6 ms·

Soap box time!! -- I walk dogs at a local shelter. There is not a common breed that doesn't find it's way through our doors at some point during the year. Sure,

Soap box time!! -- I walk dogs at a local shelter. There is not a common breed that doesn't find it's way through our doors at some point during the year. Sure, you might not end up with a "certified" purebred that's going to win a dog show (do you really want one of those for your family anyway?), but with almost certainty, I can guarantee that you can find what you're looking for at a local shelter. There is almost no reason to "buy" a dog -- the shelters are overcrowded, and the odds are good you can find what you want regarding breed/temperament if you're patient. Responsible shelters will find you the right dog if you tell them what you're looking for.

nollidge 14y ago
The Wisconsin Humane Society actually assesses their animals and assigns them a color based on personality and temperament so you can find what you're looking for in a pet. I have to imagine lots of other shelters do this also.
- sharkweek 14y ago
  Yup, ours has you take a short quiz that matches you with a "color" representing a type of dog. We'd assign new dogs one of these colors based off of about 10 criteria that we would evaluate over a 2-3 day waiting period before they were available for adoption; it really helped lower the return rate of the pups.
fps 14y ago
Shelters in Massachusetts are very picky about who they adopt out to. My wife and I looked for a younger large breed dog for nearly a year, and were turned away at every local shelter because our yard wasn't fenced and we both worked full time. A few years earlier, living in an apartment disqualified us from adopting a cat in Massachusetts. We drove 3 hours to adopt a cat from New York, and 2 hours to buy a dog in New Hampshire. Looking at petfinder for my area, the only dogs in shelters nearby are "imported" from Puerto Rico, and even those only go to homes that are worthy. I'm saddened by the conditions in shelters in other parts of the country, but I'm not going to fly to Alabama to find a dog.
- bostonpete 14y ago
  > and were turned away at every local shelter because > our yard wasn't fenced and we both worked full time. Having owned a lab without a fenced yard and a working spouse, I'd say this is probably a good policy.
papsosouid 14y ago
>There is not a common breed that doesn't find it's way through our doors at some point during the year. This may very well be the case where you live, but it is not the case everywhere. In southern ontario for example, there are not many dogs at any of the shelters, and seeing anything other than lab and shepherd mixes is quite rare. If you are looking for a specific breed up here, you'll probably be looking forever.
archon 14y ago
> There is almost no reason to "buy" a dog I agree, if we're talking about puppies. There's no reason to buy a puppy. But an adult dog? I adopted an adult dog from a shelter, and I will never do so again. I realize that the rescue community does its best with the animals, but as an owner of a shelter dog, I really wish somebody had explained to me that the dog you see in the shelter might not actually be the same dog once you take her home. In the course of a few weeks after I adopted her, my laid back, amiable companion had turned into a hyperactive, sometimes-fearful, sometimes-aggressive terror. My point is that with an adult rescue dog, you are not getting only a dog. You are getting a dog and all of its history. For instance, my dog has a deep fear of manhole covers, tall grass, and a dozen other things. I have no idea why she's afraid, and I never will, because I wasn't there when whatever triggered that fear happened. She's also absolutely terrified of firearms. If I even touch a firearm around her (I've never discharged one around her), she runs away whimpering. I have to preemptively crate her on range days, just to get my guns to the car. I've been working with her for 2 years, and she's slowly gotten better with some things, but even now she's still afraid of a lot of the same things. And there is absolutely no way I can trust her around children. When my fiance and I get married and want to start having kids, I don't know what will become of her. All of this to say, I completely understand peoples' hesitancy to adopt an adult dog from a shelter. You can't be sure what you're getting, and while neither can you be sure of what you're getting (in terms of temperament) when you adopt a puppy, at least with a puppy you know that no other messed up human has done bad things to your dog. Edit: to clarify that I haven't shot my dog...
- tristan_juricek 14y ago
  Right: we "rescued" a lab who has been great, but had a lot of anxiety built up over being simply being left alone. People coming by the door eventually led to him destroying the front entryway. The result: we started anxiety training, which has been effective. And a lot of work. Plus, not all dog trainers do this sort of thing, so it's a little pricier than most dog training. And, we as owners also needed some education on how to work with the dog. Considering that both me and my girlfriend grew up with animals (my dad is a vet, we always had animals), I would consider this point important; anxiety cases are not easy and not obvious for most pet owners to just figure out. While puppies do require attention, they are a lot easier to learn to handle than an anxiety case. Anyone adopting an adult pet should be aware of the potential training costs, with medication, can extend well above $1000 USD. (And if the dog decides to destroy your furniture, well, there's that, too.) I know I will think twice before adopting an adult dog in the future.
callmeed 14y ago
>> I can guarantee that you can find what you're looking for at a local shelter. I'm not sure. Our local shelters are dominated by 2 breeds: pit bulls and chihuahuas. I would say it's over 75% of the dogs here. In fact, I heard our shelter was bringing in dogs/breeds from other cities because no one wants the dogs brought in locally. Also, I have reservations (maybe unwarranted) about bringing a shelter dog into a home with small kids (I have 3 and one has already been bitten by a dog). I'd much rather start with a puppy (which, again, I don't see a lot of in our shelters other than the breeds mentioned above).

