To implore people not to get a rediculously overpriced lockdown puppy

[hibbledibble]

I know it's the vogue now, and people are bored at home.

However buying puppies for £3-5k+ a piece is fuelling crime and animal exploitation. A lot of puppies are being bred in terrible conditions, with health impacts for the mothers and puppies. Criminal gangs are breeding puppies, and also stealing puppies and adult dogs, in order to breed from them. There are multiple stories of people being violently mugged for their dogs.

People will say 'but I got my dog from a reputable breeder' however paying a highly overinflated price for a puppy is fuelling the crime and exploitation associated with the industry, by maintaining high prices. In addition, many breeders are not as reputable as they appear to me, as the high financial gains are attracting unscrupulous individuals.

Finally, what will happen to all these impulse purchased puppies once lockdown ends, and people are expected back in the workplace? Likely a lot will end up being abandoned, or left at home alone all day.

Please, if you want to get a dog, adopt, don't shop, and thoroughly research the decision, including the costs involved in ownership. There are many rescues that will rehome to families, and some that have puppies too, but they won't be purebreds or 'designer' crosses!

We were looking for a puppy and reputable breeders long before covid hit and I couldn't justify the prices then. We've also looked at rescue centres signed up to loads and never heard a thing. Trawling through rescue centre websites they are very restrictive on whom they will allow to rescue this also adds to the problem.

We were very fortunate that we could rehome our dog from a friend due to covid and the dynamics of being furloughed and going back to work meant he struggled and would cry, he's now happy and settled, she's happy that he's in a loving home and we're overjoyed to have him.

@SunshiningBetty that's awful! That poor dog. I can't believe they're selling him for £2500??!!

There are at least 6 new young dogs in my local park, all being taught that it’s ok to run round like feral creatures, pelt up to other dogs who may not like it, zero actual training

They’ll soon learn when their dog approaches the wrong on-lead dog and they have a massive vet bill.

I’m getting increasingly annoyed with people letting dogs off leads in parks. Probably because I walk a large dog-reactive GS twice a day and the number of dogs off lead with no recall has soared. My arms and shoulders hurt from trying to pull him off dogs who jump in his face!

And please would people stop buying bull breeds (or if you must keep it leashed), there’s no need and a lot of them are crossed with banned breeds. Mine has twice been attacked by staffie crosses now! Luckily he’s big and quick to get the upper hand but a smaller dog would be killed. Oh and now he hates anything resembling a staffie so that makes walks even more fun!

I don’t care that people say their staffie crosses are soft and they can trace the bloodline back generations to ensure their dog’s ancestors never saw a fighting pit! Most of the dog attacks around here and in the news seem to be from staffie types!

Oh and remember a lot of papers are faked for sale/import purposes!

We adopted an older dog from an overseas charity after nearly a year of trying to rehome with the Dog’s Trust. He is my baby and I don’t regret it for a second, but I wouldn’t do it again.

I have no criticism of the Dog’s Trust. At the time we had an 8 and a 10 year old and most of their dogs were assessed as not being able to live with children. When a dog became available that was suitable our application was one of many and the shelter obviously had a duty of care to make sure it went to the very best home on offer - which was never us.

In the end I contacted a charity that rescues dogs from Romania and explained the good (WFH, huge garden, forest walks, experience of caring for pets with chronic health conditions) and the bad (children, garden mostly bordered by hedge not fence, limited experience with dogs, only wanted a small or medium sized dog) and asked if they had a dog that would suit our family. They did a home visit and matched us with a dog already in the UK. Unfortunately their inexperience meant they had not taken a proper history and ddog was not a 4-year old ‘much loved pet whose vet owner could no long care for him’ but rather an 8-year old dog who had been beaten and neglected. To cut a very long story short, thousands of pounds and a lot of heartache later he is a neurotic, occasionally reactive but otherwise happy member of the family. The rescue did offer to take him back but I had no faith they’d do a better job at rehoming him.

All my pets have been rescued, but having gone through the trauma of rehabilitating my lovely DDog, I just don’t know if I could do it again - to the poor dog or to my poor long-suffering family.

When he passes on I will hope to rescue again, but via an established UK rescue. If that doesn’t work out I am ashamed to admit that, after a lifetime of only rescuing animals, I would consider buying a puppy from a breeder.

Sorry that was long. It’s something I have personally been agonising over. I do realise it’s a very selfish need to have a companion animal, but it’s a need that is strong enough to make me consider bending my own moral code. I’m not defending it, I’m just saying I can understand why people do it.

