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I'm poking fun at the people who think they are some sort of hero for adopting a dog. Meanwhile the dog is the same dog. Where do you think shelter dogs come from?
Shelter dogs originally came from all different places, reputable breeders, strays born on the street, accidental pregnancies, backyard breeders, and yes even puppy mills. The difference between a puppy mill dog and a shelter dog is that when you adopt from a shelter you are not lining the pockets of a business that keeps dogs in deplorable conditions. It has nothing do to with the actual dog, the dog did nothing wrong. Its the business that is supported when you buy the dog, a business that you are giving money to and allowing the continued mistreatment of other animals. Maybe your dog was able to find a nice happy home, but unfortunately that is not the case for all animals that are subjected to a horrible life at these facilities.
I agree with you, I think everyone looking for a dog should look at their shelters and rescues first. Absolutely. But sometimes that doesn't work out for very well-known reasons
And if you think about it, that's a GOOD thing! It means there's less overproduction of the types/breeds of dogs that are hard to find in the typical shelter or rescue setting. Isn't that what we should want?
Ideally shelters and rescues wouldn't even exist, because every animal would be in a forever home. That will never be reality, of course; there can be good reasons to give up a pet, and shelters and rescues need to be there for those animals that cannot remain in their current homes. But the fewer animals in shelters, the better!
I would never buy a puppy from a pet store. They come from Mills/BYB's. Besides that, their prices for puppies are outrageous. You can get whatever breed you are interested in from a reputable breeder that health screens their animals, for less.
What states need to do (for example, Nevada) is start scouring Craigslist and sites like it to fine and punish people that are not following laws.
Even just getting a puppy of no particular breeding allows you an added level of control. You don't have to worry about what skeletons are in the closet, what's been imprinted on it, why it may have been given up for adoption.
If all you're looking for is a pet, adopting is fine. My parents are on their second rescue. The current dog is an absolute gem, but I really think he's going to have bad hip dysplasia. Our first rescue was fine for us, but lets be honest, he had some real issues. Not the least of which was that dogs seemed to gravitate to him to fight, and he had no problem fighting back. We would be walking him on a leash and dogs would come out of nowhere to pick a fight with him. And they would get it. Such a hassle. It was fine for my mother, a healthy and hale women in the prime of her life with teenage sons. She was able to put the fear of God into that dog and turn him from a counter-surfing, leg humping, door opening (he'd open the door to run down recumbent bicycles) leash yanking troglodyte and turn him into a pleasant member of the family. But for someone with kids to watch over and worry about? NOO.
But there are those of us looking for more in a dog. I will go with a known quantity with parents that have verified their performance themselves and with their previous progeny as well. And, I won't apologize or feel judged for it either.
Even just getting a puppy of no particular breeding allows you an added level of control. You don't have to worry about what skeletons are in the closet, what's been imprinted on it, why it may have been given up for adoption.
You know you can get puppies from shelters, right? Either someone will turn in a stray that ends up being pregnant, or someone dumps a litter of puppies on their doorstep in the middle of the night. An 8 week old puppy up for adoption is not going to have any "skeletons in the closet" and I doubt they have been imprinted with any bad habits, especially when their only reason for being up for adoption is for simply being born.
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If all you're looking for is a pet, adopting is fine. My parents are on their second rescue. The current dog is an absolute gem, but I really think he's going to have bad hip dysplasia. Our first rescue was fine for us, but lets be honest, he had some real issues. Not the least of which was that dogs seemed to gravitate to him to fight, and he had no problem fighting back.
But even with a dog from a pet shop, how do you know it is not going to get hip dysplasia or know that it won't defend itself when other dogs start a fight? Even the best dog is going to fight back, I don't see that as an adoption issue.
But even with a dog from a pet shop, how do you know it is not going to get hip dysplasia or know that it won't defend itself when other dogs start a fight? Even the best dog is going to fight back, I don't see that as an adoption issue.
I think $ will be something that will lessen the chance of illness. Before, in NJ, if dog from a puppy store has a health issue, the pup can be returned or the store has to pay for treatment. I am sure consumer laws exist in other states.
My pup that I adopted from the shelter has hip dysplasia and it was devastating even more so with me being a first time dog owner. With her surgery bill and aftercare, she ended up being far more expensive than a $1000 puppy from a store.
You know you can get puppies from shelters, right?
Not around here, you can't. The dogs in my local shelter are either elderly with health problems or (most common) adolescents who are being dumped because they are under-exercised and untrained and have typical young dog behavior issues. There's nary a pup in sight.
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But even with a dog from a pet shop...
Who said anything about a pet shop? JONOV is clearly referring to getting a pup from a good breeder, as witnessed by his statement "I will go with a known quantity with parents that have verified their performance themselves and with their previous progeny as well." And you're less likely to end up with a dysplastic dog from a GOOD breeder because good breeders screen their breeding stock for subclinical signs of dysplasia (OFA or PennHip) before they make the decision to breed an animal. Hip dysplasia's common enough across most medium and large breeds that many mixed breed dogs as well as puppy mill dogs end up suffering from it.
Temperament and working ability are also heritable (though to a lesser degree), and again, good breeders select for these things.
Random-bred dogs can be delightful companions, but there is a reason why most working stock doesn't come from the pound.
Not around here, you can't. The dogs in my local shelter are either elderly with health problems or (most common) adolescents who are being dumped because they are under-exercised and untrained and have typical young dog behavior issues. There's nary a pup in sight.
Petfinder says otherwise. I guess those are fake puppies? You could also travel a few hours to a larger city and find even more puppies, but who wants to put that sort of time into a 15-20 year commitment?
I think $ will be something that will lessen the chance of illness. Before, in NJ, if dog from a puppy store has a health issue, the pup can be returned or the store has to pay for treatment. I am sure consumer laws exist in other states.
I guess I don't consider my dog something that I can just return if something goes wrong. To me its a lifetime commitment.
I guess I don't consider my dog something that I can just return if something goes wrong. To me its a lifetime commitment.
Who said I wanted to return my dog? I was saying that it is money that motivates puppy stores not to sell puppies without proper testing done.
Puppy stores do not want people returning or paying for sick dogs' treatments so they will be motivated to do business with legit breeders that do genetic testing.
Shelters' motivation? Get the dogs out and it is a legitimate motivation but I was never made aware that my large pup that looked just like a german shepherd/rott mix puppy would be prone to hip dysplacia.
Did you not read my other part where I said that my adopted pup has hip dysplacia? I still have her and she is 14.
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