How can I cope with this: My sister, who works in dog recue organisations, suddenly got a dog from a backyard breeder 😔

Since the death of our last shared soul dog, my sister and me have been working in two dog rescue organisations that rehome dogs from Romanian killing stations. I myself adopted a dog from an animal shelter last year, and she was involved in the whole process.

Since last year, she has been telling everyone about the importance of animal welfare and saying that she would only adopt dogs from shelters. She said she‘d adopt a dog that is in very poor condition and has poor chances of being rehomed. She has really made it part of her identity and defines herself completely through the issue of animal welfare. She also wrote it in her Instagram bio and on her LinkedIn profile because she wants to appear to be a great animal rights activist to the outside world. Which is what I have always thought of her until now..

That's exactly why the following hits me so hard: On New Year's Eve, she told me that she was looking for an older dog from an animal shelter. Yesterday, just ten days later, she texted me in the evening to say that she was going to pick up a dog from a private breeder today. Surprise: it's not only a dog from a breeder, but also from a backyard breeder and it‘s a „torture breed“ (Chihuahua) 😔

I was totally shocked and asked her how this came about. She got very angry and accused me of spoiling her anticipation, claiming that this is also a form of animal welfare because it is a female dog that has already had a litter at the breeder's and is now being advertised on a portal (because the breeder wants to continue breeding with another dog).

She basically made it sound as if she was now rescuing this dog from her previous home. She accused me of not knowing as much about animal welfare as she does and of denying her values, which she acts on every day. In any case, she quickly drove there and paid the breeder a large amount of money. When I pointed out to her that she was boosting demand for the breeder's new puppies and confirming her business model, she got angry and told me that she was concerned with saving this one dog, which would otherwise have lost its home.

I find this so crazy because this dog was advertised among all the other breeding dogs and would most likely have found a family quickly. He also looks like a teddy bear.

How can a person act so contrary to their own values and then justify it as if they had done a good deed and present it to the outside world as animal welfare? Especially when you know that because of that, a dog from a killing station will now have no home?

I'm not sure how to deal with her anymore, as it hurt me deeply and I realised that she does not stands by her values every day. How can I cope? 😔