Where did you get your dog from?

[petswinprizes]

Just curious, given the anti-breeding feeling (been reading the posts on the first page), where your dog actually came from? We got ours from a farmer - with a pet springer spaniel - who didn't realise that the collie (sheepdog) he'd borrowed from his neighbour would be able to climb out of the horsebox window. So no thought at all went into his breeding. So where did yours come from?

mrsd we adopted from Battersea with a 6 year old- they met all the dcs (6,8,10) and observed them with the dog.
This was 8 years ago though.

Tyler put his head in the bin a few years ago and got it stuck in an empty Walkers Grab crisp bag (bigger than normal) My niece went and got my Mum. He had the bag right over his head and was too scared to move. Mum said it was so funny as all you could see was the crisp bag going in and out as he was breathing! He has also in his time ripped open a packet of sixteen loo rolls and sunk his teeth into each..........eaten 3/4 of a Simnel Cake left to cool in the kitchen, the cauliflower from a c cheese (left the sauce) Oh and his party trick is to open chocolate coins left unattended. (not enough to hurt him!) He opens the tinfoil beautifully with no teeth mark left!!

I think it's fine for rescues to be cautious, some of the Lurchers are going to be fine with children but are tall and bouncy at the moment so they suggest those would be better for older, taller, children to get to know and settle down with. Just because being knocked over by an excited young dog might scare my children in their first dog ownership and then make it far harder to get them good at reading the dogs signals for space or discomfort.

But a blanket ban leaves people buying when they wanted to rescue and gives people bad ideas that certain breeds or sizes are the danger, rather than untrained children, adults and dogs being the issue. My grandparents had a corgi that snapped and bit often and hated children. Whereas the huge lurcher greyhound my parents had later on was utterly patient, but also trained and respected when he needed space etc.

There are no guarantees with any dog, rescue or bought from puppy. Fostered assessment helps a lot I think but I know that's not always possible. Otherwise it just needs good training of dog and people and time to learn each other's ways and maybe a year to 18 months to settle.

My goddaughter (nearly 3) is terrified of Tyler so he has to be shut in the other room when she comes round!

Scottish Staffordshire Bull Terrier Rescue. He is one of a litter of seven that was bred for fun after owners acquired a female dog to go with their un-neutered male. They didn't look after mum properly so she struggled to feed pups and by the time pups were 4/5 weeks they were fed up of mess, etc so took all nine dogs to various vets trying to get them put to sleep. One vet called SSBTR who took in mum and pups and arranged and paid for dad to be neutered. We are in touch with our boys foster carers and all his siblings who are now thriving in happy homes.

Our last dog was a rescue, and we will only get rescue dogs from now on.

Some of the smaller rescues will re-home to people with young children. SSBTR do when they know the dogs history or have fostered them with experienced people who have children. They have been very supportive with training and health advice too.

DDog1 (mongrel of completely indeterminate heritage, looked like a chunky Ibizan hound) came from the local branch of nationwide rescue. He was mine and DH's first dog and I don't think we could have picked a less suitable one, no idea why the rescue let us have him. He was handed over to us with an untreated skin condition and a very obvious heart murmur which they didn't inform us about. He ended up being a house dog (and a very happy one) as he was just too frightened of being outside of any spaces he knew were "ours". He was PTS last year aged 14.

DDog2 (mongrel, most likely BC x terrier x whippet/greyhound) came from a fosterer on behalf of another nationwide rescue. DDog2 was supposedly 7 weeks but in hindsight we think she was nearer 5 weeks, which explains a lot of the issues she's had. She developed juvenile cataracts and was blind by the time she was 18 months old, we had to fork out £5k to have them fixed She's lovely but very neurotic and prone to developing obsessive behaviours.

DWhippets 1, 2 & 3 all came from the same breeder. We decided to go to a breeder rather than rescue again as we were restricted to getting a puppy due to DDog1 (there's no way we could have introduced him to an adult dog) and after DDog2 we weren't comfortable getting a puppy without any kind of ancestry to give us an idea of their likely temperament and health.

Now we've lost DDog1 I think we may well go back to rescuing, most likely ex-racing greyhounds.

Dog's trust rehome to families with children, I've previously had a dog from there...there are only a few dogs they do, because they like to be completely sure of the dog, but they do come up.

Current dog came as a puppy from a breeder who shows.

Previous dogs have come from...dog's trust, the local pound, a supermarket advert (free to a good home, pre-internet days) One was left tied to our gate so we kept him (after contacting the dog warden), um, we had two that we fostered for about a year, separately though not together and some childhood ones that came from accidental litters.

MrsDV, FatJess certainly had 'character' but was amazing with DD. She was about 18 months when we got her, had been in a pound in Ireland, was bought over by an Independant Rescue and homed with Dogs Trust. Considering what she'd been through we dismissed her at first, but over a period of a few weeks I kept seeing her, and slowly fell for her. Dogs Trust were really wary of us having her (what with being a mil family, with a baby, in quarters), but I pursuaded them to give us a chance.

