Who deserves to die: the healthy dog or the sick dog?

Neither DESERVES to die, but both will.

Always, one of the two will die. Maybe not at the same time, but its inevitable.

You have one side fighting to save the poor, abandoned dogs in the shelter system clawing for life. And the other side pushing to rescue puppy mill dogs that are barely surviving, only serving the singular purpose to breed and die.

Really- whats the difference? They're both creatures who were cheated out of what they deserve, they're both yearning for the one damn thing that they KNOW how to do, that they KNOW they can do before they take their last breath.

And you know, even the unsocialized puppy mill dog may one day end up in the shelter as a history unknown, or the shelter dog may end up in a mill because of no screening or followup.

Rescue who you can when you can.

If I am a rescue, I am going to save the healthy, well socialized shelter dog.

From a rescue perspective, IMO, it is in the best interest of future dogs to rescue the dogs that require the least resources in order to successfully rescue.

A rescue takes in a dog that requires major medical care and a big bill for that one dog to cover it. How many healthy dogs could you have saved with those funds? How many dogs die because a rescue is hell bent on saving that one dog with the big bill attached?

I am not saying one dog deserves saving more than any other, but you really need to step back and look at the big picture and so many other dogs that will be affected (or not affected as needed0 by a choice to put tons of money into an unknown. It happens... rescues put tons into a sick dog and then something goes wrong and in the end the dog is put down? How many dogs didn't get rescued and died because of the resources put into that one dog? How many resources were taken away from dogs with a better chance?

ADDED: I am adamantly against rescues "buying" anything from a puppy mill. I can assure you that the mill doesn't much care how they get paid and they certainly are happy to take rescue money and produce more dogs for that rescue to "save" later. Mills won't go away until people stop buying from them, rescues and general public alike.

Neither deserves to die. The shelter dog deserves a good chance at life, as does the puppy mill dog. That shelter dog could be the best dog ever, but with a little work so could the puppy mill dog, either one could take more work than you want, or less. Take both! That is what I would do if I had to make a decision.

If I had to choose, I would save the healthy dog, if the sick puppy mill dog was suffering some something long term (such as a malformed spine or something) and it would alter it's experience in life then it would probably be kinder on the dog for it to be put to sleep. Although every animal should have a chance to live and breeders should be responsible enough to promote healthy breeding.

It's not really fair to choose only one though, because as I said, both deserve a chance at life.

It's one of those heartsick questions, but to me there is only one answer - the shelter dog. You rescue a shelter dog, you open up a spot at a shelter for another rescue to potentially be saved. If you take a puppy mill dog, sick or healthy - you open up a spot at a puppy mill for another breeding dog to produce 100's of unhealthy puppies who will flood the aforementioned shelter - a shelter with no room for them because you picked the puppy mill dog over the shelter dog.

Vintage Collies

Id choose the healthy socialized shelter dog without the history over the puppy mill dog for many reasons. One the puppy mill dog is sick so its chances are slim depending on the sickness. Plus its un-socialized which leads to aggression problems and other issues.

The shelter dog is healthy and socialized even though there is no history it doesnt matter the dog has a better chance of maintaining its health and its less likely to be aggressive.

Neither one deserves to die, but if you think of this in terms of nature, its survival of the fittest

it's not a fair question. you should have said a puppy mill dog who was rescued, which is what was discussed in your previous q. but besides that, why would any dog deserve to die. who are we punishing, the dogs or the people who abuse them (puppy millers)

so far from peoples opinions on yahoo forums, the only way to stop puppy mills is to stop the demand, to educate the public to NOT buy from pet stores.

your debate (in the previous q) was who should someone rescue, a sick dog or an unhealthy dog. should someone rescue a sick shelter dog over a healthy one? there are alot of special needs dogs in shelters. dogs with 3 legs, dogs who are diabetic or epileptic even senior dogs, should senior dogs be rescued and spent time and care on when you could save puppies?

I don't believe its fair to have to choose between 2 dogs. Any dog can be great with the right amount of patience and training. I know someone who has both of those kind of dogs and theyre both amazing. The puppy mill dog was afraid to do anything but sit in the corner of the kennel (thats where we work) and now he jumps around with his shelter friend and is loving life. It's not right to choose one to die unless the tendencies are extremely and harmfully aggressive.

There's nothing fair about the overpopulation humans have caused.

The healthy, socialized shelter dog.

Reason being is that it has a better chance at finding a home. Where as the sick unsocalized pup needs to have a lot of vet work done, socializaton, so probably a foster home would be needed as well.

I don't think it matters. Both dogs deserve good, loving homes. Sick or healthy, puppy mill, respectable breeder, stray pregnancy or accidental pregnancy. Besides, where do you think puppy mill dogs end up? So you might be adopting one indirectly anyway. But I would not want to support a BYB if that is what you are getting at.