Downsides of buying a trained puppy/dog?

[GreenDragonisLoose]

I'm looking into buying a ready-trained young labrador, rather than a puppy and training it myself.

So you pick the sex, traits that you want, and it comes toilet trained, with recall, house manners etc.

Any downsides to this? Seems too good to be true so I must be missing something?!

I didn't know this was a thing! I've only known working dogs being sent away to be trained and then returning back to the family they are bonded with. Or puppy walking for hounds where they spend some time growing up and being socialised.

At the age you describe, you aren't getting an adult dog, you'd be getting an adolescent-ish dog who although they might be doing their very best to get it right for the owner of the business you are paying but is still a young and bouncy dog. I can't see how you could both be able to pick a dog by it's traits and it also be a dog who is full used to domestic life. One person simply couldn't have the time or space in the house.
It sounds like a way of selling on surplus stock of farmed puppies or young stray dogs shipped in from abroard.
Shop around for a rescue that has come from a normal home but had to be rehomed through no fault of it's own.
Spend the money in a good trainer and build a relationship with your dog that works for both of you.

What is the company?

There will be reasons the failed guide dogs have been failed. (not a word they tend to use!) Maybe health issues maybe high prey drive, love of water poor recall, nervous in busy situations , dont like travelling or cars passing. This is not aways an easy option.

Getting trained dogs is pretty common in the gundog word and a bit in sheep dogs that have been trained for herding.

Often the gun dogs are trained using aversive methods. I would need to interogate the trainers/breeders to see how they train the dogs. Also what they are trained for might not be what you need for your dogs. eg trained for gundog work but you want a dog that will sit quiety at the pub and be very sociable in a busy area but the dogs are used and socialised to a different environment. The dogs may be in kennels for onger but you intend to keep the dog in the house.

Training puppies and dogs is fun. Much more fun to do it yourself.

I’ve only heard about this for gun dogs or farm dogs, but they start off with the family, so get the basic training done with them (and the bonding and socialising) and then go off to be trained for the ‘work’ element.

Why wouldn’t you want the early bit? What training will your dog get? If it is ‘work’ type training won’t you have to continue that, otherwise they might get bored?

I ended up with this when we got our dog - the breeder had been planning to keep him for showing, but by 5 months he was bigger than the breed standard.

So he came to us house-trained, crate-trained and well-socialised. We still had to do some work on recall but that didn’t take long as he was very food-motivated. Plus at 5 months he was still very much a cute puppy!

No problems whatsoever with bonding, he saw us as his family almost straightaway. The only downside I see is knowing it’ll be hard to ever get such a perfect dog again!

This is lovely to hear! And is near to the situation I'd be needing - foundation of training already there.

Lots of reasons for not wanting a puppy - and lots of reasons wanting an adult dog.

Apart from assessing the training methods used are kind/positive based for the dogs I can't think of any other downsides, this thread has been really encouraging, I'll delve further into that option.

Where would the dog have been for the 18 months before you get it, in kennels? I can’t imagine anyone puppy walking a dog just so someone else can have a fully trained dog who can’t be bothered to do it themselves. I would worry about what sort of home it would be going to. Different being a puppy walker for Guide Dogs for the Blind etc

We had this with our lab. Came to us as a rehome from the breeder fully trained.

However, I still had to do 1-2-1 training with her to get her used to what we wanted, plus, she hit the teen stage and her recall became nonexistent for a while so it was back to basics.

So I think it’s fine to do it if you’re eyes are wide open to the fact that training never ever stops and it’s a constant in dog ownership.

@GreenDragonisLoose are you reading the same posts as me, as most of them are questioning the practice not encouraging unless you are getting a working dog, and it would be cruel to get a fully trained working dog and not then ‘work’ it, as it will get bored

We took on a trained dog (through circumstance). Best dog ever, no trouble bonding. Dogs settle with new owners very quickly IME.

The age where you seem to be getting the dog could be adolescent phase which can be harder than puppy phase, and all the foundation training goes out the window! So if you haven’t had experience of training a dog you would find that phase really hard

They're in loving family homes - and they do assess and vet you before allowing you to buy one.

The motivation for doing it, I imagine, is the extra money 💰

That's very reassuring, thank you for posting!

I am concerned that a ‘company’ is doing this though. It’s quite common for people who train dogs for competition (working dogs) to sell those that aren’t quite field trial champion level (but still great dogs). As in they will keep two from a litter train both and if one isn’t quite good enough sell it. I’ve never heard of a company that has selling trained dogs as their sole purpose.

If the families are doing it for money I wouldn’t trust them. You don’t get paid for puppy walking a guide dog (although all expenses eg food, vets bills etc are covered) but you don’t make money.

It seems as though the decision is already made and only the positive posts are being noted. It just feels like something that could end in tears...

I would add, our lab was only socialised with her litter and breeders other dog. It meant that she did miss valuable socialisation (the window for this is tiny - by 19 weeks) and it’s meant she is wary of other dogs on the lead and never learnt the rules of play. We’ve spent a long time resolving this - she’s great off the lead and with our subsequent puppy but I would be insistent that puppy did attend training classes and had the chance to meet other puppies.

Do you have the name of the company? Maybe other posters have heard of it? I would worry this is an extension of puppy farming and a new way of them getting money

What breed are you looking at exactly, and what’s your experience of dogs? That should also be a factor in your decision.

Personally, to me the puppy stage is far more easy that the rest of it. Dog ownership is hard work if that’s how you choose to view it. You either enjoy putting the time in, or you’ll soon resent it.

This will end in tears and probably a bite.

But hey, OP (who almost certainly isn’t buying the dog to work it in any meaningful way - which is the only reason anyone should buy these dogs) knows best.

How do you see your life with your dog @GreenDragonisLoose? Have you ever had a dog before?

It’s not that different from getting an adult dog from a rescue though is it? I’ve had several dogs from rescues who were house trained etc, and I bonded with them fine. So I don’t see any issue.

@mondaytosunday but dogs in rescues are there because something went wrong. Why would a business replicate that?

They aren't all in rescue because something went wrong. Sometimes people's circumstances change and they can no longer look after the dog. And in those cases that something went wrong, I would say it's usually the owner's fault rather than the dogs.

I know gundog and show people keep puppies and sell them on later if they don't make the grade, but I don't know 'companies' that do it. And unless you want a working gundog, why pay £1000s for one trained to work? You'd be better off getting a nice adult rescue dog. I have a rescue springer and she is the nicest dog you could ever wish to meet.