How do you justify buying from a breeder instead of rescuing a mutt?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I buy the purebred dogs I like. I could not care less whether you or anybody else looks down your righteously indignant snotty nose at me. And I sleep just fine.

Build the wall! Build the wall!

No difference between the two. You're the dog equivalent of a Trump supporter. You care only about yourself.

Ok, you sound like a raging lunatic.

We wanted a specific breed that isn’t found in a shelter, and I wasn’t compromising on breed. Plus, we showed for a while.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I buy the purebred dogs I like. I could not care less whether you or anybody else looks down your righteously indignant snotty nose at me. And I sleep just fine.

Build the wall! Build the wall!

No difference between the two. You're the dog equivalent of a Trump supporter. You care only about yourself.

NP. I voted for Trump AND bought a labradoodle puppy.

Thanks for proving my point.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
1. We needed one of a very limited list of specific breeds known for being less allergenic (less dander). None of them could be found at local shelters or rescues.

2. Temperament is largely inherited, and we wanted to be sure of getting a sociable, friendly dog. One of the many duties of a good breeder is make the lineage characteristics known to prospective buyers. Our dog's parents and grandparents are all very social, and so is he and his littermates.


You appear to be confused about the differences between puppy mills, backyard breeders and reputable breeders. The first is by definition unethical. The second may not place the dogs' interest first, either through ignorance, lack of means, or cruelty. The third should be the only genetically and ethically sound solution to pet ownership.

Reputable breeders are passionate about their work and it usually costs them much more than any income from dog sales or stud fees. Call it an expensive second job, if you will. They attach great importance to weeding out genetically-inherited diseases that have developed through the decades by poor breeding programs, by testing every single dog they own and entering all results - both good and bad - in the national dog health database (CHIC). They do not breed unhealthy carriers.

Our breeder set a camera 24/7 in the whelping pen she had constructed in her bedroom, so that we could check on the puppies and dam at any moment, right from birth.

We saw the breeder handle the puppies every single day, as she should, to habituate them to human handling. I can clean my dog's ears, clip his nails, take away embedded thorns in his pads, clean very sensitive areas, take away his food, clean his teeth, place medication down his throat, and he will not flinch. That is a result of proper handling.

The breeder exposed them to all kinds of city and farm noises, so they wouldn't be jumpy creatures.
She leash-trained and started to potty-train them before we picked up our puppy at 9 weeks.

We visited her home, and the dogs were well cared for. Good breeders care for a small number of dogs, which live inside the home and not in a kennel. They do not breed mothers often. Our breeder manages a birth once every two years and allows two pregnancies per dam.

There is some wishful thinking in your post but I think most people can agree there are some responsible breeders.

But I also think it is indisputable that hundreds of thousands of perfectly good dogs are euthanized every year in this country.

And that rational people ignore the silly person(s) who keep posting that if you adopt a shelter dog it is going to turn out to be a pit bull and kill your family in the middle of the night.

So how do you justify contributing to the avoidable murder of dogs?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I feel like I paid my dues growing up, during which time my family rescued a total of six dogs from the shelter. Most were great, but two had to be euthanized after developing rage syndrome and viciously biting in totally unprovoked situations.

We took a break from dogs for a while as adults, and when we finally decided to get one, we wanted sweet and predictable and, since the standards of dog care have risen so much and dogs are expected to be indoors all the time now, non-shedding. So we bought what we wanted.

How selfless of you.

See, this is where you're doing more harm to your [admittedly very noble] cause. I gave a pretty honest answer of my lifetime experiences with dogs, the good and the very sad and unfortunate. And you can do nothing but take that and shlt on me for it.

Are you hoping to convince people of your way of thinking?

Are really expecting folks to applaud your choice simply because your parents rescued dogs? I applaud your parents, not you. Too bad you learned nothing from them.

My parents moved on to breeders in their old age. For various reasons, they needed dogs that are easier to manage. (They also abandoned the Democratic Party, fwiw.)

This is perhaps the silliest point on here yet - dogs from breeders are easier to manage than dogs from shelters? There is a lot of confused and conflated elitism going on in this thread though that is nothing new for this area where money is often confused with class.

[Anonymous]

It is interesting, I must say, that so many of the pro-designer dogs on this thread are outing themselves as Republican and even Trump supporters . . . I guess I shouldn't be surprised.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I buy the purebred dogs I like. I could not care less whether you or anybody else looks down your righteously indignant snotty nose at me. And I sleep just fine.

Build the wall! Build the wall!

No difference between the two. You're the dog equivalent of a Trump supporter. You care only about yourself.

Ok, you sound like a raging lunatic.

We wanted a specific breed that isn’t found in a shelter, and I wasn’t compromising on breed. Plus, we showed for a while.

