To think buying a puppy is far more sensible for most people than rehoming a dog

[rainyoutside]

I’m a big advocate of animal welfare but AIBU to be concerned at posters who relentlessly push people considering having a dog towards rescue?

For one thing I don’t even know any rescue centres who will rehome to families with young children. But mn insist that they do.

Greyhounds are often pushed on here as an ideal first dog. They are absolutely huge. We would need a new car if we adopted a greyhound. Then it’s insisted they don’t have a strong prey drive. Er - they were bred for hare coursing. I’m sure there are some exceptions, just like there are some Labs who hate water and some stupid border collies, but it’s in the breed descriptor.

Looking on the dogs trust website, out of hundreds of dogs available for rehoming there are nine who can live with primary aged children. Add cats to that filter and there’s none. Zero.

It’s bloody heartbreaking. A MNetter linked someone yesterday to what she enthusiastically described as a brilliant rescue centre in my area so I had a look out of interest. Every single dog was reactive and had a history of biting. I can’t believe she suggested it to a woman with a 7 year old.

Rescue is one of a number of options when it comes to dog ownership and AIBU to think it’s daft and irresponsible to make people feel bad about not rescuing when there just aren’t suitable dogs available?

@rainyoutside

But then a lot of people are insisting that in a few weeks ‘lockdown puppies’ will be coming into rescues, and it’s becoming increasingly clear that’s not the case!

I think like a lot of things COVID is being used as a bit of an excuse.

They’re arriving in a couple of breed specific rescues I follow - but they’re really not your average pet breeds...

So puppies bought 6- 7 months ago, not socialised, hardly trained and now hitting adolescence in breeds that aren’t always suitable to be pets anyway. (Not with your average pet owner anyway) Being given up because not exactly surprisingly they’re developing behaviours that are hard to manage.

The small fluffy type are still on selling sites rather than rescues though...

Dogs are not dissimilar to children. What’s in dogs’ best interests? Mass commercialised production to the highest bidders or careful rehoming of the millions of unwanted dogs caused, or thousands in the UK at least, largely by unfettered breeding for profit?

I wonder if things have become more strict as well. When I was a child we rescued one dog from a rehoming kennel and 2 from private homes that weren't cared for (1 obese, 1 kept locked in a barn). Never had a puppy although we bought a pedigree young dog once. There was never the least suggestion that we couldn't have a dog because there were children in the family. It was up to you to determine from visits that the dog was within your capabilities to handle.

But our first ever dog was a puppy. From a pet shop I believe back then although was bought just before I was born. That meant when we went to rehoming centres, we were 'experienced' dog owners.

I think a lot of people do it that way. Have a puppy just the once - realise it's a bloody nightmare and then rehome for future dogs!!!

Good luck OP- get the dog that is right for your family!

Just don’t describe yourself as an animal lover and think you have better moral fibre than people who don’t use animals for their entertainment or emotional needs, as many people who call themselves animal lovers do.

Yes, children are born for selfish reasons, why else would anyone have a child? Of course, many children are conceived and born because parents are careless, follow the crowd or do what is expected of them, but those babies actively conceived aren’t conceived and born for anything other than selfish reasons.

We wouldn’t have overflowing rescue centres here if we stopped driving the demand for puppies in the first place. It’s a fairly straight line from breeder to buyer to abandonment.

I've got both. Rescue and ones I've had from puppies.

I'll always look for a rescue first.

And you don’t think anyone who buys a puppy loves it and is a responsible owner, charlie? Just like my child I suppose?

I do think you are probably right for people that have never had a dog - it would be different if rescues were full of labradors and other 'easy' first-timer-friendly breeds, but the reality is that a lot are full of dogs that are strong and difficult to train, which is (in part) why their original owners couldn't handle them. When I went round Battersea a few years ago it was completely full of bull breeds and Akitas. I personally love Staffies but having never owned a dog I just wouldn't feel comfortable taking on a large, strong dog with unknown issues in its past, let alone if I had small children. I think it's perfectly reasonable to buy a labradoodle puppy in that scenario, so you can learn how to raise a well trained dog in a low-risk setup.

Once you have had a dog or two, then yes, I think people should strongly consider rescues, particularly if their children are older.

Won't there be lots of rescue dogs available about end of 2021? Sadly I think this will be true.

I used to have cats. I adopted the first one via gumtree because none of the cat rescues would rehome to us as we lived quite near a busy road. The thing is, nearly every house in the road I lived on had cats and in the 9 years I lived there not once did any of us lose one to that road. I'm not surprised people buy puppies and kittens when many rescues have such rigid rules wrt rehoming.

@squashyhat

I don't think anybody should be getting any kind of dog at the moment. Illness, job loss, change in economic and housing circumstances are so much more likely that what starts off as a brilliant idea to keep you company while WFH could end up a nightmare drain on relationships and resources. Donate time or money to rescue charities instead.

