Buying adult dog online

[Ginnywoofly]

Not something I’m considering, just curious after a chat with a friend.
What do people think of buying an adult dog (over 6 months due to Lucy’s law) that someone is selling on pets4homes or gumtree etc? Has anyone “rehomed” a dog in this way? I think I would wonder why they are selling it not surrendering it to a rescue, but I can see why they might prefer to rehome their dog this way (even if not just doing it for the money)-they may want to meet the new owners for themselves or not use a charity’s resources. If you were looking for a specific breed, and the owner/seller seemed genuine (had to get rid of dog due to circumstances etc) would you/have you done this? I guess you wouldn’t know the history or health testing/background but that’s the same as any rescue-although rescues may do a more professional and honest assessment . I’m not sure I like that people would be making money off their pet (as opposed to a donation to a rescue charity), but I can see why you wouldn’t give it away for free either (risk of being used in fighting or something awful). And surely there’s not space in rescue for every dog that people sell online? Also, rescues can be very strict about who they place dogs with (may be reasonable?) in terms of working hours/main road/kids. Do you think it’s better to buy an adult dog off someone online than buy from a litter of unregistered puppies on pets4homes? Thoughts on this?

Interested in this thread as I’ve seen a few of the breed I like when people have obviously realised they can’t cope and I’m I guess an experienced dog owner but I’d take it as a given it’s got some behaviour problems and I’d want to see vet records before going through.. will watch this thread with interest

Yes we did many years ago. Was on preloved I think, which in itself is quite sad. Very overweight young adult springer, unwanted by current owner. Put it on preloved instead of taking to a rescue. He was a fantastic dog once he had been on a vet diet! Lived a long time and was very loved.

I’ve sort of done it, years ago... pre-internet, when it was an advert on a supermarket notice board, now he was a great dog, but definitely had some quirks that not everyone could have tolerated.

Also, I foster for a charity that takes dogs while their owners get some support with stuff and then the dog’s go back to them, so they’re not trying to make their dog sound attractive to a buyer when they give a history and description of how they are and IMO people are very unaware of their dogs issues, good with other dogs can mean anything from is completely terrified but doesn’t attack right through to, is a complete over friendly thug and shouldn’t be off lead cause it’ll harass other dogs.

Ok to be left often just means, doesn’t bark, but is the most stressed dog you’ve ever seen.

So I’m not so sure it’s a great idea unless you’re happy enough to wait and see if there are behavioural issues or not.

I wouldn't.

How do you know anything about the dogs health, history or the reason for rehoming? Anyone can lie on an internet advert.

Someone could be rehoming a dog that's bitten a child due to severe resource guarding and you'd have no idea because they'll say "it's due to allergies".

It's very risky IMO although I'm sure lots of people will be on to say how they've done it and it's been fine.

Another reason why someone might not want to rehome via a charity is that the dog has serious behaviour or medical issues and has been turned away / told it's likely to be put down by the charities.

DDog came to me from a friend who emigrated. I thought I knew DDog well - I'd been walking him for months. He still came with a couple of surprises. DFriend, though well meaning, didn't have the knowledge to recognise and describe DDog's behaviour issues - we're talking a significantly reactive dog, but he didn't really see it as an issue. Not malicious, or even seeking to cover anything up, just hugely naive.

DDog had already made his way through 3 owners before he made it into my life at about 18 months. I dread to think how many more owners he might have had since then if we hadn't accidentally met (I didn't actually want to adopt a dog at that point - it really wasn't the right point in my life!)

You might end up with a lovely dog, but it's not a route to go down unless you're prepared to take on a project dog, and have the wherewithal to help a project dog - which realistically means don't it if you have younger children or are horrified by the idea of being bitten (though DDog's early days taught me that dog bites don't hurt anywhere near as much as I thought they might).

“DFriend, though well meaning, didn't have the knowledge to recognise and describe DDog's behaviour issues - we're talking a significantly reactive dog, but he didn't really see it as an issue. Not malicious, or even seeking to cover anything up, just hugely naive.”

That’s exactly the point I was trying to get across with my fosters, it’s actually in their owners interests to describe them accurately and they still don’t manage to - how much worse would it be when people have an incentive to downplay issues?

Honestly better to rehome an adult dog from a rescue - you’ll have behavioural support, a constant source of advice and back up if there’s a reason you can’t keep the dog. You get none of that buying privately and people will lie about a dog’s issues. You also see a lot of dogs being resold -again- online after someone’s bought them but then the landlord has immediately said noooope. A rescue or good breeder checks this before going through with the adoption/sale.

If you do buy privately, that’s for people with experience in dog behaviour, no novices and first time dog owners.

Just wanted to add that Lucy’s Law only applies to council licensed sellers. Private owners can still resell their puppy online if they’ve made a mistake. Plenty of puppies as young as 8-9 weeks being resold online because the “kids are allergic” etc etc.

