I am sure there are alot of cat/dog lovers on this message board. If someone was looking for “just a dog as a pet” and they have no intention of making it a guard dog, guide dog, herding, police or hunting dog. How could they justify getting a purebred from a breeder, even if reputable, and not a purebred or mutt from the shelter?
BTW I am not against buying dogs from reputable breeders.
Only as many people as are going to keep a dog are going to keep a dog. Getting a puppy from a pound, as opposed to from a breeder, doesn’t decrease the number of dogs that are going to not be taken in by a family. Either way, you took in one dog, and that’s one dog more that will find a family than if you hadn’t.
But beyond that, I suspect that you could make an argument for not taking a puppy from a pound. Reputable breeders know how many puppies they can sell. Thus, every puppy that they bring into the world finds a home. People who shouldn’t be breeders are the ones who cause there to be more dogs in the world than there is a demand for, and the existance of pounds gives them an out from having to be responsible.
Sure, I could justify it or justify going to a shelter. They’re both reasonable decisions.
If someone asked me why to go to a breeder for “just a pet”, I’d talk to them about being able to know what size animal they’re getting, what sort of temperment they’re likely to get. They’ll also know the whole history of the animal, know it got appropriate medical attention, but in emergency situations and just routine check-ups. It’s not going to have been abused, mutilated or even just dumped. The pedigree of the animal is known, so they’ll get a sense of any possible genetic issues, both for the breed and if there are any specific to the line. Reputable breeders also typically stay at least minorly involved for the animal’s life, and are a resource for helping to train, understand and deal with a pet (though I admit some can be a little intense). Often if something happens to require a person to get rid of the pet, the breeder will help find it a new home, to prevent it ending up in a shelter.
Those are all pluses of a reputable breeder. A backyard breeder is just useless, so I’m not going to get into it. There are minuses as well, of course. Cost, not saving a life, things of that nature. So far as I can tell, you’re only looking for what someone would say to encourage someone to go to a breeder, so that’s what I’ve got for you. The way I see it, reputable breeders and shelters all have similar goals, of no “excess” pets, and no need to euthanize healthy animals for a lack of a home. It’s just very different methods.
This really can be a problem for the casual* dog owner. I have two “problem dogs”. Polairis was a pound puppy, having been abandoned at birth. When we adopted her at five weeks old, she was very sick and terrified of people. She’s still extremely skittish and has a couple of OCD behaviors.
Sirius is a pure-bred who was given to us by a breeder we know. He had been sold to a family who abused him and the breeder bought him back. He’s very timid and shy, one of the most placid dogs I have ever seen.
Neither of these dogs would have done well in a home with a casual dog owner. Both of them have taken an enormous amount of work and neither will ever be a completely “normal” dog. However, I do have the time and inclination to work with them to make them the happiest, healthiest dogs they can be. It’s just more effort than a lot of people are willing or able to put into a pet.
So, I *can *see the benefits of buying a dog from a breeder who has properly cared for and socialized it. Even raising an “ordinary” puppy is hard work, after all.
We’ve always adopted all of our pets from the Humane Society. One of the best reasons to adopt from a shelter, in my opinion, is that it’s the only place I know of to get mutts. The biggest downside is the lack of breed selection. When we adopted our dog, nearly all the large dogs at the shelter were lab mixes, border collie mixes (shudder), or Pit bull mixes, none of which are right for us. It’s important to adopt a breed that is going to be compatible with your lifestyle, and that’s not always easy if you only have the shelter as a resource.
My mother, on the other hand, has always preferred purebred pets from reputable breeders. To a pet, they’ve all had way more health problems and weird personalities than our mutts.
So I think both approaches have their downsides when it comes to adopting a pet. What I really wish existed were mutt breeders, where dogs could be bred for healthiness and personality rather than strict breed purity. I would pay extra to get the pluses of a good breeder (knowing the history, active involvement in helping the owner provide a good home, etc.) without the downsides of a purebred animal.
