Should I get a dog from a breeder or the pound?

bcterps

Platinum Member
Aug 31, 2000
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I've wanted a dog for most of my life now, and now I might actually get one within the next year. I've really wanted a yellow Lab, and I had mostly made up my mind to get a dog from a breeder in PA. I want a life long companion, so I want to get a puppy. It's not that I need a purebred dog, but I am mostly concerned about temparement, and the long term health of the dog. The breeder I am considering breeds specifically for those things, and is incredibly passionate about her breed. I'm not interested in breeding my dog or showing my dog either.

I do figure that I owe it to myself to consider getting a dog from a local rescue shelter though, if puppies are available, but I am concerned about long term health issues, temperament, and prior abuse.

What kind of experiences have you had on getting dogs from reputable breeders or local shelters?
 

BruinEd03

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Feb 5, 2001
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Originally posted by: benchiu
I've wanted a dog for most of my life now, and now I might actually get one within the next year. I've really wanted a yellow Lab, and I had mostly made up my mind to get a dog from a breeder in PA. I want a life long companion, so I want to get a puppy. It's not that I need a purebred dog, but I am mostly concerned about temparement, and the long term health of the dog. The breeder I am considering breeds specifically for those things, and is incredibly passionate about her breed. I'm not interested in breeding my dog or showing my dog either.

I do figure that I owe it to myself to consider getting a dog from a local rescue shelter though, if puppies are available, but I am concerned about long term health issues, temperament, and prior abuse.

What kind of experiences have you had on getting dogs from reputable breeders or local shelters?

pound. save a pooch's life!

-Ed
 

ElFenix

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Mar 20, 2000
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pound, less long term health issues because mutts aren't inbred to hell and back like a breeder dog would be. they're usually of better temperment too. yellow labs have weak stomachs and tend to get skin cancer
 

GasX

Lifer
Feb 8, 2001
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If you are mainly concerned with temperament and long term health, a mixed breed is exactly what you want. If you do some research on what breeds are suited to you and your lifestyle, you can go onto Petfinder and search for dogs of that type in your area. If you get a mixed pit bull / akita, expect a large aggressive dog. If you get a bassett hound / bulldog mix, expect a lazy loyal friend with a lot of gas...

As far as abuse goes, if you are looking for puppies, they are rarely abused or scarred for life. It is the adolescent and adult dogs that you have to be careful with as they rarely end up at the pound without a history of some sort of abuse.
 

Lucky

Lifer
Nov 26, 2000
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First Basenji-Purebred from a breeder. Wonderful temperment, good with kids. Incredibly smart. Came from a family of champion show winners but this was the runt of the litter and was therfore less desiirable to most people. 15 and still alive, albeit with minor incontinence problems every now and then.

Second Basenji- Pound. Came from an abused family. Don't know the lineage but he has the markings of a show dog. Unfortunately his temperment was terrible. Mean ass dog. Even to our family. Bit a cop once so bad that the cop required stitches. (The cop came into our backyard when we were not home to investigate the home alarm going off). We tried to "reform" him...even took him to children's hospitals for community service type stuff but he never took and pretty much had a bad attitude his entire life. Died about a year ago at age 8 from organ problems.

Third basenji- Former champion show dog. Got it from the breeder/handler after he retired from dog shows at age 6. Wonderful temperment; very affectionate and always looking for love. A bit of a pussy actually.
 

imported_Tomato

Diamond Member
Sep 11, 2002
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Animal shelter. I second "petfinder", there are some beautiful animals available there.

Let us know how it goes! :)
 

Anubis

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Aug 31, 2001
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Well depends. My friend just got a pure bred Miniature Italian Greyhound. Cost her 1000$ she took out a loan. :). But it is the cutest damn dog ever

if you don?t want to spend lots of $$$ on a dog go to the pound or humane society
 

Pound or your local animal protective league. We got our puppy there and he's been great.
 

bcterps

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Aug 31, 2000
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Wow, I didn't think I'd get so many people that would say the pound. I'll definitely have to at least visit the ones in my area to take a look. Thanks all!
 

bcterps

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Aug 31, 2000
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Originally posted by: Anubis
Well depends. My friend just got a pure bred Miniature Italian Greyhound. Cost her 1000$ she took out a loan. :). But it is the cutest damn dog ever if you don?t want to spend lots of $$$ on a dog go to the pound or humane society

Well money is not really the issue. The breeder that I wanted to get a dog from would have cost $700, plus $35 to microchip it. I'm more concerned about temperament and long term health. Any savings on getting a dog from the pound would really be minor in the long run. I just have to hold myself back from visiting the pound right now, or I might come out with a number of dogs. My wife would rather me wait a year, of course I'm pushing for August.
 

shopbruin

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Jul 12, 2000
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i'm a big proponent of getting a puppy from the pound. save an animal's life.

if/when i get a dog, i'm going to the pound. my only requirement is that the dog is small. :)
 

TheNinja

Lifer
Jan 22, 2003
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Those of you who say "pound" instead of purebred. Are you looking out for benchiu or are you just worried about the dogs? You don't want to tell someone to get a pound dog and then have that person hate their dog and have it end up back in the pound. That being said I say pound/petfinder as well. I want to get a 10-14 month old housetrained dog that has already been with a foster family. That way I know it's personality and traits, plus I don't have to go through housetraining the thing. But puppies are so tempting b/c they are so cute.
 

ElFenix

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Mar 20, 2000
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Originally posted by: Staley8
Those of you who say "pound" instead of purebred. Are you looking out for benchiu or are you just worried about the dogs? You don't want to tell someone to get a pound dog and then have that person hate their dog and have it end up back in the pound. That being said I say pound/petfinder as well. I want to get a 10-14 month old housetrained dog that has already been with a foster family. That way I know it's personality and traits, plus I don't have to go through housetraining the thing. But puppies are so tempting b/c they are so cute.

usually the pound will let you try out a dog to see if it fits with you and yours. plus, they are housebroken and in good health.
 

rudder

Lifer
Nov 9, 2000
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Originally posted by: ElFenix
pound, less long term health issues because mutts aren't inbred to hell and back like a breeder dog would be. they're usually of better temperment too. yellow labs have weak stomachs and tend to get skin cancer

don't confuse a reputable breeder with a puppy mill that supplies those chain pet stores.
 

TTM77

Golden Member
Dec 21, 2002
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I say K-Mart. They have lots of selections on dogs................................stuffed. :D They even have robot dogs that will listen every one of your command. Considering U provide the battery. :D

I'll vote for Pound too. Just make sure U don't name it "Destruction".
 
Aug 23, 2000
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Originally posted by: benchiu
Wow, I didn't think I'd get so many people that would say the pound. I'll definitely have to at least visit the ones in my area to take a look. Thanks all!

If you go to the pound, you'll leave with a new friend. I hate going and seeing them all locked up, cause everytime there's one that always catches my eye and i'm like, i want that one, but have to refrain myself.

 

bcterps

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Aug 31, 2000
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Originally posted by: Ime
Pound! P.S. - This shoulda been a poll!

Well, I'm actually more interested in the reasons why then just a poll on pound vs. breeder. :)