nollidge 14y ago

The Wisconsin Humane Society actually assesses their animals and assigns them a color based on personality and temperament so you can find what you're looking for in a pet. I have to imagine lots of other shelters do this also.

sharkweek 14y ago
Yup, ours has you take a short quiz that matches you with a "color" representing a type of dog. We'd assign new dogs one of these colors based off of about 10 criteria that we would evaluate over a 2-3 day waiting period before they were available for adoption; it really helped lower the return rate of the pups.

fps 14y ago

Shelters in Massachusetts are very picky about who they adopt out to. My wife and I looked for a younger large breed dog for nearly a year, and were turned away at every local shelter because our yard wasn't fenced and we both worked full time. A few years earlier, living in an apartment disqualified us from adopting a cat in Massachusetts. We drove 3 hours to adopt a cat from New York, and 2 hours to buy a dog in New Hampshire. Looking at petfinder for my area, the only dogs in shelters nearby are "imported" from Puerto Rico, and even those only go to homes that are worthy. I'm saddened by the conditions in shelters in other parts of the country, but I'm not going to fly to Alabama to find a dog.

bostonpete 14y ago
> and were turned away at every local shelter because > our yard wasn't fenced and we both worked full time. Having owned a lab without a fenced yard and a working spouse, I'd say this is probably a good policy.

papsosouid 14y ago

>There is not a common breed that doesn't find it's way through our doors at some point during the year. This may very well be the case where you live, but it is not the case everywhere. In southern ontario for example, there are not many dogs at any of the shelters, and seeing anything other than lab and shepherd mixes is quite rare. If you are looking for a specific breed up here, you'll probably be looking forever.

archon 14y ago

> There is almost no reason to "buy" a dog I agree, if we're talking about puppies. There's no reason to buy a puppy. But an adult dog? I adopted an adult dog from a shelter, and I will never do so again. I realize that the rescue community does its best with the animals, but as an owner of a shelter dog, I really wish somebody had explained to me that the dog you see in the shelter might not actually be the same dog once you take her home. In the course of a few weeks after I adopted her, my laid back, amiable companion had turned into a hyperactive, sometimes-fearful, sometimes-aggressive terror. My point is that with an adult rescue dog, you are not getting only a dog. You are getting a dog and all of its history. For instance, my dog has a deep fear of manhole covers, tall grass, and a dozen other things. I have no idea why she's afraid, and I never will, because I wasn't there when whatever triggered that fear happened. She's also absolutely terrified of firearms. If I even touch a firearm around her (I've never discharged one around her), she runs away whimpering. I have to preemptively crate her on range days, just to get my guns to the car. I've been working with her for 2 years, and she's slowly gotten better with some things, but even now she's still afraid of a lot of the same things. And there is absolutely no way I can trust her around children. When my fiance and I get married and want to start having kids, I don't know what will become of her. All of this to say, I completely understand peoples' hesitancy to adopt an adult dog from a shelter. You can't be sure what you're getting, and while neither can you be sure of what you're getting (in terms of temperament) when you adopt a puppy, at least with a puppy you know that no other messed up human has done bad things to your dog. Edit: to clarify that I haven't shot my dog...

tristan_juricek 14y ago
Right: we "rescued" a lab who has been great, but had a lot of anxiety built up over being simply being left alone. People coming by the door eventually led to him destroying the front entryway. The result: we started anxiety training, which has been effective. And a lot of work. Plus, not all dog trainers do this sort of thing, so it's a little pricier than most dog training. And, we as owners also needed some education on how to work with the dog. Considering that both me and my girlfriend grew up with animals (my dad is a vet, we always had animals), I would consider this point important; anxiety cases are not easy and not obvious for most pet owners to just figure out. While puppies do require attention, they are a lot easier to learn to handle than an anxiety case. Anyone adopting an adult pet should be aware of the potential training costs, with medication, can extend well above $1000 USD. (And if the dog decides to destroy your furniture, well, there's that, too.) I know I will think twice before adopting an adult dog in the future.

callmeed 14y ago

>> I can guarantee that you can find what you're looking for at a local shelter. I'm not sure. Our local shelters are dominated by 2 breeds: pit bulls and chihuahuas. I would say it's over 75% of the dogs here. In fact, I heard our shelter was bringing in dogs/breeds from other cities because no one wants the dogs brought in locally. Also, I have reservations (maybe unwarranted) about bringing a shelter dog into a home with small kids (I have 3 and one has already been bitten by a dog). I'd much rather start with a puppy (which, again, I don't see a lot of in our shelters other than the breeds mentioned above).