@hibbledibble

It's still relevant as people are still buying these very expensive dogs. Demand has not stopped. While lockdown is easing, we are still in lockdown.

Sure, some rescues have strict rules, but not all. Many will rehome to families, including those that fly dogs in from other countries with a lot of strays, for example Galgos del Sol

Thank you for the mention of Galgos del Sol - I'd never heard of them, and aren't they doing fabulous work? Will definitely keep them in mind when we are ready for a dog.

I do get what you're saying, and you're right - when the schools went back in between lockdowns we seemed to be the only family that hadn't acquired a small curly puppy! Everyone else had paid over the odds for some kind of poodle cross - and every single one of them has been struggling with them since they came out of the "tiny cute bundle that can be carried around" and into the "excited and energetic zoomy thing that wants to be in everyone's business all the time!" phase.

They're all owned by smart, sensible people in great homes, so I'm sure it'll work out. But they clearly had no idea how much work is involved with puppies!

We would like a dog some day - but actually we'd like an adult dog, not a puppy, and we'd be really happy with a mutt. But most rescues would not adopt to us due to the age of our children and size/security of our garden. The DC are actually very mature and sensible around dogs, having grown up around their grandma's, but they have a point about the garden. So we're waiting till we can move somewhere a bit bigger.

We do also have a big ginger cat, but he's not going anywhere, so our future dog will have to learn to be friends with him!

I appreciate the sentiment. I'm also a primary teacher who has to plaster the smile on at little Tyreeese's 6th dog since reception (previous dogs seem to disappear and the latest fad dog seemed to be installed)

Rescues near me are either full of 'pissfingers' (see below) and badly trained staffys.

Why is there such an opposition to anything that is not rescue or a professional breeder with 200 generation of history in the UK costing ££££? A genuine question.
I lived in several different countries, and the system there is that if you have a pedigree dog or a bitch, you can register it for a breeding programme with the local canine association / breed club, they will help with the matchmaking and advice (including on whether to breed at all - if they advise against, they won't issue paperwork). As a result, puppy prices are much lower, no one is making much money out of it (you're lucky to break even on a litter, really), and it hasn't changed much during the lockdown. On the buyer's side, very few people will be prepared to buy a purebred dog without registration papers, which creates very little space for puppy farms. There are still show lines breeders with very expensive animals, but it is a world in itself.
It looks to me like in the UK this attempt to protect dogs' welfare did create some perverse incentives. An emerging problem in my home country, for example, is that some unscrupulous people buy purebred puppies to present them later as overseas rescues to the UK adopters.

We recently bought a Westie non kc pup for 2k from someone advertising on pets 4 homes.
We saw both parents and it all seems genuine. They were open about breeding their dogs to make some money as he was in the catering trade and had been on furlough for months.
For all the horrified people:
We spent from 2018-2019 looking for a rescue dog that was suitable for our family. Hardly got a sniff of anything, only ones vaguely suitable for a family with kids came with medical Bill's potential, far in excess of the price of a puppy.
2019-2021 we stopped looking cos of covid and prices.
Jan 2021 we thought "feck it" and acted.
In hindsight I wish I had not listened to all the views that we should get a rescue cos we would actually have had the joy of dog ownership 3 years ago.

I just went on Dog’s Trust, selected the 2 centres within a 5-hour round trip, small or medium dog and can live with primary aged children and no matches. Changed primary aged to secondary aged children and got 1 match, but can only live with children over the age of 14.

As I said earlier, I have no criticism of the Dog’s Trust, but a majority of rescue dogs have complicated backgrounds that make them unable to safely live with children. I think Dog’s Trust are just more honest and upfront about this.

Sometimes a puppy is the best option for a family and I think it would be better to be realistic about this and maybe look at changing the current system to improve conditions for dogs used for breeding. The system in the country where forinborin lives sounds interesting.

As with all things there are good ones and bad ones when it comes to the overseas rescues - I have found most of the people running these charities have good intentions, but some don’t have an appreciation of the potential pitfalls.

I do find most of the overseas rescues I meet have lovely temperaments and I would say are genetically possibly healthier than a lot of our UK bred pedigrees.

