DR. WALLACE: I'm a teen girl who just turned 16 and I'm quite interested in getting a pet, most likely a dog. I've always been interested in animals and lately I'm starting to realize that I might want to find a career someday that can connect me to animals in some form. I'm not sure yet at this point if I would want to work in the veterinary field or if I'd like to seek out an animal activist career of some sort that could lead me toward making a difference in the lives of many animals around the world.

Since I'm young and have a lot of time in front of me before I'll be seeking a full-time career, I plan to learn all I can over my high school and college years so that I can network and hopefully develop a suitable and meaningful career path toward my goal.

My parents are busy people, so they never brought pets into our home, and I think it's because of the time commitment needed to responsibly take care of a family pet.

So, I'm ready to make that time commitment myself, but I feel that I'll need to "sell" my idea to my parents. I do have two younger siblings who would be overjoyed to see a pet arrive in our home, but I know deep down that I'll have to be the one who makes the firm commitment to be the responsible party. My sister is 10 and my brother is 8, so it will be up to me to care for a new pet.

I've always heard and read that it's often best to acquire a new pet from a local animal shelter. Do you have any suggestions or information that I can use to help me make a compelling pitch to my parents on this topic? — Really love animals, via email

REALLY LOVE ANIMALS: I congratulate you for your interest in compassion when it comes to our animal friends. People all around the world receive great benefits from their relationship with their pets on a multitude of levels.

It's true that local shelters and rescue agencies usually have a great selection of animals looking for permanent homes. Basically any animal available for sale at a pet store or from a breeder is likely waiting for adoption somewhere as well.

You can start by telling your parents that many pets are homeless due to no fault of their own, since landlord issues, moving and even the passing of elderly pet owners causes the lovely animals to end up homeless. You can also mention the pets adopted from rescue groups in shelters usually cost less than pets that are purchased or even acquired somewhere else for free. Once the extra costs of vaccinations, neutering, microchipping, deworming and other preventative measures are added up, shelter pets are often a financial bargain as well.

It sounds to me from the tone of your letter that you are already well on your way to becoming an excellent pet owner, but you should still take care to learn all you can in advance of proceeding further. In addition, you should truly involve your parents as much as possible at every point of your journey toward potentially becoming a new pet owner. There is a wonderful organization that you can and should mention to your parents, as I'm quite sure they have heard of it and know well the deep credibility they possess in the field of animal health and welfare.

This organization is of course the Humane Society of the United States, and they recommend that prospective new pet owners should follow these three key steps when considering and/or adopting a new pet:

No. 1: Discuss as a family the time commitments that will be necessary to care for a new pet. Also consider potential allergies that might affect family members. Therefore, remain flexible in the type of pet you may end up adopting.

No. 2: Visit your local shelter once you've decided what type of pet your family may prefer to adopt. You can check their website to view pictures of some of the available pets but be sure to also make an initial visit in person. Oftentimes a perfect match occurs via the personal interaction of the prospective new owner and the pet looking for a home.

No. 3: If and when you successfully adopt a pet, be sure that your family and friends know about how rewarding the adoption experience was. A personal reference from a trusted friend or family member is the best possible advertising for other people to consider following in the same footsteps to acquire a rescue pet of their own.

Dr. Robert Wallace welcomes questions from readers. Although he is unable to reply to all of them individually, he will answer as many as possible in this column. Email him at [email protected]. To find out more about Dr. Robert Wallace and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.

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