Should everyone be forced to show they aren’t able to rescue a dog before they can buy a puppy?

Gave up trying to adopt because we already had a dog and a cat. Children too.

Oh I’m not trying to say rescue dogs are bad. The best rescue dog I ever had was a rescue collie.

However, people blinding going into a rescue asking for a puppy assuming that they can make it into anything they want isn’t the way forward. The amount of behaviour issues I deal with where people say but I’ve had him from a baby is astonishing. Yes, but you can’t erase hundreds of years of humans shaping him to do a specific job, now he wants to do it and your shocked.

Hence, buy a puppy that wants to do what you want it to do! Make life easier for yourself and youll be less likely to give it up. If your out all day and at kids activities all weekend, get a cat. We need to break the cycle.

@Killingoffmyflowersonebyone you are a perfect example of somebody incapable of listening before drawing drawing a conclusion which is exactly what I was talking about on my first post.

So rather than look objectively you’ve already decided a dog is better off dead.

Not enforceable- and so many shelters/ rehoming groups have ridiculous rules which rule out many families, so basically perpetuate the issue.

How about some kind of puppy version of carbon offsetting. For every puppy bred for sale the costs of re-homing a rescue dog are covered?

(Semi serious)

We’ve been looking for a rescue for months. We already have a dog and a cat. We are home all day so can give time and patience for any size or breed. Mostly rehomes can’t be with cats or need to be the only dog in the home. I’d say lots of people who want to take a rehome are probably experienced dog owners who maybe have a dog already.

A husky owner who has also fostered and rescued dogs from the pound to rehome them, all of which I keep in touch with. Husky owner who took dogs who hadn’t seen the light of day and helped rehabilitate them….

No, because whilst in principle I understand the reasoning, this is one of the things that make living in a free country what it is. Freedom to choose. Rather than the government telling you what you need to do, or what you should choose.

Rescues-

Anybody who is pro rescue is not going to buy a puppy from a puppy farm. I used to foster and rehabilitate dogs for a husky rescue pre kids. I am not so stupid that I’m going to go and buy a cockapoo from a breeder and contribute to a problem I spent years trying to help (in a very small way!!)

A a husky owner who can’t keep up with them. What a surprise. Now all your posts make sense.

I had a husky previously and he loved his husky friends at daycare. I cannot play like a husky and am confident he enjoyed that time.

But they are. Because they then go out and buy puppy farm puppies that they then dump when they realise they can’t cope.

Breeders and rescues should 100% be picky about who they give a dog too. The problem is defective puppy farm dogs with poor genetics, terrible resilience and owners and people who think their desire to have a puppy is a ‘right that must be fulfilled.’

It’s not.

"I often see posts of people saying ‘my dog can’t wait to go to day care or see their dog walker’ - failing to realise that a dog that really loves it owners doesn’t long to get away to daycare or the dog walker."

At daycare or the dog walker dogs have the conpany of conspecifics, usually a fairly stable bunch of the same "friends". Absolutely nothing wrong with that.

I’ve bought all of my dogs from a breeder, one of them was 2 yrs old (returned by previous owner) the rest were puppies.

I tried to adopt a rescue dog on two separate occasions, the 1st dog we met was lovely, got on with our kids and dogs. We were then told she had dreadful food aggression. Something that at the time we didn’t feel we could work through.

The next time, after meeting the dog a few times, lots of chats between ourselves and the fosterer we received a call to say the dog had growled at her fosterer. They were going to further assess the dog and come back to us. A few days later I had a call to say the dog had badly bitten the foster lady . Totally out of the blue he’d bitten down hard, this wasn’t a warning nip, and she had to go to hospital to get it checked out.

Adopting dogs can and does work wonderfully for many. But not everyone who gives their dogs up are totally honest with their reasons, as the fosterer told us, they often don’t know the history and have to trust what they’re told, and of course then there are the stray dogs who have absolutely no history at all.

