do pedigree dogs in rescue all find homes?

Pedigree Rescue Dogs

You've chosen two lovely breeds :) The reason most dogs in the UK are mongres is because apparently anything crossed with a poodle is cute. 'Cavapoos' and 'cockapoos' are the most popular at the moment, but Yorkie cross breeds are getting popular now, as well as shih tzu crossbreeds. After a while though, the owners of these crossbreeds realise that they have spoilt their dog, and have ended up with a nasty, foul-tempered, bite-happy mongrel. The best part is, because these dogs are cute, they're never neutered, which means the owners end up with another generation of bad tempered gits. Americans apparently never gave into the mongrel craze, and so there's a fair amount of pedigrees in their shelters.

Pedigrees usually find it harder to find homes in the UK, because they've been abandoned out of old age, bad temperaments or health problems (the German Shepherd is the best example with their curved back and high rate of hip dysplasia). No one wants to adopt a dog that only has months to live, or that's going to attack them for the hell of it. Mongrels, however bad tempered, are 'cute' when they're fluffy and small. They usually get given back to the shelter a month or two later, but they still tend to get adopted.

The only reasno there will be great danes or newfies in shelters is if they grew too quickly and now have problems in their bones.

Don't adopt a dog you're not happy with. If you happen to go to a shelter and you find the perfect dog that you just couldn't live without, then go for it and adopt it. But sometimes you are better off buying a dog. I usually have to get puppies because I live on a working farm, and so they have to be socialised with certain farm animals, tractors, traffic, new people, other yard dogs etc. and so unless there's a dog in a shelter that's already been socialised with those things, I have to buy a puppy. I usually get pedigree puppies of a collie breed, Australian Collies being the best, but that's just out of practicality. If I found a mongrel that was perfect, I'd get that instead of a pedigree.

Whatever you decide, I hope you feel like you make the right decision, and good luck with whatever dog you get in the end :)

In my local shelter it is mostly big purebreds.

When I started looking for a dog, I really wanted a pug, I find them so adorable and cute, but then I thought of those who are in shelters and went to look on the website, and if I could have a big dog, I would have had one of them! They all looked so lovely.

I looked at a shelter about half an hour from where I was and found loads of little dogs so actually got one from there. She's the most well behaved dog I've actually had LOL.

I don't know, but I don't think the old ones get adopted as often, people don't want a dog that won't last that long. I personally would have an old dog (had they had any small dogs) due to the fact that I hate the thought that they may just spend the rest of their lives in the kennels there.

I don't know if the UK has a version of this website, but in the US I find www.petfinder.com to be an excellent source for breed-specific rescues available. I think dogs from rescue groups find homes pretty easily, depending on how much the group gets the word out about what dogs are available for adoption at the time. In rescue groups, most of the time the dogs stay in foster homes while waiting to be adopted, and if for some reason a dog doesn't find a new home, they live out their days with the foster owner, so no loss there. Also, rescue groups tend to be more thorough with investigating potential owners and are quite picky about to whom they adopt their dogs. They do home visits, veterinarian references, personal references, and ask a lot of questions about previous pets you've had, and what your plans are in caring for the one you're about to adopt. Rescue groups are a great way to go! As for your question about elderly pets - yes, rescue groups take in all kinds: young, old, sickly, healthy, it really doesn't matter. They're usually really good about getting the pet up to date on vaccinations, deworming, spaying or neutering, teeth cleaning, etc. before adopting them out as well. You'll have an adoption fee to pay before getting a dog, but the money goes towards covering cost for those procedures I just listed. If a dog does have health issues, the rescue group is very honest & upfront about it and wants to make sure it's something you can handle before adopting the dog to you, because they don't want the dog to be returned to them later if it's not something you can handle. You'll find that the people running these groups are very compassionate and really care about the dogs they rescue. Good luck in finding a new best friend :)

It works a little different in breed rescues in the UK.

I am with rottweiler rescue but homecheck for other rescues as well. Most of us can only take in 1 or 2 a week depending on what we home. However, just with rotties we are asked to take 5 to 10 per day. So as you can see, statistics don't add up. So yes, ALL of our dogs find homes as we keep them until they do, but many are turned away and get put to sleep by their owners as they can't find a rescue space.

Battersea and the RSPCA definitely put dogs to sleep all the time, and it is a high percentage at Battersea as they take in all the dogs offered.

There are Gt. Dane rescues and Newfoundland also, although both of these breeds would not be in need as much as some. It isn't the case that most dogs in UK shelters are cross breeds. We have plenty of full bred dogs in rescue... not so many WELL bred though.

Add.. Roo Ruby.. sorry to disappoint you but many dogs get pts in the UK. Battersea alone ranges from 33% to 42% that are put to sleep.

Every day I get emails or see posts on rescue sites I belong to begging to find places for dogs, and in my case rottweilers, who will lose their life on a specific date. There is usually only a couple of days before the dog will be put to sleep.

I'm afraid you are very wrong regarding how many get put to sleep.

I've got a Newfie, she's lovely!:')

Not all dogs would find homes - while some would prefer a purebred, some would prefer a mixed breed, or wouldn't be bothered as long as it was cat/dog/child friendly.

While rescuing is always great, it depends whether a puppy would be better for you - you know it will be well socialized(by you) etc, whereas its not always easy to know a rescue dogs history.

Good luck whatever you choose :)

Actually, 25% of all dogs in shelters are pure bred. There are also breed-specific rescues who only take in a certain type of dog from shelters. Try google searching for some of those rescues near you.

Thank you for wanting to save a life!

Some find good homes. However, there are still quite a lot of pedigree, or purebred, dogs in rescues, so they can't all be getting re-homed that quickly (!)