As a professional in the dog world who decided to buy a puppy from a breeder instead of rescue one from a shelter/rescue group, I did have this fleeting thought during the process -- "Yikes, I bet I'm going to piss off someone by doing this!" And sure enough I have. I've received a few emails, nothing nasty or rude (I do want to point that out!) asking why I chose to buy and not adopt. I actually haven't responded to the emails as of yet and so thought I'd send this as a message hopefully to help others understand and also ease anyone that has the possible guilt of buying instead of adopting.
First of all I want to say this: Everyone has a reason for everything they do. Everyone has their own lives and things going on that others have no clue about. Making judgments on any issue is wrong at best, harmful at worst. So before jumping to conclusions you should get facts and know all the details of the situation at hand. Sure, easier said than done. But I digress ...
...Now onto the actual subject matter -- Why did I buy a puppy from a breeder when so many are in shelters? We recently bought a puppy from a responsible breeder. Let me reiterate the adjective I used before the word "breeder" -- responsible. There is a lot that goes on in finding a responsible and very reputable breeder. I researched and asked all the right questions. I did all my homework and lucky for me I know exactly what questions to ask a breeder before buying.
Over the past 12 years I've owned 6 dogs, including the new puppy we have now. Of those six dogs two of them were rescues and four were "bought" from breeders -- two were not reputable breeders and two were highly reputable and excellent breeders. I slowly learned how to ask the right questions and do my homework. And that can often involve a lot of work, and it should. If you are going to go the buy-a-puppy-route you need to know exactly what you're doing and where your puppy is coming from. A bad breeder can be a disgrace to the reputable breeder community. Bad breeders are indeed contributors to the too-many-pets-in-the-shelter dilema we face today.
Over the past 12 years I've owned 6 dogs, including the new puppy we have now. Of those six dogs two of them were rescues and four were "bought" from breeders -- two were not reputable breeders and two were highly reputable and excellent breeders. I slowly learned how to ask the right questions and do my homework. And that can often involve a lot of work, and it should. If you are going to go the buy-a-puppy-route you need to know exactly what you're doing and where your puppy is coming from. A bad breeder can be a disgrace to the reputable breeder community. Bad breeders are indeed contributors to the too-many-pets-in-the-shelter dilema we face today.
Now, don't get me wrong -- buying a dog from a reputable breeder doesn't guarantee a quality dog for health or temperament. However, the chances are greater that you will have these things on your side if you did get the dog from a good, well-rounded and reputable breeder.
On the flip-side, rescuing a dog doesn't mean you'll be guaranteed problems either. There are many excellent dogs in rescues/shelters that are absolutely amazing dogs that live a fully, happy, healthy and behaviorally-balanced life. However, in my experiences (and this is just my experience but it's been 15 years of working with rescue dogs and "breeder's" dogs from all angles) rescue/shelter dogs are more likely to have some behavioral and/or medical issues. I've also worked with loads of rescues and I know that they are often a crap-shoot both medically and behaviorally.
So does this mean I'm against rescue dogs? Absolutely not! I work with rescues day in and day out. I also work with full-bred dogs too from reputable and responsible breeders as wells as from backyard breeders and puppy mills. One of my current dogs is a rescue as well. The facts are that reputable and responsible breeders do most often produce sound dogs. There is a reason they are reputable and responsible. If it weren't for these types of breeders we wouldn't have dogs at all. They aren't the problem, contrary to what you may believe. (Read "So your thinking about buying from a breeder..."
On the flip-side, rescuing a dog doesn't mean you'll be guaranteed problems either. There are many excellent dogs in rescues/shelters that are absolutely amazing dogs that live a fully, happy, healthy and behaviorally-balanced life. However, in my experiences (and this is just my experience but it's been 15 years of working with rescue dogs and "breeder's" dogs from all angles) rescue/shelter dogs are more likely to have some behavioral and/or medical issues. I've also worked with loads of rescues and I know that they are often a crap-shoot both medically and behaviorally.
So does this mean I'm against rescue dogs? Absolutely not! I work with rescues day in and day out. I also work with full-bred dogs too from reputable and responsible breeders as wells as from backyard breeders and puppy mills. One of my current dogs is a rescue as well. The facts are that reputable and responsible breeders do most often produce sound dogs. There is a reason they are reputable and responsible. If it weren't for these types of breeders we wouldn't have dogs at all. They aren't the problem, contrary to what you may believe. (Read "So your thinking about buying from a breeder..."
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