+1
Ze Wiener

 

you don't buy dogs, you adopt dogs!!!!!!

 

I think they went to a breeder from Arizona. You can probably google it.

 

i would love to adopt a english bulldog puppy if they ever have one at the shelter. i want that dog so bad...

 

So many awesome dogs to save. My Rufus was a shelter dog and he was the best friend I could ever ask for. Next dog will be a rescue.

 

That sucks bad. Sorry to hear.

 

crap! We would have totally grabbed this little girl... Currently on a road trip with our lil Boston Terrier who could use a buddy...

As far as the "breeders" thing goes, this is a very crazy subject. Probably should be lumped in with politics and religion as far as what you do not discuss.

I am totally with you... IN A PERFECT WORLD. But, we are not in that perfect world. My wife and I looked for a dog for TWO YEARS - yes, two years. We played with different dogs - thought we wanted a French Bulldog and would love to have one but could not find one that was not from a breeder or a show dog. We met a couple Boston Terriers and both my wife and I loved them but again, could not find ONE rescue Boston. For the rescues, we could find loads of Pitbulls, German Shepherds (my sister picked up one of them and still has her), labs and loads of other dogs. We were set on a Boston Terrier for many many reasons including our apartment (smaller than some people's bedrooms) our experience with dogs (zero), our lifestyle, their personality... I think we did good, and our little girl has already been to 5 states and is not yet a year old.

To be brutally honest, we (my wife and I) do not have what it takes, in the areas of knowledge and experience, to raise a Pit Bull properly. So we would be doing the dog and the public a dis-service by adopting one until we know we can care for one. I look down FAR MORE on people who adopt a dog they cannot care for than someone who buys "exactly the right dog" from a breeder. But then that is only logical and sensible so I do not expect most people to understand........

We looked and looked and looked. We talked to some breeders in the Bay and all they had were show dogs where they had all these weird contracts and such. We want a PET. A little furry pal. Eventually we found this little runt puppy, yes, from a breeder, and yes we BOUGHT her. No one else wanted her and I couldn't see myself living without her. She is a little clown, a "land shark", our little Oreo Tornado as well as an incredible little critter.

Since the day she has arrived, I could say she is the most loved puppy in the world blah blah blah. She will be 1 year old on March 19th, 2010. We love her more than we can imagine. We do the very best to take care of her and have wrapped our lives around this little pup. We couldn't even imagine giving her up for any reason whatsoever.

We were bound for a road trip this morning at 5am, but noticed that our lil pup wasn't doing so good with whole pooping thing, and there were some other issues surrounding that. So, we went to the vet instead of our trip, and waited till they had some info on our lil girl before we did anything. Turns out she she may have eaten some berries that messed up her system but she is doing okay and we will keep an eye on her. So we left about 8hours later than planned. We were sitting there thinking the worst about our little pup and contemplating how important she is to our lives. She has only lived with us for 9 months but neither of us can imagine our lives without her.

My sister read me the riot act when she heard we did not get our dog from a rescue. Every animal she has had has been from a rescue and for her with her big house and large enclosed yard, that could work. At the same time, she has had two children of her own when there are MILLIONS OF STARVING HOMELESS CHILDREN UP FOR ADOPTION out there too. For some reason, she was not as receptive about this topic as I was about accepting her un-called for comments about us getting a dog from a breeder (based on others' actions basically).

If someone would even suggest that we (my wife and I) are the type of people that would get a dog from a breeder that was a "puppy farm" or that we are the type of people that would BUY a dog and then hand it in for whatever reason then they can go **** themselves. Yes, these people exist and yes I have even met one (and my wife and I tried to adopt her dog before she sold her).

I have no respect for someone that asks if my dog came from a breeder, and then makes decisions about me based on the answer, but only because that is a load of CRAP. I feel like I understand the reasons why someone would be upset about that, and I also feel that if they look at my situation and lump me into that same group because my dog did not come from a rescue, they are just as bad as the puppy farms themselves.

 

...and I have to say it's this time with our puppy that has made me understand and feel serious heartfelt compassion for Ray and Rufus. It's the understanding from friends that has made this a rewarding experience. Our little pup's best friend is a Pit Bull that was a rescue. She is one of the sweetest dogs I have ever met but only because my friend takes care of her and takes an interest in her wellbeing. Pretty awesome learning about all of this... Our next dog will be a rescue for "all the right reasons" but we would pay $$ for this dog if that were for the right reasons too...

 

So if you were to "find" one at the mall, would you give it back to its owner?

 

That is my biggest pet peeve about this topic.

Kind of like people driving their hybrids with Sierra Club bumper stickers... as they drive home to their cookie cutter house that was probably built over a floodplain killing many different species.

Obviously its harder to adopt a child in all areas...and adopting dogs or any animal is awesome no doubt, it just seems like foster children get the shaft.

I'm all for people having their own kids, I would like to have my own too...But it seems like many potentially qualified foster parents haven't had their heart touched about this topic and/or they conveniently overlook it.

 

The rob and big bulldog breeder is in the new du pont registry car mag. They start out at 4500 and can go up to 8k that just nuts. Even if I had the money to
Spend like that on a dog I wouldnt , I grabbed my sadie from a abusive home
And she is the best dog I could have asked for. I would go to a shelter so many dogs in need.

 

It would take a special kind of person to spend that much money on a dog. For those kinds of people there are also things like $5,000 socks and diamond studded belt buckles that cost more than a car. Not sure what that has to do with anything though.

Is there something wrong with someone doing research on and choosing the "right" breed for their situation? People make it sound like in order to be a "good" person in the process of getting a dog you need to be accepting of whatever animal happens upon you so long as it fits in the "dog" category. My sister's example of an adoption was a German Shepherd. What kind of person would suggest a German Shepherd for a first-time dog owner who doesn't have time for 2hrs of walking per day and lives in a TINY one bedroom apartment? Someone who is completely ignoring the details, that's who. If we would have taken any of the dogs we saw at shelters, we would have been doing the dog AND ourselves a HUGE dis-service. Now that we have the specific dog that is right for us, we are learning about dogs and thinking that we may have what it takes to adopt a dog.

No one here has mentioned the RESPONSIBILITY that comes with a dog. That is a huge, all-encompassing topic that I personally feel most people miss completely. My favorite dog based on my prior knowledge-free assessment of dogs was a Weimaraner (I know I spelled that wrong). Second to that are Malamutes and Pits. If I had adopted any one of those dogs as a first dog with no research into what sort of dog I can handle etc, I would have been doing a horrible thing to the dog and myself, and it most likely would not have turned out good.

Instead, my wife and I got loads of dog books, talked to our friends with dogs (was pretty quick to see who to talk to and who NOT to talk to about this), played with SOOO many dogs and eventually narrowed down to breeds that would fit our lifestyle. Turns out all of these breeds are pretty hard to find. Sure you can find them here and there in searches but when it comes down to it, finding a specific dog is very hard. We were on the way to see 6 different puppies - the last two were gone while we were on the way to see them since we missed out on others. We looked at dogs at shelters and decided that a 8-10 year old dog with behavior issues was probably not right for us. After two years of this and still not having a dog, we BOUGHT our pup from a couple who has 6 Bostons, and the wife is home all the time so they breed them. They love the dogs and so do we. Our little pup cost us less than HALF the price of the local dogs we found in the area that were all show dogs with contractual obligations and such. We wanted a PET and what we got is the most awesome little creature I have ever met. I cannot see anything wrong with this situation or how our actions were even remotely bad in this case, solely because our dog was paid for and did not come from a shelter. In fact, all of the shelter dogs we found had adoption fees that were not too far off the cost of our pup.