Rescue organizations keep puppy mills in business--open vent/rant

[Countrywood]

Shelters that have such overly stringent placement requirements are absurd. Still, I assume they place some dogs and blaming them for puppy mills makes no sense. The people that keep puppy mills in business are people that buy puppies. If people stopped buying puppies from all but reputable breeders the problem would go away. Of course most people can’t afford 1k-3k from a reputable breeder so a $300 -$500 purebred is their choice. They either dont know or dont’ want to know the source of their $300-$500 puppy. They buy from CL ads looking to “rehome”, from pet stores, or from puppy mill owners posing as individual litter breeders.

As for serious aka reputable breeders, they have demand for their litters and are not part of the problem but are not part of the solution either. The solution is legislation to close the puppy mills and encouraging dog adoptions instead of puppy purchases. Most people are not set up to train and socialize a puppy no matter how well intention, which is why so many puppies once grown and no longer adorable fluff are headed for a shelter and end up the full grown dogs fewer folks want.

[Sswor]

I have been all over petfinder hence the rant. And petango. The municipal shelter in my area has dog flu and isn’t adopting (understandable).

I want instant gratification. I don’t see anything wrong with that. My dog is dead. My other dog is lonely, and I have 10 days off coming up. My next opportunity for timing this perfect is over Christmas (oh and if you think it’s hard finding a rescue to give me a puppy now, I don’t have a snowball’s chance in hell getting one over Christmas break.)

Laura, I will PM you, thanks.

[JanM]

There are some great resources for adopting dogs that won’t be like that. This one for instance: http://www.dannyandronsrescue.com/

I’ve known of two of the bad rescues you have run across. One was a 501©3 but not in my state, and had no business license. They took free-to-good home, or Walmart parking lot dogs, and claimed they were rescues. They sold for $400 and up, with no vet care, nothing else, and she was just a crook.

The other near my town was principally supplied by a local puppy mill for small dogs, and they took virtually all of the dogs that were no longer reliable breeders. They also had virtually no vet care, and were not cheap. That ‘rescue’ did nothing to eliminate the puppy mill, and everything to enable them.

There are good rescues out there, and depending on where you live I’m sure someone on here can give you links to good ones.

[Casey09]

Our municipal (very low kill) shelter is very different from this. They would most certainly adopt a puppy out to you as you have a plan to care for a puppy. Perhaps a location would help because if you could drive a couple of hours to get a puppy over a weekend or something, that might open up some other options. Do keep in mind, though, that when dealing with rescues puppies are fairly rare. It’s a supply and demand type of a thing. They only have a few puppies, and they’ve got to pick someone. Oftentimes small puppies are not necessarily the dogs being euthanized at shelters, unless they have parvovirus, etc. Location would help though, in getting a rescue or perhaps finding a breeder.
What breed do you plan on getting? I would just caution you that sometimes the health testing that is done by reputable breeders is very valuable. Sometimes there is testing of the parents to try to prevent as many heritable diseases as possible.
Have you tried contacting any breeders? Sometimes if you call around you can find a puppy on short notice. When my bitch died last summer (well, was euthanized due to a terminal issue and she wasn’t doing well), I contacted a the breeder that I’d gotten my male from and she had a 5 month old puppy that she’d thought was sold to a lady who was going to show the puppy, but the woman had never came and gotten the puppy. I drove down and bought her - so even though there is generally a wait list, it just came together for me.
I do think that it sounds like you have a perfect plan for a puppy. I was in a similar situation.

[GotSpots]

[QUOTE=tbchick84;8207548]
Agreed. For all the time they invest on vetting their eventual hard working rejects, you would think they would have time to consider each person on a case by case situation.[/QUOTE] This. We tried to adopt an adult dog from a rescue in Virginia earlier this year. They told us that because we both work, they had “no dogs” that would be suitable for us, even though we have a large fenced yard, a long time dog walker, references from veterinarians, and the ability to make sure the dog got significant exercise and attention. Sigh.

Luckily, another organization was willing to adopt to us, but we had to wonder how anyone could possibly be a good enough home for their satisfaction. If we’d wanted a puppy we’d probably have had to swear in blood that we would never ever leave it alone in the house.

[Foxtrot_s]

I hear you! The other thing that gets me wrong is the descriptions of some of these dogs - they are rarely purebreds, but described as lab, pitbull, boxer, great dane, but never are - just some type of mutt.

It makes one’s heart bleed to see all these street kids in shelters. Why is it so difficult to get spay/neuter to be part of the culture.

My friend is looking for a dog - a shelter dog - because all her friends have told her she has to get a ‘rescue’. She is being bullied by guilt trips.
I feel the dog that suits her, wherever it comes from, is the dog for her.

It seems to be the rage to go from here (West coast BC) to Texas to pick up a rescue - we have enough right here.

[Sswor]

I want a Border Jack or a Cattle Jack. I would settle for a JRT mixed something more substantial then your average toy breed.

To be honest I don’t think I can handle any more rejection and ignored emails. I’m pretty done dealing with shelters and intend to simply buy a puppy. I can pick out the proper puppy from a litter–the way it should be.

Oh, and I’m definitely willing to drive. I’d like to stay under 12hrs one way though.