This I get - there are certain SUV's that only look good with certain breeds. In my Potomac neighborhood if you have a Range Rover without a golden retriever people will laugh at you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Apparently no one is allowed to post any opinions against buying from a breeder on the labradoodle thread, so I'm starting a new thread here. I'm seriously interested in hearing how anyone can justify buying a designer dog when so many beautiful dogs are available for adoption in shelters. How do you sleep at night?

Because I'm friggin' seriously allergic to a lot of the dogs in shelters. I know, from experiences with my own two previous dogs that were from a rescue, that I do not generally have asthma attacks from poodles or poodle mixes. I would LOVE to be able to take in a random shelter dog, but I can't without risking my own health. I'm 47; I know what works for me and what doesn't. We looked for 5 months for a decent size poodle or poodle mix (our previous rescue poodle mixes were little dogs and we wanted just one a larger dog this time) and I couldn't find any. petfinder.com, local rescues, lost dog and cat, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It is interesting, I must say, that so many of the pro-designer dogs on this thread are outing themselves as Republican and even Trump supporters . . . I guess I shouldn't be surprised.

I'm republican and would never buy from a breeder. However, to me, I am reading a bunch of offended babies that somehow brought politics into a rescue thread. Dems really can't let anything go... I'm not surprised.

[Anonymous]

I have a purebred dog and am a Democrat. There are lots of us. Stop trying to make every stupid thing political.

[Anonymous]

We needed a dog to deal with some allergies in our family. Glad we did and feel no guilt.

[Anonymous]

Because I want a dog that is as guaranteed as possible to have the kind of temperment that I want. I'm not adopting a dog to rescue a dog, but to have a dog. Sorry!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I buy the purebred dogs I like. I could not care less whether you or anybody else looks down your righteously indignant snotty nose at me. And I sleep just fine.

Build the wall! Build the wall!

No difference between the two. You're the dog equivalent of a Trump supporter. You care only about yourself.

Ok, you sound like a raging lunatic.

We wanted a specific breed that isn’t found in a shelter, and I wasn’t compromising on breed. Plus, we showed for a while.

This I get - there are certain SUV's that only look good with certain breeds. In my Potomac neighborhood if you have a Range Rover without a golden retriever people will laugh at you.

Good one. The irony of a poster saying that I'm the lunatic before going on the say they had to have a certain breed and "showed for a while . . ." Who's the lunatic exactly?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't justify it at all. I did some research, contacted the breeder, and bought the dog I wanted. Easy day.

me too.

i also knew what type of dog I wanted and I knew what kind of personality would fit us best.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have a purebred dog and am a Democrat. There are lots of us. Stop trying to make every stupid thing political.

Not saying that it's everyone . . . just a disproportionate number.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
1. We needed one of a very limited list of specific breeds known for being less allergenic (less dander). None of them could be found at local shelters or rescues.

2. Temperament is largely inherited, and we wanted to be sure of getting a sociable, friendly dog. One of the many duties of a good breeder is make the lineage characteristics known to prospective buyers. Our dog's parents and grandparents are all very social, and so is he and his littermates.


You appear to be confused about the differences between puppy mills, backyard breeders and reputable breeders. The first is by definition unethical. The second may not place the dogs' interest first, either through ignorance, lack of means, or cruelty. The third should be the only genetically and ethically sound solution to pet ownership.

Reputable breeders are passionate about their work and it usually costs them much more than any income from dog sales or stud fees. Call it an expensive second job, if you will. They attach great importance to weeding out genetically-inherited diseases that have developed through the decades by poor breeding programs, by testing every single dog they own and entering all results - both good and bad - in the national dog health database (CHIC). They do not breed unhealthy carriers.

Our breeder set a camera 24/7 in the whelping pen she had constructed in her bedroom, so that we could check on the puppies and dam at any moment, right from birth.

We saw the breeder handle the puppies every single day, as she should, to habituate them to human handling. I can clean my dog's ears, clip his nails, take away embedded thorns in his pads, clean very sensitive areas, take away his food, clean his teeth, place medication down his throat, and he will not flinch. That is a result of proper handling.

The breeder exposed them to all kinds of city and farm noises, so they wouldn't be jumpy creatures.
She leash-trained and started to potty-train them before we picked up our puppy at 9 weeks.

We visited her home, and the dogs were well cared for. Good breeders care for a small number of dogs, which live inside the home and not in a kennel. They do not breed mothers often. Our breeder manages a birth once every two years and allows two pregnancies per dam.

There is some wishful thinking in your post but I think most people can agree there are some responsible breeders.

But I also think it is indisputable that hundreds of thousands of perfectly good dogs are euthanized every year in this country.

And that rational people ignore the silly person(s) who keep posting that if you adopt a shelter dog it is going to turn out to be a pit bull and kill your family in the middle of the night.

So how do you justify contributing to the avoidable murder of dogs?

How is getting a dog from a breeder contributing to murder? If I didn’t get a dog from a breeder, I just wouldn’t have a dog at all.