the one we did not adopt, we rescued.
My family have always been firm believers that adopting a pet rather than buying from breeder is a
better option.

III. Proposition (or Hint at Proposition): I believe adopting a pet is a better option than purchasing from a
breeder or pet store.

IV. Preview: We will go over 3 main points to support that claim.

1. It will cost you a lot less to adopt a pet
2. Purchasing from a pet store or breeder may support puppy mills
3. Animals in shelters get overlooked and eventually have to be put down due to overpopulation

Transition: Without further ado, let’s dive in.

Body

I. First, let’s go over the price of both.

A. Adopting will cost between $70-300

i. According to (humanesociety.org) “Usually when you adopt a pet, the cost of spay/neuter,
first vaccinations, and sometimes even microchipping are included in the adoption price,
which can save you some up front costs of adding a new member to the family.”

ii. Another huge expense that we may not realize is training. Housebreaking and training
expenses can run up the cost of owning an animal. But in some cases, you will be adopting
an animal that is already trained, saving you hundreds.

B. Purchasing will cost between $300-15,000

i. According to (pets.costhelper.com) “Purchasing a pet quality animal will cost $300-1500….
Purchasing a show quality animal can cost anywhere between $1500-15,000”

ii. Breeders tend to charge more because their animals are “purebred” and they can charge that
amount. These animals will most likely all be babies and require training expenses that some
adoption pets do not.

C. This means that adopting an animal will usually be the cheaper route.

Transition: Second,
II. Purchasing from a “backyard breeder” or pet store supports puppy mills
A. What is a puppy mill?
i. According to (PETA.org) “Puppy-mill kennels can consist of anything from small cages
made of wood and wire mesh to tractor-trailer cabs or simply chains attached to trees, where
mother dogs and puppies spend every day outdoors in the same small patch of dirt in all
types of weather.”

ii. Puppy mills have no care for the female dog’s well-being, these mills are cruel and
inhumane. Most mills allow “female dogs to be bred over and over until they can no longer
produce puppies-at which point they are auctioned off or killed” (PETA.org)

B. What is a backyard breeder?

i. According to (PetMeMag) “a backyard breeder operates in much the same way as a puppy
mill. They usually give little to no thought to the well-being of their animals, forcing mothers
to spend their lives in filthy cages while they are bred over and over again.”

ii. You can find these types of breeders on social media or classified ads; they are just people
looking to make money and are not known as a professional breeder.

C. These practices will often result health problems for the puppies

Transition: Last, but not least

III. Sheltered animals are often overlooked and have to be euthanized due to overpopulation

A. What is an overlooked animal?

i. According to Linda Reider of Animal Sheltering Magazine “Cats and small furries who
have been in the Michigan Humane Society system for at least 30 days, and dogs who have
been with us for at least 21 days are consider overlooked pets.”

ii. Basically, what this means is that people are not adopting these animals. Lists like the one the
Michigan Humane Society uses to track overlooked pets are being implemented in all
shelters across the country. This helps to promote those animals and find them a home.

B. When animals don’t get adopted overpopulation begins.

i. It is estimated by the (ASPCA) that “approximately 6.5 million companion animals enter
U.S. animal shelters nationwide each year… approximately 3.3 million are dogs and 3.2
million are cats.”

ii. This means shelters are becoming overpopulated and due to that animals have to be
euthanized to make room for new rescues, sometimes they cannot even take in a new rescue
due to overpopulation.

iii. “Each year, approximately 1.5 million shelter animals are euthanized” says (ASPCA)

Transition to close: So, let me finish by saying…

Conclusion:

I. Summarize main points/thesis: Adopting an animal is better than buying from a breeder. It is cheaper,
you are not supporting puppy mills, and you are giving life to an animal that would otherwise lose it
without you.
 II. Bookend: We all love pets, which is why we should want to help them.
III. End the speech memorably: It breaks my heart to think that 1.5 million animals die each year because
they didn’t have a place to call home.
IV. Challenge the audience to respond: So, please when it comes to getting a new furry friend for your
home, consider saving a life through adoption first.
 References:

8 Reasons to Adopt-Not Buy-Dogs. (2017, April 24). Retrieved from https://www.peta.org/living/animal-

companions/8-reasons-adopt-buy-dogs/

How Much Does Buying a Dog Cost? - CostHelper.com. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://pets.costhelper.com/buy-
dog.html

PetMeMag. (2018, February 26). Why Choose Adoption? Pet Me! Magazine.

Pet Statistics. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.aspca.org/animal-homelessness/shelter-intake-and-

surrender/pet-statistics

Reider, L. (2014, January/February). Overlooked No More. Animal Sheltering Magazine.

Rowan, A., & Kartal, T. (2018). Dog Population & Dog Sheltering Trends in the United States of America.
Animals, 8(5), 68. doi:10.3390/ani8050068

Top reasons to adopt a pet. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.humanesociety.org/resources/top-reasons-adopt-

pet