For those looking to get a new pet ...

I'm sure this has been posted before, but it's something I've been thinking about lately.

We purchased our dog from a breeder. Since that time I've been learning more and more about dogs in shelters. I supposed I always knew it was a problem, but didn't really understand the extent of this. I think if I knew now, what I knew then, as well as our options (because we wanted a purebred puppy for specific reasons), I would have looked at the adoption route first.

I know a lot of people getting their first pet will want to go to a breeder, and I don't blame them. You may want first dibs on a puppy, or you want a pure-breed with AKC papers behind it, and there's nothing wrong with that, but I wanted to put a few things out there to think about:

- reputable breeders require that people return dogs from the breeder that they cannot keep, so you can adopt a purebreed, even puppies, and probably pay less than half that you would if you were picking from a litter. (Not that I'm accounting cost into this, but if it provides incentive I want to put it out there.)

- some breeders participate in rescue missions both for their specific breed and general missions ... I know my breeder does, and he's coming to our house this weekend to do a house inspection because we're looking to adopt our next dog. I know in our breeder's case, he takes in many dogs on his own and some don't even make it to the rescue mission site because he finds homes for them asap.

- puppies are not for everyone! I'm glad we did it and I experienced raising a puppy, but as of now - NEVER AGAIN! I love my pup, and I should never say never, but it was A LOT OF WORK! I knew that going in, but knowing it and experiencing it are very different. All dogs are a lot of work, but a puppy, for me at least, was very stressful.

Again, I'm not saying everyone has to do this or that anyone is wrong for doing this - bringing an animal into your home is a very personal decision ... I just wish it was something I at least thought about. Who knows, I may still have ended up purchasing from the breeder, but I just wish I were more educated on pet adoption before making the decision.

Message edited 6/26/2008 8:53:19 AM.

Re: For those looking to get a new pet ...

Many of your reasons (including the puppy-element) is why we went rescue! I was glad to have a dog that was trained and a bit more mature!