to think that adopting a dog from a rescue is really not a middle-class thing to do ?

[Myfoofneedspruning]

I live in a very affluent area and I couldn't help a trend starting. A mum from school got a puppy lab then in the following months, other parents also got puppies from various breeds. None are rescue dogs. It's sad.

I don't think it's a middle class thing. I think it's a family thing. If you have children you want to know the background of the dog and you can't do that with all dogs from rescue centres. It's sad for the dogs in rescue centres but that's how it is.

I don't think class has anything to do with it. Although I suppose if you have more money you can afford more expensive breeds.

I think it's to do with having money for one thing and also having children. Even lovely dogs can get fed up being mauled by small children - puppies can be used to this from an early age :)

Plus, it's lovely for children and a dog to grow up together.

I have no idea if there's a class divide on this!

My very non-middle class family did have rescue cats and dogs when I was growing up. Dp's middle class family had dogs but none were rescue. So that fits your theory but I doubt we're representative! As a couple I'd consider me and dp firmly middle class now, and we've agreed if we get a cat or dog it will be from a rescue centre.

Lots of rescues won't place dogs in home with children

Our local dog's trust doesn't ever advertise dogs that are suitable to be re-homed with small children.

I would like a dog one day but it's pretty unlikely that I will get a dog because dh doesn't want one. I wouldn't go for one from a rescue centre for the reasons I have already given. It's unlikely we will ever get one anyway it's a huge commitment.

Class has nothing to do with it. What a weird assumption.

People with children often want to know where their puppies have come from.

We've had seven rescue dogs over the last few years - yes, even with young children. No problems at all. And yes, we are probably really quite middle class...

I didn't think it was a middle class thing rescue dogs is very worthy but they can be hard work lots of issues and you really don't know the background even rescue pups can come with socialisaton

Problems*

We're middle class I suppose and have a rescue springer spaniel. Admittedly not everyone we know has a rescue, but equally not everyone we know has a pedigree, either. Not sure really if class has anything to do with it.

As an aside, we have two boys and our rescue dog fits in perfectly. She's been a fantastic addition to our family regardless of her history. Taking a punt on an adult dog isn't something you'd do lightly, but if you are sensible and open to lots of training, you can make it work.

I don't think it's a class thing, though newspapers like to report it as such.

The difficultly with rehoming adult dogs when you have children is that many will have been mistreated badly (though plenty have just been given up through no fault of their own, owner has died/become too unwell/elderly to care for them), and that unknown factor can be a risk many people are understandably unwilling to take.

Both of mine are rescues. One was born at the home because the mum was dumped there. So I suppose she doesn't really count as a rescue proper. We originally hoped to rehome the mum but the reserve list for her was already full.

Our other dog was young, somewhere between 12-18 weeks when we rehomed her. She'd been abandoned in a local park. We've had her just under a year and she has been hard work at times. Even such a young dog can be damaged by mistreated, as she was. She's a lovely happy thing now but it's taken months and she still isn't quite right in the way she interacts with other dogs, but getting there. I won't lie and say there weren't times in the early days after rehoming her when I seriously thought about taking her back, even if they were only fleeting moments.

All dogs need a massive level of commitment but often with rescues they need more of everything, patience, time, training, love. You need to be willing and able to give them that. People who can are just as likely to be working class as they are middle class.

We tried to get a rescue dog and have tried to rescue a cat years ago. We got knocked back by the cat rescue because we lived 3/4 from a main road. And the dog rescues didn't have any dogs they would be happy placing with kids. So we got puppy.

My dd was also attacked a couple of years ago by mils rescue dog, who they were assured had a good history with visiting children. She didn't do anything to him, she walked in the house and he went for her. We had been around him before and she certainly didn't in screaming or running at him. Her ear ripped where the skin meets the head and had bite marks all over head turned out it had shown some aggression at the rescue, but they put it down to unfamiliar surroundings. It was awful. Completely put me off rescue dogs as they often don't know the history and aren't always truthful. Yes any dog can attack, but I would prefer to have the dog from a young age and know its history.

Saucy that's so silly of the dogs trust.

If it's anything like my local one there will plenty of dogs suitable to rehome with children. I hope it's a no kill organisation because they're massively limiting the pool of potential rehomers by not making that information about the dogs known. And they will know in plenty of cases. A real shame.

It's safer to rear a puppy when you have children and cats living in your home.
Class and money has nothing to do with it. Plus the initial outlay of buying a pedigree dog usually shrinks into insignificance when you compare it with the cost of owning a dog sensibly: training, neutering, vaccinations, insurance, decent food...

I'm not MC we have always had. Rescues our latest couldn't be placed with under 14s he was a cute faced puppy of 7months he was also a biter he's fine now it would be irresponsible for. The rescue to give him to a young family our last dog

I think that a family with no dog experience would be a bit crazy to get a rescue dog.

Are you using "middle class" as an insult here?

How tiresome.

Getting a dog from a rescue is not a "working class" thing to do either - you'd just know someone who knew someone whose dog had had puppies.

Can you count how many (potentally insulting) assumptions I've made there?

The rescue I work with is run (and largely funded by) one of the most upper middle class women I know. A lot of our dogs do go to middle class households - but we don't often have suitable dogs for families with younger children.

Sorry I'm on my Phone anyway or last dog we had. From a young pup and tbh it was cheaper to get a rescue and you get the neutering and micro chip as well

Sorry if I wasn't clear Alis. I meant that they were specifically stating that dogs were only suitable to be re-homed with children of either 13+, 16+ or not all in the blurb next to each individual dog- not that they had dogs that they would house with small children but just weren't advertising.

It's the Dog's Trust in Shoreham (We visit the kennels just to look at the doggies every now and then). I don't know if they have a blanket policy of not giving dogs to young families, or whether they just never have dogs they would be happy to re-house.... but either way, a family with primary school-age children wouldn't ever be able to get a dog from them.

I don't really think this is a class thing. What point are you trying to make?

I have rescue dog. My class has zero to do with it. It is a shame that people think they need a particular breed (they usually don't) and that they think they can't 'trust' rescue dogs (again, ignorance) but they want what they want and adding a class insult is unlikely to influence that.

How weird. I'm middle class,my family is middle class, have always been middle class, was brought up on a farm owned by family with no mortgage. My son went to a private school, I employed a nanny and still have a gardener and a cleaner.

We had working sheepdogs when I was a child but pet dogs were always rescue dogs (we grew our own cats as it were )

My brother since he grew up only takes rescue dogs. He's had a rottweiler and currently is on his second staffie. He picks them because they are the most difficult for the home to find new owners. The rescue centre picks him because he is brilliant with animals and has a proven track record. He keeps horses too, some of which he bought but has rescue horses too.

Of my 3 current cats , 1 is the survivor of a pair from CPL and 1 is a stray my son found. The other is a moggie we got as a kitten from a friend. I've always had cats and they are always ordinary cats who needed a home.

As I'm a terrific snob I actually think what you are describing is a bit well , quite, not really middle class (iyswim)

My middle class sister is on her second rescue dog. The first was excellent with her babies and small children, the second one has been a little bit more unpredictable but is a great dog with her now teenagers. We are also middle class and have had a rescue spaniel before. He was a lovely little dog but had been badly mistreated and I would not have got him if we had had children at the time. Our current dog is a Labrador that we got as an 8 week old puppy when ds3 was 3 months old. We wanted to see both parents and the owners and know a bit of his history. I have no regrets. ??

I also know two families who took on rescue dogs when they had children that have had to re home them.