I know that there are golden doodle breeders but they seem more interested in cashing because of a fad than care about health and temperament.
I too would buy a mix breed dog from a breeder if the breeder cares about health, temperament and screen potential buyers.
There are several goldendoodle breeders out there who do health and temperment testing on their dogs before breeding, and who require spay/neuter contracts, vet references etc. They are probably the exception to the rule though.
Yeah, Lissa, that’s very true. When I added that part, I was thinking about my first dog, Smokey. He wasn’t the first dog the family owned, not by a long shot, but he was my dog. I think I was maybe ten when we got him, and he was a tiny baby. My mother was resistant to taking him home, but I wore her down. And, frankly, it was a mistake on her part to let me convince her. Up until we met him, I wanted a pug from a reputable breeder, and we would have been far better off with one of those.
He was small enough when we got him that we, and the shelter, thought he was a schipperke cross, and wouldn’t be much bigger than an oversized one (so maybe 15 inches or so at the shoulder). He grew up into a skinny Belgian Sheepdog (about 24 inches at the shoulder). Not so hot for a 10yo, even if she’d been living with rotties for the past few years! On top of that, he was terribly, terribly shy, terrified of men, especially tall ones, and had issues with being petted on his head. He would never get near my father, even after years, and he was terrified of the neighbor and the neighbor’s son.
We’re pretty sure, from his behaviours, that he was abused before ending up at the shelter, by a man, and mostly around the head. Of course, we can never know. And while my parents had had dogs before this dog, they still weren’t prepared for him. He had to be put down when he challenged my sister and later bit the neighbor’s son. I was furious with my parents, and heartbroken, but as an adult I know they made the right choice.
Now, most puppies from the shelter will probably not have such problems. But it was a stark lesson to me, and I’ve learned a lot about assessing temperment since then, between never wanting to be in such a situation again, and growing up with rotties and going with my mother to shelters to rescue rotties. Sometimes an animal can’t be saved, and that’s unfortunate.
I still have Smokey’s tags, over a decade later. He was a wonderful dog to me, but he had issues. If we’d gone to a breeder, we may have missed those issues. Unfortunately, when dealing with critters with a mind of their own, there’s always an element of unpredictability. And we as the humans, have a lot of influence over that, but it’s not 100%.
(Sorry, BluePitbull, your thread has just taken me down memory lane!)
I justify getting my dog from a breeder and not a shelter by saying that I could not walk into a shelter and just pick out ONE dog and leave all the rest there. It breaks my heart that I feel this way but it equally breaks my heart to see dogs in a shelter.
To combat this, I donate regularly to the Humane Society, even though I can’t afford it.
Although I am thinking about getting my next dog from GRIN - Golden Retrievers In Need.
Simple. We wanted a Scottish Terrier with a known bloodline.
I didn’t get my dog from a breeder, but from a dog broker. It was her job to match prospective owners with pure bred and semi pure bred, adult dogs, who desperately needed a new home. His previous owner was elderly and unable to care for him.
We had lost our shelter puppy to parvo several months earlier. I swore I would never put my family through that sorrow again. There was a chance our house was still contaminated, (it was scrubbed down with bleach). So we could only get a dog that was old enough to have all the shots. We wanted a mutt, but my husband was wary about bringing an adult dog with unknown background into the house, with our toddler and two cats. The broker was just starting her business and offered to search for us. One day, she called about a mostly pure bred cocker spaniel, and described his situation. I was reluctant. I wanted a real dog not a prissy, foo foo dog. My husband drove 80 miles to check out the dog. He called me and said they were using the term “cocker spaniel” very loosely. And he wasn’t even sure it was a dog, it looked more like a Jim Henson creation. 
How could I resist?!?
I’m with JohnT. We wanted Newfoundlands from proven breedlines which demonstrated specific characteristics. While I understand that no line can guarantee 100% anything, knowing the dogs and bitches in the line gives you a good indication of the types of litters they throw.
