Where did you get your dog?

Question

Breeder, shelter, rescue group, pet store? From an ad in the paper? A stray that was dropped off? Where did your furry companion come from?

Please do not buy puppies from a pet store. Pet store puppies come from puppy mills and they usually have a lot of health problems.

Unless you want a purebred puppy, adopt a pet from a shelter. Save a life, adopt.

I guess I should say that 99% of pet store puppies come from puppy mills. Some of the small mom and pop pet stores do buy from local breeders and sell quality pups. Howvever there is a local pet store that does buy from local breeders, but they do not care who they buy from and what kind of breeder they buy from, as long as they can get puppies to sell. I know they buy pups from one of the worst breeders around. Also a good breeder will want to be in control of deciding who buys their puppies, and if they let a pet store sell them, they have no control of the situation.

Answer 1

I got my dog from a breeder, but you should NEVER BUY FROM PET STORES! Doesn't matter how cute they are or how much you think they need a home - if you can't meet the parents of the dogs and see the environment in which the puppies were raised for the first 8 weeks of life, then you don't want the puppy! 99.99% of the time puppies in pet stores were obtained from "puppy mills", where dogs are bred in horrible conditions just to produce puppies and make money. The people who breed them don't care about genetic diseases, such as hip displaysia and severe allergies; they care about making money. These genetic disorders will severely decrease the quality of life of your pet as they grow older and will cost thousands of dollars in treatment throughout the pet's life (not to mention the pet probably won't have as long of a life span anyway), and will also cost you and your family emotional stress in the process. Cruel as it sounds (because, let's face it, we all love to rescue animals), buying your pet from a pet store is only fueling the puppy mill business. Even if you are shown all the health records from the parents, ask to personally see the parents and the environment in which the parents and puppies live!

Answer 2

Both of my dogs were recused. One is a black lab the other is a chow. I would only recommend to anyone to adopt from a local animal shelter, rescue group, etc. Please don't buy from breeders or pet stores. Don't give them the business and then maybe they will stop breeding. Shelter dogs are the best dogs because most of them become so loving and devoted to their new owners for adopting them and giving them the love they deserve. I feel all pet stores and breeders should be banned.We have too may animals in shelters that get put to sleep because breeders just keep breeding because they are $ hunary selfish idiots. Choose a shelter dog you will never regret it.It will turn out to be the best descion ever.

Answer 3

Not all puppies come from puppy mills. My sister owned a pet store and got the puppies from LOCAL BREEDERS, NOT mills! You have to do your own homework. As to see the papers, and look at the address of the breeders.

I got my White Lab at the store. The breeder of that dog lives about 15 minutes away from my house. I know she's not running a mill.
Please don't generalize.

Answer 4

Shelter. I don't believe in buying a dog from a store or breeder. I like saving lives. Best choice I made was rescuing my 3 friends.

Answer 5

Breeder

Answer 6

One from a breeder in Iowa, the other from a local shelter.

Answer 7

My Rottie, was a rescue mission. He was one of 13 born Christmas Eve, 2005. Not from a shelter but from relatives that irresponsibly let their female mate with a neighbor dog.

I wasn't looking for a Rottie, or even a dog, but when they started giving them away, this one picked me to save him. I may always wonder how the rest of his pack fared, and can only hope they are as cared for as Aero.

Answer 8

Our last dog was a 12-year old Mini Schnauzer whose people decided they didn't want her anymore so they dumped her at the shelter to be put down. Fortunately a rescue group I knew got hold of her instead.

Our current dog is a 12 year old Mini Schnauzer whose people had to go to an assisted living facility and realized they weren't going to be able to take care of her (he was going to be bedridden for 6 months, she was legally blind, and they wouldn't have been able to walk her), so they found a new home for her. I hope that them knowing that we were Schnauzer people helped ease their minds during everything else that was going on. (We did make the offer that if they found they would be able to take care of her, to let us know and we would happily bring her back to them, but they said no, they didn't want to uproot her yet again.)

There are too many homeless animals out there for me to ever be able to justify buying a pet dog again.

Answer 9

All three of my dogs came from shelters in my area -

Pete (Golden Retriever/Shepherd X) came from the Kitsap County Humane Society in Silverdale, WA.

Aida (Pure bred Yellow Labrador) came from Welfare for Animals Guild in Sequim, WA.

Maisie (Australian Cattle Dog/Australian Shepherd X) also came from Welfare for Animals Guild in Sequim, WA.

I would encourage anyone to obtain their animal from a shelter, Humane Society or rescue group.

PetFinder.com is a fantastic resource to locate any breed, age or sex of dog (or cat, or horse or rodent or...) that you may desire. Many rescue groups also list on PetFinder - so if you are looking for anything from a non-descript Shepherd X to a female Thai Ridgeback puppy - look there!

Many animals are surrendered for lame reasons like - his fur doesn't match my carpet, its growling at my kid, he poops on my shrubs, she barks at the cat....many of these reasons are not their fault! This doesn't make them bad animals.

Ads in the paper are often place by backyard breeders looking for a quick buck. Although there are many responsible breeders out there, I would go to a rescue/shelter/HS - there are so many unwanted animals out there - including the exact one that you are looking for.

With so many homeless animals out there, I can't encourage people enough to go to a shelter!

Do your research and save the life of an unwanted animal!

Practice Birth Control, Not Death Control.
Spay/Neuter Your Pet.

Good luck!

Answer 10

My first two was from a family in the area that was moving and couldn't take them with due to quarrantines they didn't want the dogs to have to go through. My current dog we found at the shelter. She was rescued from a neglectful owner.