Advice on getting a dog please

[leekandpotsoup]

Hi we'd like to get a dog once the Covid restrictions are eased and more dogs become available and hopefully prices settled down

Our dilemma is how do we go about getting a dog? All the three dogs we've had we got through friends and family as puppies. We're thinking a young dog, or a pup, a rescue or from a breeder

We sadly lost our much loved 12 year old dog 5 weeks ago and although we're grieving and miss him desperately we know we can give another dog a good loving home.

Can anyone advise us based on your experience of getting your dogs

I've never rescued, only ever had puppies. Many rescues will not rehome to families with young DC, and some overseas rescues have a bad reputation for matching dogs and new owners, or not supporting the new owners afterwards. My observations are that breed-specific rescues are more flexible about families (UK rescues) and better at matching the dog to the new homes (overseas rescues).

Just avoid puppy farms at all costs. They've got good at masquerading as family homes.

There is some good guidance on them here:
Kennel Club
and here:
PDSA

As for personal experiences, our two most recent dogs came from very different sources:

1. Advert on Pets4Homes. I did epic due diligence on this, as puppy farm fronts often advertise on here. We saw the litter twice in the family home, with the dam; I FB friended the breeder (still in touch almost four years later) so I could check him out (and he could check me out); saw videos of the dam in work on his phone; had the breeder talk me through the pedigree; was a alert to his relationship with his dogs (excellent). He home-checked us. I was happy with that.
2. From a well-known breeder of working dogs who I knew already (and knew the pup's dam, half-sister etc). Saw the litter once prior to collection.

A failed working dog or bred from a working home.
Last two dogs we’ve had are retired working dogs, older dogs with none of the unknowns of rescues

My two are both rescue - ddog1 was handed in at 6 months when it was apparent he wasn't going to chase anything, ddog2 was born in rescue after his mum was dumped heavily pregnant.
Ddog1 joined us when ds was 6 and is his best friend in the world.
For the last 3 years we've fostered puppies for the rescue they came from, our current one is 6 months old and 90% lovely, 10% a complete dick!

Thanks for your answers I think I need to do some research and ask friends etc too.

There tends to be a fair bit of advice on fb breed appreciation pages. We found ours through that and like @GrumpyMiddleAgedWoman I did as much due diligence as possible, friended on Facebook and did go back through posts etc just to ensure not a ‘front’ and met her beforehand. Called vets when I was told they had their vaccinations as well.

Just avoid gumtree, preloved, fb selling sites. My mum got hers through Pets4Homes and it was fine but you really do have to be careful and don’t fall into the trap of feeling like you’re rescuing a puppy out of a bad situation - just report and move on.

Thank you, I'll look up the breed specific Facebook pages. We'd really love another Labrador as we've had two, plus we had a Labrador cross when I was a kid. I know they're one of the most popular breeds but we feel that we know and love the breed. So I'll do some searching on fbk etc I'll post for advice on our local facebook pages too.

We're not in a hurry and we know we're best letting the covid situation settled down and the madness around the selling of dogs.

Are you or where you involved with any dog training groups or sports?That is also a great place to starting asking around. The dog world is pretty small and the "good names and breeders" will be known.

Speak to trainers as they will also have know a lot about the dogs, breeders etc.

Ask to speak to owners from previous litters. Learn the lingo a bit like school reports! " he has a lot of character" for being hard to train, we love his energy! for he never stops etc. "He loves company" means he can not be left alone. Be ready to question a lot.

Be picky, very picky.

Good luck

Good ideas @PollyRoulson I do know lots of dog walkers but we've not seen much of them since lockdown and our lovely boy couldn't walk far for the last year or and then losing him has meant we haven't seen so much of them - we'll have to try getting out on the dog walks to get back into the loop, minus a dog.