I think I'd only take on an adult dog privately if it came via a network of people I know. We strayed down the route once of private rehoming and I had a strong feeling that I was just not being told everything I needed to know, and didn't even go and see the dog.

If I ever had to re-home mine (cold chills at the thought) I have enough contacts in the breed and they are well enough trained that I'd rather take that route than hand them in to a random rescue. I'd make sure they went with vet records, pedigrees, training info etc and I'd be very suspicious of someone who tried to sell me an adult dog without that background.

@bunnygeek really I’d thought Lucy’s law applied to anyone selling dogs and just was never enforced/monitored by pets4homes. It seems like it unfortunately won’t do much to stop backyard breeders/idiots breeding their dogs to make some quick cash then if it only applies to licensed breeders

I’ve always got dogs from official rescue charities, and have taken on reactive dogs which the rescues have always been honest about the dogs behaviour. However I’ve still had some surprises with rescue dogs-after all they are only assessed in the rescue for a short time and often it’s not a home environment/it’s impossible for the rescue to know exactly how the dog will behave in other situations/they don’t have a full history. I think buying from a previous owner could be a safer bet (the problem would be finding a responsible person selling-which may be unlikely) as you may find out more of the history. I think if you could meet the dog and walk it, see it around food, dogs, toys and it seems well behaved then you’re likely to have less problems than taking on a dog with known issues. It’s obviously still a bit of a gamble, but without young kids I think I’d rather take the risk than buy a puppy when I have the set up to take in an older dog with unknown history. I don’t think the lack of a back-up if something goes wrong is much of a problem, as after all a rescue would take the dog in (provided there was no severe aggression etc) whether you got the dog from there or not, and you can get plenty of support from trainers/behaviourists you find yourself. I’d never buy from someone advertising a litter from their unregistered untested dog, as that doesnt seem ethical to me, but I’m not sure about buying an older dog that needs a home. There’s something about buying online that just doesn’t sit right with me, and I think I would go with a real rescue again-but I’m not exactly sure why!

“I’ve always got dogs from official rescue charities, and have taken on reactive dogs which the rescues have always been honest about the dogs behaviour. However I’ve still had some surprises with rescue dogs-after all they are only assessed in the rescue for a short time and often it’s not a home environment/it’s impossible for the rescue to know exactly how the dog will behave in other situations/they don’t have a full history.”

Oh yes, you’ll always get things that are missed... but with a rescue you’re getting an assessment from someone who knows dogs at least, with some it’s someone with qualifications in behaviour.

You won’t get, yeah - he’s totally fine with other dogs when what they actually mean is, well he’s gone for a couple of dogs but I’m ignoring it because I’ve not noticed he’s been tense for ages round other dogs so I’m treating it like a complete freaky one off thing.

Or similar.

Lots of good point raised already. My biggest concern however is buying an adult dog online could well be a case of buying a stolen dog, so I would never consider doing it under any circumstances.

It gives an easy outlet to ‘fence the goods’ which makes stealing dogs more prevalent

@Undisclosedlocation yes of course-forgot to mention possibly the biggest issue. I do think that if you met the person you may be able to get a fairly good idea. I’d never go near those ads you see with a dog (or worse a couple of older puppies from same litter but no mother) that are badly spelled and just a sentence about suddenly moving house or something. But I think if you met the person properly and asked for photos of the dog in different places/over the years with their family/saw the bond between owner and dog, saw the dog in its home/with its own bed and toys around, you could be quite certain it isn’t stolen. Sadly I bet most of the sales of older dogs aren’t this thorough and are just a quick handover of the dog and the cash.

[quote Ginnywoofly]@bunnygeek really I’d thought Lucy’s law applied to anyone selling dogs and just was never enforced/monitored by pets4homes. It seems like it unfortunately won’t do much to stop backyard breeders/idiots breeding their dogs to make some quick cash then if it only applies to licensed breeders[/quote]
Lucy’s Law is actually the less catchy “ The Animal Welfare (Licensing of Activities Involving Animals) (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2019” and this only applies to licenced sellers - those breeding 3 or more litters a year. Lucy’s Law alone won’t stop puppy farming - puppy farms just sell from their own “shop front” rather than using a dealer. It hasn’t made any difference to imported puppies being sold either, still tons for sale online, or the importers just ship a pregnant mum, she has her puppies here, voila bypasses being a third party seller.

Sigh :(

I wouldn’t assume a rescue knows much about the dogs they are trying to rehome. I’ve had 3, from different rescues, and was told things which were completely wrong or at least showed that they knew nothing about the dog we adopted.
If you adopt from a nice family with a genuine reason for giving up their pet you will know far more about the dog.

In the current climate, you stand a good chance of ending up with a stolen dog.