[S1969]

[QUOTE=Sswor;8207572]
I want instant gratification. I don’t see anything wrong with that. My dog is dead. My other dog is lonely, and I have 10 days off coming up. My next opportunity for timing this perfect is over Christmas (oh and if you think it’s hard finding a rescue to give me a puppy now, I don’t have a snowball’s chance in hell getting one over Christmas break.)[/QUOTE]

I don’t support instant gratification when it comes to dogs and cats. That’s how most of them end up at the shelters. Maybe you’re a different kind of dog owner, but if you are, you should appreciate that you’re expecting a lot to find a puppy in a rescue that is available NOW. Especially puppies in rescues, since they tend to go quickly.

It is possible you might hit the jackpot with a well-bred purebred that just isn’t placed (or someone backed out). There are a lot of breed specific Facebook pages you could browse.

[S1969]

[QUOTE=Sswor;8207708]
I can pick out the proper puppy from a litter–the way it should be.[/QUOTE]

If you ever bred a litter, I think you would disagree with this statement.

[Sswor]

If the breeder is knowledgeable, I would welcome their advice. And have in the past.

[Horsegal984]

https://www.petfinder.com/petdetail/31617947/

https://www.petfinder.com/petdetail/32534316/

[S1969]

[QUOTE=Sswor;8207717]
If the breeder is knowledgeable, I would welcome their advice. And have in the past.[/QUOTE]

Well, sure, of course knowledgeable is better. But unless it it’s a single puppy litter - you’re not the only puppy buyer. Someone might be looking for a pet, someone else might be looking for an agility dog…the breeder is the best one to be able to pick out the better competition dog based on temperament and conformation…not place it in a pet home because someone wanted symmetrical facial markings or really liked the white on the tip of the tail.

Obviously different breeders do things differently, but most of my breeder friends do the majority of puppy assignments - that way their conformation homes get sent the ones with the best chance at show success, birdy puppies go to hunting homes, etc. If every puppy is equally good at everything (which is pretty much never), then maybe the breeder would let buyers choose…but if not, it’s the breeders job to figure out which puppies meet their buyer’s needs/desires.

[toady123]

I hear ya OP. We went through a similar experience. The local rescues had completely insane policies, complicated applications, and a bad attitude about pretty much everything.

We ended up going through a single breed rescue a few hours away - I had a reply to my initial inquiry within an hour, an over the phone interview and assessment the same day, and a meet and greet two days later. Dogs came home with us, 2 follow up calls and it was done. They place hundreds of animals because they are efficient and realistic.

[Sswor]

[QUOTE=Horsegal984;8207728]
https://www.petfinder.com/petdetail/31617947/

https://www.petfinder.com/petdetail/32534316/[/QUOTE]

I need a male puppy but thank you.

[Kyzteke]

Sswor – check your PMs

[SarahKing]

https://www.petfinder.com/petdetail/32485635/

https://www.petfinder.com/petdetail/32494305/

https://www.petfinder.com/petdetail/32520386/

https://www.petfinder.com/petdetail/32522181/

https://www.petfinder.com/petdetail/32312773/

[tbchick84]

Those last 3 are so cute! I wish I was in the market for a dog.

[Bicoastal]

[QUOTE=Foxtrot’s;8207691]
My friend is looking for a dog - a shelter dog - because all her friends have told her she has to get a ‘rescue’. She is being bullied by guilt trips.
I feel the dog that suits her, wherever it comes from, is the dog for her.[/QUOTE]

My Pap’s breeder just told me the story of a colleague who sold a pet puppy to a great family, communication went smoothly, everyone seemed happy. The mom facebook friended breeder and that is how breeder saw that mom announced their new pet with this lie: “Just adopted this cutie from XYZ Rescue.” When the breeder asked what that was about, the mom said her kids and friends would never speak to her again if they knew she bought a dog from a breeder.

[QUOTE=Sswor;8207708]I want a Border Jack or a Cattle Jack. I would settle for a JRT mixed something more substantial then your average toy breed.[/QUOTE] I was talking to a Border Collie Rescue in TX. This woman has 40 years in BCs, fields 15 calls a day from shelters, and says there are lots of sport breedings, including sport mixes. She said on a scale of 1 - 10, Border Jacks are an 11 and they no longer mess with those!:uhoh::winkgrin: She reported those dogs have the mental need to run 5 miles but not the legs to do so. I thought that was an interesting comment. I don’t have a great opinion of folks purpose-breeding mixes for sport.

The rescue adopts to out of state, people who work, families with kids. PM me if you want the name.

[Sswor]

I am looking for an 11 but Texas is too far. My dearly departed was an 11.5 in his day. Thanks Bicoastal.

[Anne_FS]

[QUOTE=Bicoastal;8208034]
When the breeder asked what that was about, the mom said her kids and friends would never speak to her again if they knew she bought a dog from a breeder. [/QUOTE]

Wow. Just wow. I believe it. That’s what we’ve come to.

Although I would not be happy if I was that breeder and I think that woman is pathetic for lying. Wonder how much this happens? So now we have even more people saying what great dogs are from rescues when what they’ve seen is actually a carefully bred and raised animal from an excellent breeder.