Where do I get a dog from?

[booksrock]

We are finally in position to get a dog, I am happy to walk it daily, DH only works a couple of hours a day and we have a big back garden.

DC are primary school age and we have 3 cats.

I want a medium size dog up to 1 year old.

All rescue homes I have looked at say their dogs are not suitable for other pet households and young children - does this mean I cannot have a rescue dog? My cats are rescue and I was hoping to get a dog in the same way. I don't particularly want a breed so is their any other way of getting a mongrel?

Some rescues definitely rehome to families/pets. I'd keep looking if I were you.

If you're a naice kind of person then these peeps will let you have a dog www.facebook.com/BlackRetrieverXRescue?fref=ts

Would you like Nelly?

Or if you had room in your heart for two, then Dylan and Beatrice are adorable

EGLR are happy to rehome to people with young children and other animals, and can homecheck countrywide

Independent rescues, especially smaller ones, do tend to be a bit more flexible with regards to homing criteria than some of the larger national organisations.

There are also rescues which may be based in one area but have dogs in foster homes all over the UK.

It is worth contacting rescues about individual dogs as well, in case they are willing to be flexible.

We had an elderly cat when we were looking, but Dogs Trust were happy to rehome a puppy to us - just not an adult dog.

Thanks, will definitely look at the options. We want a young dog to fit our household but most seem to be older dogs, - I guess I just keep looking and sign up with some local ones.

I'm in the same position, I applied to Black Retriever Rescue but they didn't reply. There are no puppies locally unless I want a staffy and I have searched a wide area. I only want a puppy due to kids/cats etc and DD wanting to do puppy classes.
They way it's looking I'm going to be paying ££ for one from a breeder ( after doing all the checks of course)
I work from home and have a reasonable sized house with a secure garden etc etc and am well used to dogs - we could give one a brilliant home if we couid find one. Maybe I'm being too picky but I know what will fit best with us.

books, some rescues have puppies all the time but they are in a separate part of the building so the oldies have a chance of being rehomed. We got on the 'puppy list' at Dogs Trust because, having an elderly cat, they wouldn't rehome an older dog to us - but it was them who suggested waiting for a puppy. Litters (and singletons) come in all the time. Once you are on the puppy list, you can ring up and enquire and when a litter comes in you are let through the magic doors to look. I'd imagine some of the other larger rescues are the same; they will get puppies fairly regularly, but if they shouted it from the rooftops none of the other dogs would get a look-in! But for some people, a pup is the best or only options and if you enquire about the puppy list, you might get on it. Good luck!

Hopping I was actually waiting for a staffy (got a staffy cross) but during the time we were going in they had in a litter of GSD crosses, a litter of black labs, some sort of fluffy terrier puppy (I forget what breed it was but it was very pretty) and a few others I forget... If your local rescue only has staffies, just cast the net a bit wider. I've had two staffies before so knowing the breed, that was what I was hoping for. The litter of GSDs had 10 pups and I think the black labs were a huge litter, as well...

Thank you. Was not aware of a puppy list at dogs trust. We live on the M62 corridor so with ing striking distance of both Leeds, Manchester and lots of places inbetween. I'm happy to travel as well.

So I contacted Dogs Trust and they just told me to search dogs up for adoption on my local centres website so back to square one.
Looks like I will be buying a puppy from a breeder

Hopping, we got on the puppy list at Leeds simply randomly turning up, filling in the forms and someone the sits down and chats with you, in he light of what you put on the forms. If you mention the puppy list and tell them why you think a pup would be a better fit, they might put you on it, as they did us. If you phone, they probably won't talk about pups unless you have already done the forms and can say you're on the waiting list. But you have to go there in person, to do the forms.

I agree with pp about puppies not being on display , the day we went to look at Battersea there was nothing suitable for us ( didn't want a staffy) so we asked at the desk and they had a couple of puppies - one staff ,one terrier x that were not for 'general release' . We took the terrier home with us that day - if we hadn't asked we would have missed him and he's turned out to be a fabulous family pet . Many Tears have lots of pups and young dogs and they have fosterers all over the place .

Once you are on the list, you just have to keep ringing and telling them you are and ask if any pups have come in. The pups are usually available then on a first come first served basis, so you do have to keep ringing... If you fill in the forms, and get the home visit over and done with then you are in a position to pounce when a litter you like the sound of, comes in. You don't need an appointment to go in - just turn up and say you want to look round and fill in the forms.

It's great because you get subsidised puppy classes from them; pup comes with first set of vaccinations and you just return for the second (included in the price - we paid £80 for our dog) and also you have a lifetime's free support from their qualified and rather brilliant behaviourists (who also do the puppy classes so if a problem arises, they will already know your dog).

You return at 6 months - again included in the price - for pup to be spayed/neutered. Pup comes to you having been thoroughly checked over by their vet and they have a socialisation programme that pups have had, before you take them home. Loads of notes and back up info and there is always someone at the end of the phone to help, if you need them. In other words: rolled in to the price of the pup is a whole mass of support you could never hope to get from any breeder.

Which rescues have you tried in that area? I'm around there too, I may be able to think of more?

I googled West Yorkshire dog rescues and worked through the list honey

My two are both rescues. Our collie came from Many Tears and our Little Bastard Brown Dog came from Heathlands, both organisations have quite a few of their dogs in foster care so are able to say whether or not a dog is suitable to be with other animals and what age children they could live with. Our collie was 8 weeks old when she came to us, the LBD was between 10 months and a year old.