Why is every one so bent on getting a dog from a Shelter?

3 of my 4 dogs have come from shelters.

NONE of them have bitten my children. ALL of them are fixed, and all are fabulous dogs. ALL of them fit my life-style. 2 are mutts 2 are purebreds.

the reason ppl encourage others to adopt from a shelter is because 10,000 to 16,000 dogs and PUPPIES die in kill shelters every day because there are not enough homes.

saving a dog from death is a good enough reason for me.

to each their own.

most good breeders would include a spay/neuter contract when selling their puppies. i have no problem w/buying puppies from REPUTABLE breeders.

but buying from BYBs only adds to the shelter over flow, that is why ppl are "so bent" (as you put it) on getting a puppy from a shelter.

btw- grown dogs are not the only dogs at shelters. puppies are there too. and puppies have the SAME amount of time to find a home at a kill shelter before being euthanized. I've volunteered in shelters for over 10 yrs.

I've seen whole litters of pups as young as 12 weeks being euthanized because there are just not enough homes. if you saw that day in and day out wouldn't YOU recommend a shelter dog?

25-30% of shelter dogs are purebreds.

So where do you think all the dogs came from in shelters? They came from breeders.

Yes, there are certain requirements that some people may have that would cause them to seek out a good breeder and purchase a pup. I can think of a few instances-showing, competing in agility, needing a working dog for a ranch, but those are the exceptions. Most people only want a pet.

Any nice shelter dog would make a great pet.

I don't really understand what you are talking about with the whole biting the kids face thing, or what that has to do with shelter dogs, but don't mess with what people want. If they want a shelter dog, good for them!

Edit: Jan you make me laugh. In my state we import them also. We import them from the kill shelters in the southern part of the state that use gas and have a 3 day hold before they kill them. You need to get out more and look at what is going on ALL over the country. We have plenty of homeless dogs here. There is no need to import from another country.

Have you any idea how many of those pure bred animals end up in shelters/rescues??

The biggest reason for getting an animal from a shelter/rescue is because you are saving a life ... not all shelters are no-kill.

The second reason is at a shelter, you can go, visit the animals, take your time in choosing and if you already have animals and are adding to your family, you can bring them in to the shelter and let them all have a "meet & greet" and be sure they get along.

Which means the family will find a special dog that fits their family.

Most (not all) shelter fees include : microchip, shots, rabies, license/registration, vet visit, and is either already spayed/neutered or they give you a certificate to go to the vet where they will pay for a portion of the surgery and you pay the rest. And they have the ability to enforce you getting that surgery done within an allotted amount of time.

When buying from a breeder, you are lucky if the animal has first 2 sets of shots if even any at all (seen LOTS of breeders "hocking their wares" asking in the hundred$$ and animal hasn't been vetted at all). Granted, not all breeders are like that, but the sad thing is, most are. Do breeders enforce the new owners getting that pup S/N? If yes, great! If not, there's more pups in the shelter/rescue.

I have several dogs ... I help out a national rescue organization and I have adopted a few from them. And I live in a rural area ... do you have any idea how many people DUMP their animals out here?? I have 2 pure bred animals that were just dumped! Because I actually can afford to, I have taken them in and am caring for them. They have a home here. What do you want to bet they were bought from a breeder??

Rescue a shelter dog - save a life and add a family member that you took your time to know before rushing in and adopting. Adopting from a shelter makes you accountable - animal control officers can and do come out to check on animals that have been adopted from the shelter ... unlike breeders who are out of that animals' life once it's gone.

I work with the local shelter, I've adopted from them, so I know.

You wanted my opinion - there it is.

although you hold a good point about encouragin people to spay or nueter there dogs people still need to think about the poor dogs in the shelters that need homes i mean if 1 out of 10 people read one of these answers and decided to adopt from a shelter rather than get a puppy that would be one more dog that would get to live and have a life they deserve. and the puppy they were planning on getting would be quickly snapped up by someone else as its a known fact that alot of people go for a puppy before a grown dog so this way everyones a winner.

What makes you think that you know what you're getting when you get a dog from somewhere other than a shelter?

You can find any kind of dog you would like at a shelter. Many shelters allow a trial period where you can have the dog in your home for general length of time to see how everyone will get along.

This "movement" started with people who thought that they had to have their dog have a litter before getting spayed, or others who couldn't bear the thought of having their male dogs castrated. Or gasp....unscrupulous backyard breeders who don't know or don't care about what they do.

Breeders breed for money. I have seen far too many dogs from breeders that the dogs are not healthy and the breeders lie about the dogs and other things. Getting a dog from a shelter, you are giving an animal a home that otherwise might be put to death. Breeder will not put their animals to death so we are so bent on, as you state, would rather help those on death row at the shelter. They are homeless, breeders dogs are not. Shelter animals have no family or love, breeders dogs have a family and hopefully loved. Get the point?

Because the dogs in the shelters need help more than purebreds. Also, when you get an animal from the shelter is is spayed or neutered and has had all of it's shots. So you don't have to pay $300.00 for a dog and then run him to a vet to pay even more money to get that done.

Also, I hope you don't think that just because a dog comes from shelter he is going to bite. Shelters check the temperaments of dogs before they adopt them out. If they are vicious then they are humanly euthanized. So if you get a dog from a shelter and it bites you, you may want to look at your own actions. It is possible to make an otherwise "nice" dog "mean". And it is also possible to make a pure breed mean too. Just because you have one with an "even" temperament doesn't mean it wont attack if provoked enough.

I hope I cleared up your question.

I have no problem with breeders in the slightest. It's just that I will ONLY support RESPONSIBLE breeders.

If you don't show, work, title and health test the crap out of your dogs, you have NO business breeding whatsoever.

I myself prefer purebreds. I'm a doberman nut. I will always have a dobie, whether it's a rescue or a dog bought from a breeder. That's why I volunteer with a breed specific rescue.

Your getting the best of both worlds with a breed specific rescue. You helping a dog in need, a dog of your chosen breed. You can get a young adult (almost 75% of our dogs are 1-2yrs), puppy or a mature dog so you get to pick which phases you want to deal with lol. With an adult rescue, you know the dogs temperament before you get the dog. No surprises there.... Even I didn't get that with one of my puppies :( ....

With that said, if your going to buy, ONLY support those that are breeding for the right reasons. To BETTER and CONTINUE the breed as the standard calls for. Not so that they can put money in their pockets.

If hes a pedigree contact the breed rescue.... you will have to hunt round and find a rescue or shelter... which will not be easy. Obedience groups are NOT expensive... a few £ each class... you could train the dog but obviously you haven't got the inclination or motivation to do that. you should not have got a dog as you are not dedicated... why did you think the other owner was getting rid of the dog? people tend to only get rid of nuisance and problem dogs.

Because there are too many back-yard breeders and too few reputable breeders. And the bads of the back-yards make all breeders look bad unfortunately. All my dogs were rescues. Did I want a pure bred ? Yes. But so many animals end up in shelters that I thought it would be better to go that route.