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

[Coffeealwayshot]

Just that really

I see my local shelter is full again and saying they will need to euthanise if they can’t find homes.

Everyone I know (bar 2 or 3) who has a dog has bought from a breeder.

Im not rude enough to ask people if they considered a rescue. I know some say they were turned down but some that they just wanted a puppy or a specific breed.

So my question is as above?
I get we can’t say no breeding at all but should taking on a rescue be the only option for those who are suitable and reduce the breeding to just cater for those who can’t have a rescue dog?

Most rescues will not even consider talking to you if you have primary aged children or younger. Seriously pointless endeavour.

Rightfully, they want a suitable home for the rescues they have. But that often rules out most families with young children.

So people buy puppies who do not have known issues, and will be happy in a family environment.

After owning two springer spaniels, we looked for another. One of the rescues we applied to told us that we should be grateful to take any breed; and if not, we weren't true dog lovers!

I had so many questions to answer before the breeder would even consider me. Wanted to know about my house, the area I lived in, my family set up, whether I was planning any more children, work hours, lifestyle etc. One of the most stressful interviews in my life!!

They were a KC registered breeder, mum was only having three litters very spaced apart. Health checks were completed.

Rescues make it impossible for people with normal lives to adopt.
Children? Nope.
Live within 25miles of a road. Nope.
Have to leave the house for more than 3minutes a day.
Nope

Also, I like and want small hairy terrier type dogs. I don't want a big dog. That's my preference, the suit my house and my lifestyle. I am allowed to have a preference.
I also don't want a staffie, staffie cross or any bull breed, which are virtually the only dogs you can get in shelters poor things.

I've always bought puppies because I wanted a puppy to train from scratch and a specific breed. I'm not against rescue dogs, and I will perhaps choose that when my current dog goes because I will have adult children (who may be moved out) and I won't want the hard work of a puppy. I would likely choose a dog about 2yo. If a rescue will let me have one!

A rescue has potential to be way more volatile than a puppy. I've trained mine into a wonderful dog, but started with a blank sheet of paper, that suited me and my family very well

Agree with all of this.

Maybe dh and I will look for a rescue dog after all the dc are grown up. But I wouldn't consider rehoming ANY adult dog with dc at home, no matter how lovely they're supposed to be.

An adult dog has an entirely unknown/unverifiable background. Nope, not for me, not with kids at home.

Or that they can't adopt before having a baby ..

Some dogs are better being PTS (which they know nothing about) than being forced on people without the patience or skills to take on a rescue dog.

I didn't want to take on a dog with potential
Problems from someone else poor training and raising. I also didn't want an unknown history dog around my children.
It's also very restrictive trying to rescue if you have small children.
It's not for everyone. Other peoples poor decisions aren't my responsibility to rehome.

Rescue animals should come with a warning.

I've had rescues and they were nightmares, with various health issues or behavioural problems.

Never again! I felt cheated.

Most rescues are hard work, ridiculous restrictions. Such as one adult must not work nor be committed to volunteering/elderly care etc & no children under 15. How many people do you know that fit into that category.

poeople who have always had dogs, but no because they have primary age children.

then complain shelters are full.

No, I don't really think so.

Aside from other reasons people have mentioned, another thing is that not all dogs are meant to be mainly pets. There are lots of people who want a working dog and so look for particular breeds and need to train them up.

More specifically, I don't have any particular love for breeders. We always have several dogs, we've had rescue staffies, dogs born to some local pet owner due to an escape, dogs that sort of just arrived, dogs from breeders that we sought out. They've always been good dogs and none really better than the others, except in terms of health - the purebred labs seem to have simply had health issues after health issue, even coming from differernt breeders, so we don't get those any more.

Anyway, all this is to say while I have no particular problem with the types or personality of dogs from rescues, but we'd never be approved for one these days. And I guess I just don't think people have an obligation around this.

I do think many people are altogether too ready to give up on a dog that causes problems.