However, a lot of these dogs are coming over carrying Leishmania (pretty nasty for humans as well as dogs), Babesia, heartworm, etc etc. UK vets aren’t familiar with these diseases and we have to import the drugs from abroad which can cost hundreds of pounds. If the rescue organisation or adopter can afford this, it’s obviously great for the dog in question, but I’m sure many people adopting from abroad wouldn’t be prepared for the those kinds of costs. Plus if we end up with those diseases in the UK population it will be really negative in terms of welfare impact on hundreds and thousands of dogs here.

The system in the country whereforinborinlives sounds interesting.
I am in the UK now, I was just sharing my experience. My parents had a pedigree bitch, and she had one registered litter when I was a teenager - I can absolutely guarantee that no one made money on it, we ended up being quite out of the pocket in the end (and to my parents' delight, I got a bit more realistic about becoming a vet). All buyers came through the breed club too, they wanted a particular breed and researched quite a lot on it.

I lived in a third country since and the system there is very similar.

I just cannot understand why adopting a rescue dog which can be completely unpredictable in many aspects - behaviour, health, aggression - and where you can't really pick what you want - is considered GOOD. Buying a puppy for £5000 from a reputable breeder, after waiting for several years on their list is also considered GOOD. But everything in between is universally BAD and animal abuse. Maybe it is the system that does not work here, not that potential buyers are all uneducated capricious people?

I have rescued dogs for years, and it isn't for the faint hearted. Rescues really try to match with a suitable home, but even then it's difficult.

I have spent hours with rescue dogs, training, socialising etc, and I am an experienced owner. Some have come from appalling backgrounds and they are scared, and can be fear aggressive. I can completely understand why they don't always want to rehome with young children, because there is only so much assessment you can do in kennels. Dogs can take at least 6 weeks to 3 months to destress in a family home.

I sadly had to return one dog to a rescue and it broke my heart, because despite all her kennel assessments, she could NOT live with other dogs. The other dogs met her before we adopted her, but her true nature didn't come out till weeks later, and on the advice of a behaviourist we had to return her. She has been rehomed to a single dog household and is doing great.
Breed rescues aren't taking new applications at moment, but I wouldn't be buying a pup at moment. Over inflated prices and so many scams right now.

I agree OP and feel disappointed that only 73% agree with you. There needs to be a proper dog registration scheme, and perhaps also HMRC chasing up anyone selling puppies.

I was looking for kittens a couple of years ago. Nothing fancy; just plain ordinary moggies, any colour.
I tried all the rescues.
They all turned me down (various reasons 1 not an experience owner (I've owned cats all my life - , kids under 10, working, living somewhere with roads, pond in the garden?!!) eventually on place condescended to offer me cat from their mature range. It was lovely but already a teenager. I wanted two young cats or preferably kittens who could come into our household and learn our ways.
Eventually I bought two £20 kittens on Facebook. I love them to bits.

They also turned me down because we have a caravan and they said we would be away from home too often!

Reachers, I agree. I was turned down by all the local cat rescues, despite having owned cats for 30 years, having a garden, no kids, and working from home. I got my kitten from a local community website. I'd have preferred to adopt, but after the snobbish and patronising 'home visit' I received from the RSPCA, I was forced to do otherwise. My kitten is now a big, happy 8 year old.

I wanted a dog for three years. Researched for a year, waiting for prices to come down too.

Gave up, started saving. And bought one for a lot of money.

My job hasn't changed (part time, NHS) so our routine going forward won't change.

I tried to apply for so, so many rescues. Usually got no response. The only time I got an answer, the charity (one from abroad) admitted a rescue might not be best as I have two cats and two children and a younger puppy might be better.

Also, the abroad dogs..... Maybe research them, too. It's also big business. Not always out of the kindness of their hearts.

Oh and the lady I bought from has now become a friend, and we'll visit with all the other owners and dogs next year. I did come across puppy farms and avoided like the plague.

Think this is a hard one. We looked for 4 years at rescues, we had clear plans in place for if we needed to leave the house and majority of applications were turned down due to this and the fact we couldn't guarantee that we wouldn't need to use a dog sitter/doggy day care or even a family member at a last resort.
We were then turned down due to DC ages. I've just done a search and out of the whole of
The RSPCA site only 4 of the hundreds of dogs can live with children and majority of them say they can't live in an urban setting it must be quiet countryside!
We also have a cat, this has made the impossible worse!
Eventually we decided to buy a puppy, she has been a much loved member of the family since, we had her from 'scratch' so have known background etc, she gets on with the cat, DC etc.

It's difficult to adopt (understandably) so people will get puppies etc.