Sorry, but rescues and shelters are absolutely in the puppy mill business. It's incredible that people can't add two and two. Read "The Dog Merchants: Inside the Big Business of Breeders, Pet Stores, and Rescuers", published in 2017 by Kim Kavin: https://www.amazon.com/Dog-Merchants-Business-Breeders-Rescuers/dp/1681774046 |
| You can say rescues are an unknown variable but there thousands of breeder horror stories (and even the most well regarded breeders) and rescue success stories. Dont go by random old wives tales that certain breeds don't bite or that you can only find certain types of dogs at shelters. Go and see for yourself and look at petfinder or rescue websites. |
You are SO wrong about that.(https://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/boy-4-killed-by-family-labrador-in-horror-attack-20160817) ANY dog can kill, maybe not a small breed, but you get my point I hope. |
This exactly. Do not buy while a shelter pet dies. |
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In San Francisco it is illegal to sell pets.
Also in San Diego as well. |
| How did it become OPs job to rescue a dog in a shelter? Dogs are a lot of responsibility. Research and get one you like. |
Agreed but the title of the post was why people object to using breeders. Nobody will say this in person but when someone says they have breeder dog most people look down on that choice as something objectionable. |
| How many pure bred sight hounds are there in shelters? I don’t want a lab/pit nor a lab/poodle. If I remember correctly, most shelters were just warehouses for the puppy mills pumping out these two mixes in excess and raking in the dollars as part of a rescue scam. How is that preferable to a breeder selling a dog for $7000? They are lucky to have a dog available at all because of so few being bred. |
Sight hounds? Like greyhounds ? There are a bazillion rescue greyhounds. |
Try these folks http://www.pawsonthemountain.org/about-us/ Some really pretty greyhounds on their page. |
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I have both adopted a dog from a shelter and purchased a pure bred dog from a breeder. Different needs and different times of my life. When I adopted a dog from a shelter I did not care about the breed, I was single and young. Had a wonderful dog for 16 years. My current dog is a purebred miniature poodle. I am married to a man allergic to dogs and had a child allergic to dogs. Suddenly breed mattered. A purebred poodle and a shelter or a rescue typically has some sort of issue. I wanted to ensure a dog that was in good health and was not emotionally or physically abused as a puppy And a puppy mill dog has a whole set of other issues such as separation anxiety, etc. from being bred and raised in a cage rather than in a house. I agree that not all breeders are good breeders, so I did a lot of research. I want to support good breeders as, if they are doing everything right, this is the type of small business that should be supported. my breeder has all of the dams living in homes of the people who will eventually keep them, since they were nine or 10 weeks old, and they are bred only two times, before they are spayed and become the permanent pet in the home they have lived in since they were 10 weeks old. I really loved her set up and I am in contact with the breeder still today, 2 years after adopting my boy.
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Depends on the company you keep. I'd wager that 1/2 my acquaintances would silently look down on my purebred dogs, and the other 1/2 would not. Totally anecdotal but, I've noticed that baby boomers and millennials are far more likely to have shelter dogs, at least in DC. In fact I can't think of a single millennial I know in DC who went out and purchased a dog. Whereas most of my Gen X peers have dogs from show breeders. And all my baby boomer neighbors in upper NW have shelter dogs that are part hound, from West Virginia |
+1 |
Could be related to having young children in the home. Singles and retirees will be more open to a rescue or shelter mutt than will Gen X parents with young children looking for specific breeds, dogs whose entire history from birth to when they come into their permanent home has been supervised and accounted for. |
Logical fallacy. For many people it's not breeder vs. shelter dog. It's breeder versus NO dog. |