The rules the shelters put in place are often bizarre and so counterproductive. I think a lot of people who go in for rescues work have issues. Some are borderline animal hoarders, and a lot just don't have a sense of proportion. Demanding that people not work outside the home is nuts!

Hell would freeze over before I gave my money to a greeder. There's hardly a shortage of dogs

DS is a grown man.

I think we should bring back dog licences but they should be more expensive and priced according to the breed and whether they are 'done'.

A rescue dog could be given a lower category or a discount.

Working dogs could also get a different category.

So a rescue lab that is neutered might have a licence charge of £50 a year. A lab that is a trained guide dog might be £0 a year and a show lab puppy that is going to used to breed would be £200 a year.

Numbers picked at almost random.

Have you had a look at the vulnerable native breed list and then had a look to see how many of those breeds are in rescue?

If rescue were the only option those breeds would die out.

Besides, rescuing is mopping up after bad breeders rather than supporting good ethical breeders.

It should be mandatory to research the breed/breeder you're going to buy

We're a rescue animal only household, but despite a DH who WFH with an animal behaviour degree, a house with a large secured garden and (at the time we wanted to rescue) no DC we couldn't rescue from any UK based shelters, and believe me, we tried. The reason? We had visiting small children and an elderly cat.

We did eventually manage to adopt a lovely dog from Cyprus but she's come with her own issues and we didn't get to meet her before we collected her so had to take a bit of a leap of faith.

I am obviously very pro rescue, but I'm not in charge of what everyone else does and I've got first hand experience of how difficult it actually is to adopt from a rescue centre.

I wish some of the people saying how hard rescues are to adopt from could see the applications I’ve had (bearing in mind I dealt with GSD, not a breed for the inexperienced) I bet those people have gone on to say they couldn’t get a rescue dog.

You only have to look at Facebook rehoming adverts to see it. During the XL ban the around of people taking random large bull breeds into their homes with other pets or children made me feel sick. No wonder there's so many dog problems at the moment.

Ooh, can you share the name of the rescue as so many won’t rehome with young children and other pets - so people might find that really useful - we have a dog from a lovely breeder now as we could not get what we needed from a rescue

I know it's not the same but I wanted a cat. Tried so many different rescues. I gave up. Makes me laugh oh were overrun blah blah. No you can't have a cat tho because there's a train line. Or no your 3 bed split level flat is too small. Blah blah. So no I think ppl do what they need to do

The reason there are so many dogs in rescues is not because people buy puppies. This is placing the 'guilt' in the wrong place.

It's because too many people take on a dog they don't have the time, space, money or knowledge for. If you irradiate that, there would be far less dogs needing new homes - just those whose previous homes genuinely had a change if circumstances beyond their control that left them unable to look after and dog and lacking in alternative options.

No. I had a rescue dog and while he was lovely, he had serious behavioural problems. I couldn’t walk him and he just ran around destroying the back yard barking constantly. I wanted to report myself to the council. Once he got old we had a few great years together. I don’t think I would ever get another rescue dog.

You can't force something (an adult rescue dog dog) onto someone, who doesn't want it.

You can get puppies from rescues, you can't be picky about breed and have to be open-minded and bide your time.

We have had only puppies from rescues over the years. Our present dog was a rescue pup aged 9 weeks. The dog before was 12 weeks. He passed away at the age of 13. Brilliant dog!
Our current one turned out to be mongrel, not a cross, but the mix made sense after conversation with the shelter. We wouldn't change a thing, she is gorgeous, loyal, intelligent and funny.

People should be picky about breed though that’s the point!

If someone has the lifestyle and experience for a shit tzu then really that’s what they should get. Giving them random puppy with no idea of what it will turn out to be usually ends in disaster.

Puppies aren’t blank slates. Genetically a large amount of what it will be is programmed before you collect it at 8w. It’s no good giving an inexperienced time poor family something like a collie cross because it’s a puppy yet people think this is the answer.