On that note people need to stop jave childrwn then

I just had a quick look at a local rescue page. The first few ads are failed rehoming. I went down a rabbit hole on this when I was looking at rescues in the summer.

@yeOldeTrout

Won't there be lots of rescue dogs available about end of 2021? Sadly I think this will be true.

Personally I don’t think so.

charlestonchaplin

What an extraordinary bleak outlook on life

*But then a lot of people are insisting that in a few weeks ‘lockdown puppies’ will be coming into rescues, and it’s becoming increasingly clear that’s not the case!

I think like a lot of things COVID is being used as a bit of an excuse.*

TBF they are not at the 'danger age'. The most frequently surrendered age for dogs is well into adolscence - so around 12 - 24 months in age. At this point problem behaviours start to emerge but owners think the dog "should" be better behaved by now.

I hope that's not the case for covid-pups, but it is too early to call it.

I don’t think the lockdown puppy crisis has fully hit yet as a lot of people are still working from home.

@charlestonchaplin

rainyoutside And the inference is that those who don’t rescue are not huge animal lovers, yes?

Well, obviously! Rescuing a dog from a life in kennels, even though it’s an awkward character, requiring sacrifices and compromises is clearly more for the love of the animal. Going for the lowest-hassle means of getting your animal entertainment is clearly for the love of oneself. We don’t doubt that you enjoy the company of animals but don’t kid yourself, your motives are purely selfish.

I will dispute your comments, actually.

Even people doing things for altruistic reasons are doing it to fulfill some need within themselves.

No one who does a good deed is doing it entirely without payback. They do it because it's giving them something at some level, even if they aren't conscious of it.

As well as ^ @PalTheGent’s comment above.

But the thing is MN would love to have us believe feckless owners buy cockapoos and cavapoos and other poos and then give them up.

When you look at the breeds though it becomes overwhelmingly clear this isn’t the case.

I never was a dog person, and was actually terrified of them.
Had deep relaxation therapy for something else and low and behold seen a smaller breed and fell in love. No desire to buy one but toyed with such , then adult daughter's friend's small dog was having puppies. Daughter suggested we take a look . We were able to view mum and puppies as often as we wanted and could have met the father had we wanted. One chose us and she is the most loved dog imaginable. She is very much a house dog who would not know what a kennel was.
We felt that knowing the home she came from was best .
We have seen people who have got rescue dogs and would be concerned that is not compulsory to have them registered with a vet and have at least all their vaccines. One owner never takes their dogs to the vets, and another got bored with one from a rescue, they returned it saying it bit, which was not true and have since bought other questionable breeds.
Our puppy had no bad habits to unlearn and was easily trained. The only thing is she does not like rain .

There is no such thing as ‘altruism’.

I know lots of people who got puppies in lock down. Dh works close to home and quite a bit from home so we talked about it but weren’t able to do the puppy but when they need you all the time. Now covid means he’s working from home permanently until end of March and even then it’s very unlikely he’ll ever be in the office even as much as or pandemic. It’s provided an opportunity we wouldn’t have had to settle a puppy properly and is the best thing ever for dh who is at home while dc are at school and I’m at work (hospital). I really don’t think all these puppies will end up in rescues. Life has changed and made it possible for many of us. It wasn’t an impulse buy, it was taking advantage and finding the positives in a shit situation.

We have always had rescue cats but I wanted a particular breed. I have always wanted a wolfhound. Waited years until my lifestyle was appropriate to one.
Yes they sometimes come up in rescue. BUT I wanted one from a pup. Mainly because we have cats. A puppy carefully handled with cats is ok. A rescue may well not be.
I would never give up any of my animals if I had any choice. I have allergies and health conditions. But I love them to bits. If I ever had no choice but to rehome then the breeder would take them back. But that would be over my dead body!
We do support local rescues too. Volunteer weekly etc. They do a wonderful job.
Not all rescues are suitable for all homes. But then not all homes are suitable for a puppy either.

We ended up adopting from Spain as we struggled with local rescues not letting us adopt with children under 10. We have a beautiful dog that had been fostered with children and cats so knew she was genuinely good with them. She wasn’t a puppy but was only 18 months old and is just the most perfect dog. She needs a good long walk but is lazy in the house. Definitely a Podenco convert.

We must be really lucky to have a great greyhound trust nearby. When we went to look at dogs they told us which ones weren't suitable to have with young children, most of the dogs had been with them for months and the one we picked had been in there for over a year. He was a lovely greyhound, he was big but as a male they are bigger than the females (some of them are quite small). We were very lucky with him, perfectly behaved, liked short walks, slept most of the time, no accidents in the house). We have also had countless fostered greyhounds and all have been great (Don't know about if they would be ok with cats as we don't have one but they kept the neighbours cat out our garden!)

We got a puppy last year and she has been the hardest one to look after, its like having several toddlers at once! Clearing up accidents, saving items from being chewed etc. Definitely wouldn't choose to have a puppy again.