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.

Nothing wrong with Staffies, parsnip, but Staffies are not popular among many (not all I hasten to add) mc people.

Reni1 I know :( it's a shame as actually with the correct owners and training they are really lovely dogs. And great with kids!

I'm not in the UK but I disagree. That observation would not be the case in my country.

Agree it's a circumstance thing.

We had a rescue dog as our first dog. Second dog was a semi rescue dog who'd been neglected and was six months old living in a barn. He's the most aggressive dog going.

So next dog was an expensive puppy. I couldn't take the risk of another aggressive dog.

One of my friends is very pro rescue and was a bit disgusted with me even though she knew the circumstances and reasons!

It's not a class thing, it's a lack of understanding thing.

You don't need to buy a puppy - there are puppies in rescue.

Knowing a puppies 'parents' doesn't mean jack shit when it comes to training/suitability/temperament/disease.

Plenty of Rescues will rehome dogs to families with children, including babies. People just don't look hard enough.

There are plenty of pedigrees/pure bred dogs in Rescue, not just Mutts.

There are plenty of 'designer' dogs in Rescue, including all the ridiculous 'poo' crosses.

There is nothing wrong with having a mutt, pedigree or pure bred doesn't = better (and in lots of cases actually means a whole lot worse)

For most families a puppy isnt the best idea - house training a dog is hard, house training a dog with little kids squealing and shrieking about it is a bloody nightmare. Same goes with training.

Paying £600 for a Labrador doesn't make it a better dog than a £170 Labrador from a Rescue.

Every dog bred for profit sentences another dog in Rescue to death.

How about just letting people get what dog they like and is right for then, instead of getting disparaging about 'ridiculous poo crosses'. These are living creatures.

I love all dogs, mutt or pedigree.

I have never met a chihuahua or a jack Russell I particularly warmed to, but I'm happy to have my mind changed.

Oh and one of my old bosses, the absolute epitome of Upper Class (owns half of Shropshire

Bollocks

.... has 3 Rescue hunting/working dogs, and wouldn't go to a breeder under any circumstances.

Agree about rescuing pups & young dogs, the pounds/rescues re full of the poor little buggers.

Whilst I would agree that with a true stray you may not know what you are getting in terms of safety around children but many dogs are now being rehomed with a full background history so you know a bit more at least.

However as with ANY dog whether or not you have them from puppyhood kids need to be taught how to respect the dog and give it space (as well as dog learning same)ans if you haven't time to ensure that is always pliced/ supervised then you shouldn't be getting a dog.

Nothing to do with class, just lack of research, thought & planning which is why so many of these poor dogs end up in these places. Bet half the " Designer" pups bought by the people in the OP were from puppy farms.

exLtEve that's exactly what I came on here to ask!

We got our old girl from Battersea. At the time, we went through an interview process before we saw the dogs and the lady asked us if we wanted any breed or age in particular. We said no, we were keeping an open mind. During the talk she said that unfortunately due to the sheer amount of unwanted dogs, you could put your name down on a waiting list for practically any breed of puppy and at some point a litter would come in

That was over 9 years ago, so things may be different now, but I've never understood the argument of buying a puppy when you could get one from a rescue, even if it means waiting for a while.

It's the opposite situation in my neck of the woods. Getting a dog from a breeder is viewed negatively. In fact rescue shelters can be quite thorough in vetting potential adopters so some people who don't want to bother with that just go to breeders. My company allows the employees to bring our dogs to work with us and many people do, I've never seen a dog that wasn't a rescue dog in our offices. It's totally the "done thing" here. The tide of public opinion seems to have firmly turned against dog breeding in general.

Glad to be of service Cuddles

At Many Tears Animal Rescue (who do rehome to families with children and who have dogs all over the country, including London and Scotland) there are currently 36 dogs less than a year old in amongst their 234 dogs sitting waiting for their forever homes

www.manytearsrescue.org/dogslookingforhomes.php

I would have thought it would be a middle class thing to do.

Nothing to do with class IMHO.

None of the rescue and rehoming centres in this part of the world will allow families with younger children (below teenage) to adopt dogs.

I recently went for a tour of our nearest rehoming centre. There were all sorts of dogs there - labs, spaniels, collies, 2 salukis.

I've adopted a rescue dog and she was with me until she passed away at a ripe old age of a thankfully very brief heart attack.

Now I have small dc I will be getting a puppy of the breed of my choice. I want the dog I want. Plus anyway I rent so I doubt I'd be approved for a rescue dog.

I want to take home all those pups from that Many Tears link!

My dog is now around 12 so won't be around forever . We got her pre-dc, so had all the time in the world to dedicate to taming a slightly mad teenaged staffy! I can see why families would prefer to get a puppy to raise alongside young children, I just don't get why it has to be from a private sale especially when a large proportion aren't going to reputable breeders and checking parents temperaments etc.

But then I don't know how strict the rules with rescues are now...I was shocked how easy it was to adopt when we got ddog - we only went in to 'browse' and we walked out with a dog! I don't think it would be that easy now.

I'm middle class and have a pure-breed rescue dog.

Just cos it isn't a mongrel doesn't mean it isn't a rescue.

Yep, my dog came from Many Tears ^

I'm sorry I didn't mean to offend anyone if I did...since that post I have done more researches and I found out that RSPCA doesn't allow rescue dogs to go to families with children under the age of 11.

I am from a v middle class family, we had pedigree dogs, an English Setter and then two Cavalier King Charles spaniels.
I don't know anyone who had a rescue, it was either a pedigree, or a staffy crossed with a jack russel puppy bought from the man in the pub.

It depends where you live probably: i used to live in rural middle class wealthy town. People generally did both. It tended to be the new money that only got dogs from breeders. When i got to London, again, new money buy from breeders, the middle class do both.

Perhaps this more a change in culture rather than a class issue. As a child we had purebred West Highland Terriers and I never thought anything of it. As an adult and owner of a rescue dog I wouldn't dream of getting a dog from a breeder. An evolution in social conscience and increased awareness of the plight of shelter pets perhaps?

I'm in the north of the US and it's normal here to rescue dogs from the southern states. There are loads of agencies that take them from kill shelters down there and have them fostered up here until they're adopted. I got an 11 week old mutt that way. He's great with the kids and the cats, and when we did puppy training he was much less neurotic than almost all of the other dogs most of whom were bought at great expense from breeders.

Lertgush - I'm in the US too (PNW) and it's absolutely the norm here to adopt. I was surprised to read an earlier post that stated the RSPCA in the UK apparently don't allow rescue dogs to be adopted into families with children under 11. That's definitely not the case here, as long as the shelter approves it, a suitable (shelters evaluate temperament first) rescue dog can be adopted by families with children. I'm guessing this is why people still get dogs from breeders in the UK, if they are unable to adopt a rescue because they have children under 11.

Pic is totally necessary. I broke all the sensible rules and let my DD (6) choose our first dog. She's a rescue that had spent 4 years at a sanctuary after someone had been trying to give her away in a pub.

Total jackpot of a dog. No housetraining needed, doesn't want a walk unless the weather suits her, happy to be left at home and loves delicious sticky children. Ugly as hell, but we love her.