A quick overview of how and where to find a dog or puppy for you. Second section of the previous post regarding choosing a breed for you.
Dog or Puppy?
The very first decision you'll need to make is whether to start with a young puppy, or an adult dog.
Everybody wants a puppy because puppies are cute. Unfortunately, it only takes a few minutes on Craigslist or any other classifieds to see hundreds of puppies being re-adopted. Why? Because puppies are extremely hard work. Proper housebreaking requires potty breaks every 1-2 hours for the first several weeks. Small puppies need frequent meals to regulate their blood sugar. Puppies often don't sleep well at night, leaving you exhausted. And of course, they wander, chew, dig, and break every house rule they haven't learned yet.
There are advantages to having puppies. If you have a family or other pets, it's easier to imprint puppies on how to interact with them properly. You can train a puppy to recognize the name you want to use, and the commands you want to use. House rules like staying off furniture are easier to train young.
Adult dogs bring their own advantages. They're already housebroken. If you're adopting from a rescue, and frequently even if you're not, adult dogs are typically vaccinated and possibly spayed/neutered already. Adult dogs are cheaper to acquire- even rescues often charge extra for young puppies. You know exactly how big the dog will be and what it will look and act like, so there won't be any surprises.
The decision is ultimately a personal one- just make sure you look at all the pros and cons, and try to choose based on what is best for your family and the pet you're bringing home- and NOT your overwhelming desire to snuggle with a cute puppy for a few months. No matter what age the dog starts out, they all end up adults. Puppyhood should not be what drives you to bring home a pet.
Breeder or Rescue?
Once you've decided what age you want, the next question is, where to get the puppy from?
Pet stores are a no-no. They've insinuated themselves into our culture and made us believe they are normal and acceptable places to buy pets. The reality is, no good breeder will sell puppies to a pet store. Pet stores are 100% driven by puppy mills. I will not waste blog space going into detail about these places, but if you don't know what a puppy mill is, follow the link for information.
http://www.aspca.org/fight-cruelty/puppy-mills
Breeders are the best choice if you want to start with a puppy. You can often find puppies for re-homing, but if you're not getting a puppy directly from the source, you're losing out on many advantages. A breeder can show you the parents, talk to you in detail about the bloodlines the dog comes from, show you health certifications regarding hips, elbows, eyes, hearts, etc., that prove how healthy the dog's family was, etc. A good breeder can predict with great accuracy the size, color, and temperament an individual puppy will attain. If you get a puppy second-hand, all you have to go on is what the first purchaser remembered, and possibly a few scraps of paperwork they thought to save. It's not wrong to get a puppy from someone else, it simply leaves you with less information.
Breeders often have adults available as well. Good breeders have a "return" policy so to speak, wherein they will always take back any dog they have sold for any reason if you are not able to keep it. They will often find good homes for these dogs if that happens. Other times they will offer retired show or breeding dogs for companion homes when their careers are over. Many even do rescue work and help adopt out dogs that did not come from their bloodlines. These are all great options.
Rescue comes in many forms: shelters, private rescues, and classified rehomings. Whatever option you choose, there are a few things to remember. First, YOU need to be in charge of choosing your companion. Don't let whoever you're speaking with try to talk you into a certain dog- they mean well, but often they'll push the dogs who are older or have been at the shelter the longest, without regard to whether it's truly the best fit for you. Set down guidelines for what you want BEFORE you step foot in a shelter or open a single picture online. Those sad faces lead to rushed decisions, and often, to the dogs being returned to the shelter shortly afterwards. Put limits on size, age, hair, etc. before you start, so you won't be tempted to bring home the first cute face you see.
If you're looking at private rehoming, anything over $200 is really a sale price- be leery of anyone "selling" a dog for a ridiculous price. Also be sure to get any vet records or registration papers in hand before you take the dog, don't agree to get them "later on". The biggest concern with private rehomings is that there are a lot of scams out there nowadays. Unless you feel truly confident in tackling this, stick with a reputable rescue group instead.