She was ace. Really protective of DD but soft as hell around her. Was a mouser and an escape artist. Played football with the kids in the close (they would actually call for her) and burst more footballs than I care to remember. Came to work with me and tried to beat up the huge GSD that belonged to my boss (GSD would eventually sit on her). Was more Jack until she was about 5, then got fat and looked like a Corgi. She would eat until she burst if you let her, ridiculously greedy and forever 'burying' food all over the house.

She was the first Jack(ish) I ever met that wasn't snappy. Until her I'd been quite scared of Jacks, I'm glad she changed my mind :)

From a small local rescue. Our children were aged 2 and 6 at the time. I emailed to describe our circumstances and they phoned and agreed we could go and look at the puppies they had available. I was keen on some little scruffy things I had seen on their website, but when we got there she said after talking to me on the phone she had saved a pup especially for me as I sounded like I suited her. She brought out a bundle of black fluff who licked my chin and stole my heart :)

Exactly a year on, and I have to say all of you who think you have the best dog in the world? You don't, because I have her!

Ahhhh, lovely hearing about all these rescue dogs

Dusty dog was bred by a vet for showing but she decided she couldn't handle showing dogs with wagging tails ! So he came to us age 6 mths on the recommendation of a local vet we know socially. He's now 14.5 years and just this morning was having a play with a tennis ball despite arthritis. DS has never known life without him.

Oh and for what it's worth...the best dog out of all of them was the one from the pound.

We got him at about 6 months old, he'd been picked up as a stray as a puppy, rehomed and then returned when he grew too big.

He was a bouncy, completely unsocialized, unhousetrained bundle of legs, who was scared of just about everything and had terrible separation anxiety and also a food thief.

By the time he was 18 months old he was a happy go lucky completely bompbroof dog who was great around other dogs and children...though still a terrible thief, we never cracked that, lol. He was mine and my DC's best friend for 13 years and I still miss him.

Our rescue boy:

When we got our first dog my ds was 3 and she came from Wood Green Animal Shelter.
They used to have a church service at Ely every year for your rescue pets don't know if they still do

First two dogs were pups from an unplanned litter threatened with drowning if we didn't take them :( the week before Christmas, 8 years ago.
Ddog3 was from a rescue as a 10 week old pup, picked up as a stray
Ddog4 was from the council pound where no one was going to rehome him as a huge black hairy dog aged about 10 months with no training at all..

FWIW I foster for a rescue and have two DCs under 10, but my kids are very confident with dogs, will never scream or run, will respect dogs' boundaries and will always do as they are told with regard to dog training etc. some of their friends I would not allow anywhere near my dogs as they have no idea how to behave around animals. I also usually test the foster dogs out with even younger children, cats, horses, traffic, etc so am pretty confident if they can be placed with children or not. In fact some dogs I have specifically recommended to be placed with children, when they have seemed particularly comfortable around them. A lot hinges on the kids' attitude though- a lot of the time it's more a case of whether the kids are suitable to have a dog in the house more than whether the dog is suitable to homed with kids, but this is where a really good homecheck comes in.

my current boy came from a breeder who shows the breed and was involved with the GB breed society. spent a morning with the breeder before they said I could have one of their dogs. Old boy is over 15 now and currently snoozing on the sofa! My little JRT who passed away at the end of last year came from a family who bought her as a puppy for their children and the children were petrified of her. I had not long lost my first ever dog who came from Battersea as a pup so I adopted the little JRT when she was about 4 months old.

Both of mine came from a rescue. A lab cross and a cairn terrier. Both as puppies around 16 weeks. Dd was about 2, ds2 would have been 6/7 and ds1 around 10. They are about 6 now.

It's been a difficult journey as we rent we had a period if moving every 6 months which not only a nightmare financially for us but also finding landlords that would accept dogs. The lab has been attacked twice by other dogs. Once by a jt who got underneath him. He was a bit cautious after that of other dogs but recovered well. He was about two. And then two years ago someone was walking a staff off lead in a residential street. It ran across and got hold of our lab. Lab had holes in his ear and lips. Since then he's terrified of other dogs and barks and growls on his walks. He's walked on a lead such a shame as he loves to run off lead and catch a ball but can't risk it. He's such a softy at home as well.

The rescue was www.dbarc.org.uk

Both dogs trust and blue cross were happy for me to have a dog off them when my youngest was under 5. I think it depends on your circumstances and what dogs they have in at the time.

My friend used yo foster for the dogs trust, than later the main greyhound charity, when her own children were tiny

Mine came from a breeder, previous one did too, one before that was a rescue, as was the one before.
I do volunteer at a rescue, as a DH walker, but with a cat and chickens, taking on an unknown was not possible. Our rescues these days consist mainly of lurchers - they have overtaken staffys now.
I did bring a stray lurcher home. He ate one of my chickens - totally my fault for not being more on guard, but it did confirm our dicision to get a young pup and bring it up with the other animals. And it has worked.

I DO agree with going to a dog rescue where possible, but find the vitriol aimed at anyone getting a dog from anywhere else on here very off putting.

A dog IS for life, so getting the right one, that suits your circumstances has to be the priority.

And anyway, all dogs are fab