If people are happy to adopt a rescue dog and it works for them and their family / lifestyle then great and many do, but I don’t think anyone should have to justify their choice in getting a puppy from a (responsible) breeder over a rescue.

Looking at the available dogs at Battersea, there are a lot who are potentially unsuitable / risky. Who is going to re-home an American bulldog / cane corso / lurcher of unknown origin.

Because you can see there’s dogs desperately needing a home and enjoy the companionship 🤦‍♀️. Why subject a dog to a death sentence or a life sat in a stressful kennel environment for fear of admitting that the ideal home doesn’t exist for most, if not the vast majority of these dogs.

Approx 23 dogs are PTS each day in the UK - some reports suggest 11,000 each year. If one can be sat on my sofa, walked 3x a day. Spend their weekends with me walking and hiking I think it’s better than making it 11,001 each year. But of course.

People wanting to rescue a dog in what you consider sub-optimal conditions are not contributing to the supply of unwanted dogs.

Why get a dog if people need to use dog walkers or day care multiple times a week?

I often see posts of people saying ‘my dog can’t wait to go to day care or see their dog walker’ - failing to realise that a dog that really loves it owners doesn’t long to get away to daycare or the dog walker.

And to clarify - I have no issue with dog walkers or day care. I’m glad someone can provide the dog with the love and exercise it deserves when the owners can’t.

Why? You're penalising the wrong people here.
Restrictions and penalties should be on the backyard breeders who churn out designer crossbreeds.
The show dogs from top kennels aren't generally the ones cluttering up rescue centres.
People who ethically breed numerically small breeds, carry out health tests and home checks are not the ones that cause the problems.

So using dog walkers, doggy day care etc isn’t “managing.”

I don’t agree that a better alternative is to be sat at a rescue centre or PTS. I think PTS is better than a life of absolute misery but if it’s a case of compromise it’s not a great alternative.

Tbh every person who has ever said that usually has a damn miserable dog. There’s a big difference between your dog being okay with being abandoned 7+hrs five days a week and your dog being happy about it.

I guarantee 99.9% of dogs left alone for that amount of time that are ‘fine’ are not happy.

And that’s what responsible pet ownership is - making your dog happy. Not ‘fine.’ Not ‘managing’ but happy.

That depends on the breed. There is a shortage of some breeds. The Kennel Club has a list of native British Dog Breeds that are considered vulnerable/at risk. These are old, traditional, working and sporting dogs that ethical breeders are trying to keep going. The backyard breeders and pet dog breeders of modern crosses are responsible for this decline in pedigree dogs. So yes, for some people, who choose a particular breed, there is a shortage of dogs, and it is worrying. Not all breeders are "greeders", and it's a nasty, insulting term. Ethical breeders who carry out health checks and breed for temperament (and do home checks on buyers) should never be compared with BYB's or puppy farmers. There is a world of difference.

I really wanted a rescue, but have 2 kids under 10 and shared access to the back garden.

My only dog requirements were no staffies/bully type breeds, no greyhounds/ whippet type breeds, nothing too insanely hairy, must be able to to long walks, so nothing stupidly small.

In our 3 local shelters in 18 months only 3 dogs became available that were ok with children under 10. One we were going to take, fab heinz 57, but the shelter didn't like it was shared access to our back garden. So, we bought a puppy.

I don’t agree. Plenty of people manage in those circumstances and it’s better than being stuck in a kennel. Not all dogs need constant attention day in, day out. It’s largely breed and personality dependent.

This is repeatedly raised on here and other social media platforms. We wouldn’t be allowed to rescue, we both work full time but my DH’s shifts mean the dogs are never left for more than 4 hours bar 3 times a month when they have a dog walker. We like a certain breed and get 2 at a time. This is looked on with horror by some, certainly wouldn’t be allowed by rescues. We’ve never had ‘littermate syndrome’.

YABU to ask, as many pp have said, there are loads of reasons people can’t/wont rescue and don’t get me started on importing from abroad when our rescues are full.