I have seen time and time again (and it has happened to me), people being brow beaten for choosing to get puppies from reputable breeders.
I understand shelters are full, I understand there are breed specific rescues. I think what many of you do not understand is they don't all work the same way. Where I live it costs just as much if not more to adopt than it does to get a pure bred puppy from a reputable breeder. That puppy from the reputable breeder comes with 5 generations of health clearances, a health guarantee and a great mentor to help you should any problems arise and you can choose. Personally I like having a choice!
When we lost Dream and started searching for breeders for Cally, I was shamed mercilessly by some friends. Apparently down South you can walk into a shelter and walk out with a Lab pup for 50 bucks. Here if you can even find a puppy in a shelter it is $500 to adopt - thru rescues $1000. I understand they need money to care for these animals...I truly do, and that some have the dogs best interest at heart. Here it is harder to rescue or adopt a dog, than it is to adopt a child (I am not kidding) - they are cutting off their noses to spite their face. There is so much red tape...hoops to jump through and reasons to deny - without even having met the potential adopter, as a matter of fact I never even got to fill out applications.
I have tried to adopt or rescue dogs 3 times in the last 5 years and walked away disappointed each time. The Huskies I wanted to rescue after we lost Wolfie, both died in the shelter of old age - they had been there almost their entire lives. We were refused because we had other dogs, yet they wanted them adopted together ( I guess there was a problem with resource guarding - its not like I never dealth with that issue before). When we lost our golden we again tried to rescue those two Huskies...they haunted my dreams for years, we were again denied. I wanted those two old huskies to finally know the love of a family, to finally have a home...not a cage in a shelter which is all they had ever known.
Then we tried a breed specific rescue...we were told flat out that we did not qualify for a young dog or pup, because they had a long waiting list, we had other dogs, and we only have a 4 foot fence. BUT....we were qualified to take one of their special needs dogs, who required more care. Didn't quite make sense! I already had two special needs dogs at the time - another was more than I could bear.
People have the right to choose whether or not they adopt or buy from a breeder, it is a matter of personal preference. It may be a specific breed choice, a specific line, etc. While I think some shelters and rescues do great work, there are many that don't, not all have the best interest of the dogs in mind.
I will never again try to rescue or adopt...I have seen first hand how it works here and it is not nice. I will continue to purchase my dogs from reputable breeders...not puppy mills, not pet stores, but proven breeders. I will continue to support those who choose to rescue or adopt, though they are few near me, but I expect others to also support my choice.
This thread is in no way defending some of the things a poster said about rescues, but it is defending her right to choose a breeder instead!
Thank you for your time...
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