We also adopted from Homeward Trails and found them to be a great rescue, especially in post-adoption support. And yes, our senior dog was clearly so very grateful for the walks, rides in the car and affection she got in our household. We didn't have her for long, but man, I still think about her. What an amazing, smart, fantastic dog.

Why is the choice between a rescue group and a breeder? There are so many labs in shelters.

Anonymous wrote:Have you checked out Homeward Trails? A lady at my office just adopted a 6-month-old Chow mix from them and apparently had a wonderful experience. Good luck!

http://www.homewardtrails.org/

We have a Homeward Trails alum and she is just plain wonderful!!!

We also adopted two fellows from the shelter on NY Ave in NE DC. Both about 3 or so when we adopted them, both already housebroken and knew how to walk on a leash, etc. Seriously, that first dog we adopted (he died a few years ago at age 15) was the greatest dog I have ever known in my entire life. He was a legend.

Adopting an older dog is amazing. Good luck. Please don't go to a breeder.

2 westies. 3 and 4 years old. Best dogs we ever had and they rescued us. No chewing and both house broken.

Anonymous wrote:Luck Dog is THE WORST. We had a bad experience with a woman named Brenda? She was hostile to our children and would not let us adopt any dog. After 4 months of trying, we finally gave up and went to a breeder.

And we had the opposite experience - our placement coordinator person at Lucky Dog went to enormous lengths to talk to the foster in SC to make sure that our dog was good with children and to ask all sorts of questions about his temperment.

As someone who does home visits and intake meetings for two different dog rescue groups, I can say that if I see a family where the children are too rough for a shy dog or where the family has an unrealistic expectation about the amount of time and energy a puppy may require, etc., then I will note these concerns on the application, and these may well affect the dog the family is eventually approved to adopt (and may well lead the sense that the family "is not allowed to adopt," as a PP said above). In other words, even if the family gets approved to adopt, they may not get approved for the dog they want because there is no way that the high energy puppy that they want is going to end up in a forever home if we place him with them, because they clearly have no clue about what a puppy entails and we believe it is likely that they will return that puppy in a month, etc.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is so worth it! Do it OP. Older dogs need homes and they are potty trained and so sweet and grateful.

They are not often potty trained--which is why they were given away. And they could be crankier and bitey.

As someone who has worked in dog rescue for 15 years, I can say that this is absolutely not the case with the vast majority of rescue dogs. In the most cases, they were either lost and had no tags so never found their way home, they were dumped in a shelter due to the family not having time or space (new baby came along, people moved to a place that didn't allow dogs, etc), or the family lost their home/had no money for them so they were given up. Especially when you're dealing with rescues that place their dogs in fosters before adopting them, you can find out any pre-existing issues prior to adopting. Sometimes a dog who has been in a shelter a long time needs a "refresher" on housetraining, but this is different than not being trained at all. And honestly and bluntly, in a world with so many dogs needing homes, the "bitey" ones (especially the older ones who will be hard to adopt out anyway) by and large don't make it into rescues.