Question for dog lovers ? or experts? or?

[thetalady]

Originally posted by TigerLilly
I'll echo what other people said about checking out breed rescue programs or even the pound. If you decide you want a certain breed, and it's a relatively common one, there's a good chance you could find one in an area pound.

A comment on adopting from the pound (AKA Animal Control)
You do run a risk doing this. You could adopt a dog with serious medical issues or behavioral problems that you are not prepared to resolve. Most shelter dogs come with no medical evaluation or vet work.

Crappy dog owners often dump their dogs at shelters when they contract heartworms because the treatment is $500-$800. It is a terrible situation for the unsuspecting adopter who gets the dog from a shelter, but cannot afford this unexpected expense. Adopting from rescue saves you from this dilemma.

A reputable rescue organization will have had their dogs fully vetted, vaccinated, spayed or neutered, and treated for existing medical problems. These dogs are often housetrained and have some obedience training done by the rescue group, too. A rescue group will often be able to give you an idea of the dog's temperament, exercise requirements, and help find the RIGHT dog for you. Sure, you may want a Labrador, but they will help you see that a Chihuahua is a better fit in your 850 sq ft apartment with no yard!

These groups get their dogs from the local shelters, so you are still saving a little life!

[Sister Havana]

The shelters near me all do a vet check on their dogs, and if the dogs have heartworm, they do the treatment and do NOT adopt the dog out until the treatment is completed. Granted, these are private shelters and not city animal control...although the shelter right down the block from me gets most of its dogs from animal control.

[TigerLilly]

Originally posted by Sister Havana
The shelters near me all do a vet check on their dogs, and if the dogs have heartworm, they do the treatment and do NOT adopt the dog out until the treatment is completed. Granted, these are private shelters and not city animal control...although the shelter right down the block from me gets most of its dogs from animal control.

OK I suppose I was thinking of local shelters, and not the city animal control, when I posted before. I don't think my town has a city animal control, so I don't know much about them. It seems like any responsible shelter/pound would do what you mentioned, Sister Havana.

[SigKapSmurf]

I have a cocker spanial Lhasa mix that we got from a shelter. He was a puppy when we got him and his owners gave him up because they did not like his coloring, but I love my baby Skittles and I would not give him up for anything. One thing about cocker spanials tough is that they can be very tempermental, but if you take time with them they defentaly work through it. Good luck with your dog search and to agree with everyone else look at shelters first.

[texas*princess]

yay! thanks so much for all the comments/suggestions.

When my lease is up in the summer, I will definitely check out the animal shelters to adopt

honeychile, i think Buffy is the absolute cutest little puppy i have ever seen! and that is really awesome that they are less allergic-reaction causing too.

[jh124]

Has anyone mentioned petfinder.com? You can sort by breed, type of animal, geographic locations. It's mind-boggling. It's how I found my Sally (who, BTW, is a REAL dog, not a little yappy one like you ladies seem to prefer )



That's Sally in front with Roxanne in the back. My babies

[texas*princess]

all the pics people are posting of their dogs just make me wish i could get a puppy right now!!!! awwww!

[thetalady]

Originally posted by TigerLilly
OK I suppose I was thinking of local shelters, and not the city animal control, when I posted before. I don't think my town has a city animal control, so I don't know much about them. It seems like any responsible shelter/pound would do what you mentioned, Sister Havana.

Ladies-

As you may have guessed by my comments, I have been involved in animal rescue for many many years. It is my passion!

You are absolutely right when you say that a responsible shelter/ pound would do the vet work that I discussed (vax, spay/neuter/ HW test & treatment, etc, etc).

Private shelters and rescue groups DO routinely provide this kind fo medical care. City run shelters and humane societies rarely have the funds for this kind of medical care :-( It is so expensive. Also, the city facilities do not have the kennel space or personnel to care for animals needing lengthy medical treatment.

Rescue groups work closely with city shelters to save those animals and provide medical care.

[adpialumcsuc]

I am a huge animal lover and I agree that adoption is better than buying a pure bred any day but I also agree that you have to be very carefull! My family has ended up adopting a lot of animals from other families that adopted them from the shelter and then realized that the dog had a lot of medical issues. While there are a lot od places that are nice, clean and a great place to adopt from there are many that are not!! Make sure you scope out the facilities!!

On the other side I do have a pure bred cocker spaniel (unpapered) that is the joy of my day. He has the best personality and I had a save him from the bad place he was in as a puppy.

[kdonline]

I have been working with English Bulldog Rescue for 8 years now. I'm the webmaster for their site: http://www.buddiesthrubullies.org

We rescue dogs from shelters or people surrender them to us. We nurse them back to health & then find them good homes. We take on allt he expenses, which is why we hold several fundraisers every year (and accept paypal donations!)

Our biggest event is the Bullympics, where 30+ bulldogs compete for the gold! It's hilarious to see so many bullies in one place.

but I digree...

there are lots of breed-specific rescues. Here's a page that I maintain for breed rescuers in Florida: http://flarescue.tripod.com

[aggieAXO]

Originally posted by thetalady

Please trust me.... registration papers for a purebred are good for nothing more than potty training. Please don't support the puppy mills!!! Never ever buy a dog from a pet store.

I had a woman in an exam room tell me that her puppy can't be sick it is AKC registered-WTF? Just b/c a puppy has papers doesn't mean it won't get sick-in fact those are the ones that get sick more often! Some people are so stupid

[aggieAXO]

Originally posted by thetalady
A comment on adopting from the pound (AKA Animal Control)
You do run a risk doing this. You could adopt a dog with serious medical issues or behavioral problems that you are not prepared to resolve. Most shelter dogs come with no medical evaluation or vet work.

Crappy dog owners often dump their dogs at shelters when they contract heartworms because the treatment is $500-$800. It is a terrible situation for the unsuspecting adopter who gets the dog from a shelter, but cannot afford this unexpected expense. Adopting from rescue saves you from this dilemma.

A reputable rescue organization will have had their dogs fully vetted, vaccinated, spayed or neutered, and treated for existing medical problems. These dogs are often housetrained and have some obedience training done by the rescue group, too. A rescue group will often be able to give you an idea of the dog's temperament, exercise requirements, and help find the RIGHT dog for you. Sure, you may want a Labrador, but they will help you see that a Chihuahua is a better fit in your 850 sq ft apartment with no yard!

These groups get their dogs from the local shelters, so you are still saving a little life!

This may be true for some shelters but in Austin at the Town Lake Animal Center they heartworm check, microchip, spay/neuter and vaccinate all adoptable dogs(spay if old enough otherwise you get a voucher, same for vaccines)-check with your local dog pound and see what they do-many shelters are trying to change into no kill shelters and are actually providing medical care for the strays before adopting out.

[AchtungBaby80]

It sounds like you're talking about a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel. Small, very fluffy-looking, great big old eyes. Very expensive, too.

[polarpi]

We just adopted a labrador retriever mix from the Humane Society (he also has some Chow in him that we didn't know about until we took him to the local vet for a well dog exam), and I know that they (the Humane Society) did the vet check and microchipping as well....I think it depends on the area that you are in....but I agree about adopting from places like this, we've adopted both of our current dogs from there, and both of them have such awesome personalities....now, if they'd only get along so they could run in the same yard together...

[Hootie]

I know that Pet Smart has adoption days on the weekends, but we didn't like the breeds of dogs they had (too big for an apartment). I wanted so badly to take them all home and give them love, but ya just can't

Another good, smaller dog is a PUG! That's what I wanted origonally because of my allergies. But those little pups can be expensive too