Because I have small children, I have to go to great lengths to ensure that good temperment is the primary feature of any dog. I have thought about rescue dogs before (and I am thinking about it again), but it would have to be exactly the right dog, with a stellar history.
We had a pound dog growing up, and he bit several people when teased. I will not have an animal with a biting history in my house, so a rescue would have to be very complex.
I do love these dogs, though- Gentle Giants Rescue. It’s Burt Ward’s rescue group, and they seem very reputable.
I don’t have to justify my choice of dog to anyone. That being said, of my last 6 dogs, 5 have been rescues, one from a breeder. The one from the breeder had already been in two homes, and the breeder had said she was just going to use the dog as a brood bitch. This was a show kennel, not some backyard operation. I knew the dog and wanted her to have a better life than that.
However, I’ve always wanted an Irish wolfhound. When I finally get one it’ll probably be from a breeder. My childhood afghan hound was from a show kennel. When you buy a breed you know from a reputable breeder, you don’t have surprises. Either way, it’s the only love money can buy.
StG
Where are you, StGermain? I could steer you towards a couple of wolfhound breeders with wonderful dogs.
EJsGirl - I’m in Tennessee. I live on a farm with 4 dogs, 4 cats and two horses. My dogs are all inside pets (a doberman, standard poodle, malamute and english setter), all spayed or neutered. I don’t need a show dog, I just love the big, gentle dogs.
StG
I got my dog from a breeder - he’s a bichion/shitzu/yorkey mix - because of my circumstances I needed a dog with a known size, temperment, disposition, etc.
I got exactly what I wanted - the best dog EVAR!
My dog is from a breeder. West Highland White Terrier - great dog to the family, but as of the past ten years or so absolutley crazy. Like mentally ill. I can’t trust strangers with him at all. I can only let him in the house when my boyfriend isn’t here. Great dog, though, to the family. He’s my dad’s baby. We’ve had three Westies from a breeder - the first one was an absolutely phenomenal dog, got hit by a car. The second was a good dog but very overprotective. The third one went nuts.
My two, now (the second one I’ve had a week and a half) cats are from the pound. Sweet animals. A little weird, but that’s a cat for you. The little one just sat on my dad’s lap for an hour, and my dad was all pissed that I got a cat because the dog hates them and Dad doesn’t even like them very much.
In other words, you never know. I don’t know why, but I’d be more inclined to buy a purebred dog than a purebred cat (purebred cats seem a little silly to me - cats are free, right?) - however, my next dog will probably be a rescue greyhound.
Can I justify getting a purebred instead of a shelter animal? I’ve never gotten either. Animals just…happen…to me. I’ve never in my life gone looking for a dog, yet I’ve shared my life with many. Cats, well, I have occasionally set out to get a cat, but usually me getting a cat is a situation where someone I know has a cat that didn’t get spayed in time.
We have a purebred who was a rescue. I am allergic to most breeds, so even if we hadn’t found our shih tzu from the rescue, we would have gone to a breeder to find an animal I would be able to live (and breathe!) with.
I grew up with pound puppies – great dogs, all. But from the time I was a little kid, I wanted a cocker spaniel. So when I grew up, I got one from a reputable breeder. And she was the best dog in the world; I doubt I’ll ever have that great a dog again. But I was sold on cockers, and when I decided to get a second dog, I got another one. Then when the first dog died, I got a third cocker. For the third one, I looked at cocker rescue but was kind of offended, frankly, to find that I would be expected to pay a couple hundred dollars to be “allowed” to adopt. Could I have gotten a cocker from the pound? Maybe. But probably not a puppy, and probably not for a long time.
I think it’s a great thing to get pound puppies, but I don’t think it’s anyone’s obligation. So I’m not sure what you mean by “justify” my decision. I don’t think the actions of irresponsible dog owners, to not fix their dogs, or to dump their dogs, imposes some duty on me to not get the dogs I want, from people who are responsible in breeding them. Would it be nice? Sure. So I think you can give pound adopters a big gold star, but I don’t think you can give other dog owners a raspberry for choosing to get their pets in other responsible way.