As they seem to want to examine new owner suitability a lot more these days, I would imagine most rescue places would be happy for you to get to know any animal over several visits before taking ownership. We had several "observed" meetings and walks with our american bulldog. Before finally taking her, we also had an unchaperoned afternoon with her to see if she was responsive enough to our control and that we were all happy. Obviously this can take a little effort if they aren't local, but we felt it was worth the time.
Years ago, we rescued a Bedlington terrier which was amazingly human-friendly but distressingly dog-aggressive. Needed a bit of building up, he didn't have much weight or energy. The dog aggression got to the point where we needed to consider putting him down. Walking him was stressful as although we kept him on the lead, no other owner would listen to us when we warned them to keep their unleashed dog away. We used a muzzle, citrus-spray, a professional trainer, nothing worked. In the end we took the advice of the trainer and used the nuclear option - e-collar. We hated it, hated using it but it meant our dog would live. We then got a female Beddy from a breeder on the Isle of Wight. She got on well with our boy but she was a little aggressive towards me. We then got another rescue Beddy, another girl. She was a super-softy and followed our lad everywhere. A really good-tempered girl. I miss them loads (except maybe the girl we got from the breeder).
but do proceed with caution. they demand and deserve a huge amount of attention and not everyone can give/afford it. things also need to be planned around the dog like holidays, weekends away. there are also costs. i pay 34 per month for insurance since she was born. cheap when considering that she had keyhole surgery on her front elbows (elbow dysplasia - an inherent issue for labs that are prone to early onset arthritis) costing about 6k when she was 2 years old. she is absolutely fine now but pedigrees cab be a bit 'special' like that. mine stays with one of a few very carefully chosen dog loving families when i go away and again, quality comes at a premium so something to consider however, i would not change anything at all and she is the best thing ever despite being as dumb as fuc£
A Rescue dog will be taken back by the Rescue if it doesn't work out - some Rescues also offer dog carers when you go on holiday. You would be helping more by taking a rescue, than paying hundreds/thousands for a pup from a commercial breeder. Some "blue" staffy pups are advertised at £2k, whilst a rescue might cost £140-200. Jerry Green Dog Rescue are still re-homing during lockdown and have some lovely dogs which are assessed and matched before adoption. https://www.jerrygreendogs.org.uk/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIh8yRlJnM6QIViu3tCh1GowDUEAAYASAAEgLkgvD_BwE The foster carer for our pooch has already told us that she'd love to have her if we go on holiday.
Without wishing to derail the thread, I have an issue with the intensive inbreeding of our canine friends for frivilous, cosmetic reasons, as supported and promoted by the Kennel Club. I won't discuss this issue further in this thread as that conversation belongs in Speakers Corner.
That's why it's getting serious consideration rather than "I'd like a dog, let's get a dog, cool we got a dog".
The biggest change for us was the loss of nights away. We used to be heavily into travelling for gigs, often internationally for long weekends etc. All that pretty much stopped, but apart from the occasional "wish we could go to that" we have adjusted ok and wouldn't change our choice if we could go back. Second biggest change was switching from sporty cars to grown up shit wagons
I actually 100% (more like 200%) agree with you.....and I'm a KC registered breeder. The KC has an awful lot to answer for and need to 'grow a pair' and take some responsibilty when it comes to some breeds. Although...I think you're quite wrong to lump all Breeders and all Breeds in together. You would not believe the lengths the Border Collie fraternity go to to eliminate inherited conditions and responsibly breed only healthy pups from healthy parents. Part of the BC 'Pedigree' breed standard is that they must be capable of doing a full days work (Breed standard produced by BCCGB and adopted by KC). Oh.......and btw... it was you that raised the topic
It's more of a life committment than kids for whilst you have them. Kids eventually grow independent, the dog will always need someone to feed them, walk them, care for them and pay for them till the day they pass.
This ^^^. Parents are both pretty old now, 100miles away and wouldn't like a dog turning up for a weekend. Son is 11 so in a few years wife and I can just fuck off at the drop of a hat which I really like the idea of. Because I'm aware it will be a big change and it needs to be fair on the dog is why I don't have one yet. Wife and I last night were actually saying "from the dogs point of view, would we make good owner's? Not just because we want one".
Downsides to dog ownership: Constant hover’ing hair up. Walks in bad weather (some consider this a downside, I don’t) The occasional accident when young or old. Dogs are always on the wrong side of every door. Holiday care. Sense of loss when they pass is awful. Vet bills can be large if you are unlucky. Pups can occasionally chew things you don’t want them to. You can manage this though. All the downsides are massively offset by the upsides for me and my family. Can’t be without them and do good for physical and mental health.
I wonder if anyone will recognise this? Wife and kids say please can we have a dog, we promise we will look after it, take it for walks please? So you go looking, normally in the summer. Then the winter comes and the dog needs to go out for a walk in the morning and evening . When it's pissing down with rain and after the puppy novelty has worn off, the only person walking the dog, cleaning up it's shit, towel drying it and doing every thing for the dog is, you, the dad. Then the wifes friend mentions to her "your house smells of dog" so the house is then nuked with every kind of plug in and spray freshener she can find. Then you fall out with your neighbour because you are the only person who seems to worry about the dog being on it's own whilst the wife and kids carry on life as though they no longer have a dog, so the dog barks incesently so your life is work and dog whilst those who asked you for one, pleading they would chip in, have moved onto new sparkly shiny things
Not necessarily. We specifically wanted a working type cocker but were willing to look at other breeds so we also checked out the rescue places. Unfortunately we found that most either didn’t respond to emails or if they did, invariably it turned out that the dog we were enquiring about had already been rehomed. Also, when we did find a dog which was still available, even though we were able to make a good case for us being able to give a dog a good home (both WFH, lots of space, garden, live in the countryside) we got knocked back twice because we are first time owners. As we were getting nowhere with the mainstream rescue centres, we tried a couple of specialist spaniel rescue centres we found online. One place didn’t respond to two emails while the one that did reply wouldn’t even tell us whether they had any dogs which needed a home until we after we had filled in a form. I can see why rescue centres make people jump through all these hoops but that’s a bit OTT. On the other hand, I also didn’t want to buy from a puppy farmer, so I checked out the KC’s website, found a list of breeders, and worked my way down it until I found a one who had a litter.