Choosing a Breeder
If you do go the breeder route, the first thing you need to know is all breeders are not created equal. There is a line drawn between "good" breeders, and "backyard" breeders. If you're paying good money for a specific puppy, you want to make sure it's a "good" breeder.
The first thing you need to do is read through your breed's standard. (Links at the bottom of the page.) The purpose of a good breeding program is to breed dogs which adhere to the written standard of the breed. A surefire way to find bad breeders is to look for catchwords like "super micro teacup", "ultra rare colors", and things along that line. Those breeders are trying to make money by breeding dogs intentionally outside the standards and hoping people will pay for their "uniqueness". These breeders ruin purebred dogs. If a dog is supposed to weigh 50lbs, breeding them to weigh 100lbs is directly damaging to their gene pool. It's also just plain silly. We have over 200 breeds of dogs available to choose from, why ruin the ones we have to try to make them into something else?
The second concern is health testing. This does not mean the dog has been to the vet this year and gotten his vaccines. Health tests look for potential genetic issues in the bloodline. German Shepherds and Golden Retrievers for example, should always have hip and elbow checks done. The breeder should have information on both parents, and probably the entire bloodline if they're any good. Other breeds are prone to heart conditions, eye problems, genetic blood disorders, and so forth. Again, more research is needed on your part! Learn what your breed is prone to, and demand to see the health testing for it. If a breeder doesn't have any advanced health testing, run away.
Good breeders will typically only breed one type of dog, MAYBE two. Always be wary of breeders with 3 or more types of puppies available- they're typically in it only for the money.
Depending on what type of dog you're getting, you want to see some sort of qualification for breeding. Simply having a male and female dog, even if they are both registered, does NOT qualify for a good reason to breed. Breeding programs are built around proving the dogs meet the requirements of their breed. This can include AKC/UKC show titles (champion, grand champion, etc), working events such as agility, terrier racing, lure-coursing, field hunting trials, Schutzhund, Search & Rescue, Therapy dog certifications, mushing (dog sledding), and so forth. Different breeds are meant for different things, and each breed will have a set of activities to show off their intended purpose. If a breeder is not participating in any functional activities, they are not breeding quality dogs. How can you have a well bred Labrador if you've never hunted with them? What is the point of breeding a terrier that won't trail vermin? When you breed for the sake of breeding, you lose the qualities that make each breed unique, and you damage the gene pools further and further with each litter of puppies.
If you find a breeder who is breeding to the standard, has the appropriate health testing done, and works/shows their dogs, you are in the clear. Different breeders will have different standards at this point (some will want to pick out a puppy for you, some will want you to travel to them instead of shipping the puppy, etc.) but if those 3 big things are in place, there's no much chance you've found a backyard breeder, so the various quirks of the individual breeder are less important.
Choosing a Rescue
Rescues and shelters are even more varied than breeders. If you're looking for a purebred, there are many purebred rescue groups in most states. There are also SPCA and Humane Society shelters, city pounds, and more. Petfinder.com is a great place to get started, many shelters and rescue groups post their available animals to this website for better exposure.
As with anything, look into the group you want to work with ahead of time- there are scammers out there posing as rescues. These groups often pick up animals from "free to good home" ads online or other cheap sources, and then "adopt" them out with exorbitant fees. And again, be careful with private adoptions. In addition to charging overpriced fees, private owners may try to give you a sick or injured dog, or a stolen animal. Worse, there have been incidents with some websites where people coming to meet potential pets have been attacked, mugged, carjacked, etc. Never go to look at a pet alone, always bring at least one person with you and tell someone where you'll be going and how long you'll be- safety first.
References
Breed Standards
AKC: https://www.akc.org/breeds/complete_breed_list.cfm
UKC: http://www.ukcdogs.com/Web.nsf/WebPages/DogEvents/BreedStandards
Petfinder: http://www.petfinder.com/
Choosing a Breeder: http://www.humanesociety.org/assets/pdfs/pets/puppy_mills/find_responsible_dog_breeder.pdf
Puppy Mills: http://www.aspca.org/fight-cruelty/puppy-mills
No comments:
Post a Comment