Did you buy or adopt?

[Aurora Pets]

We recently visited one of our charity partners Last Chance Animal Rescue, some of the dogs there almost reduced us to tears so friendly and an amazing team. Just wondering did you buy or adopt and what helped you make that decision?

You can see the full video and read the full blog: HERE

 

[Ragsysmum]

Adopted from rescue every time, wouldn't consider anything else.

 

[Shalista]

bought because my dad was terrified id end up with a "broken" dog if i rescued. so i bought.... and ended up with a VERY broken dog. I love bax but i 100% beleive if id gotten a rescue id have ended up with less work and a better dog.

 

[JudyN]

I love bax but i 100% beleive if id gotten a rescue id have ended up with less work and a better dog.

Ditto! I bought, for a few reasons. But in the future, I think I'd always rescue. Having said that, I do have a hankering for a beautifully bred, stunning full saluki, with parents selected for temperament (and possibly even recall!).

 

[Kara 1]

Adopted apart from Tilly my rough coat girl ...she was bought from a lovely couple in Hertfordshire... every other dog has been adopted...

 

[Aurora Pets]

Ditto! I bought, for a few reasons. But in the future, I think I'd always rescue. Having said that, I do have a hankering for a beautifully bred, stunning full saluki, with parents selected for temperament (and possibly even recall!).

We'd love our dogs to have good recall haha

 

[Rhythmpig]

Always bought,not through choice,I've tried to adopt but fail the home checks. I've stopped trying to adopt now,but it kills me when I see dogs looking for homes and I know I could give them one.

 

[Shalista]

@Rhythmpig i was told by people on this forum that i would fail if i tried to adopt because i work an 8 hr job and cant drive home to check every four hrs. if shelters have requirements liek that no wonder they're full. i dont have a single coworker that drives home to check on their (bought) dog during the day.

 

[Biker John]

Folly was bought as a pup. Put simply I wanted a Whippet and fortunately they are not common in rescue. Previously we have both bought and taken rescues in, (normally when someone has rung us saying things like 'any chance you could look after ...... for a time'). And without fail we. or more often my wife, saying of course. Then the dog has stayed with us for life.

 

[merlina]

We've had both and at the moment have an RSPCA boy and a Cantyoubelievewepaidforhim? failed gundog. Both mad as a box of frogs. I volunteer in dog-rehoming and can honestly say rescue dogs can be positively angelic and a bought puppy turn out a real challenge. Also a mature dogs fits in where you know a puppy would cause mayhem.

 

[Mad Murphy]

Ive always adopted but Murphy was bought. Circumstances changed and thats what was best for all of us.

 

[Janer]

Ive always adopted but Murphy was bought. Circumstances changed and thats what was best for all of us.

Same here x

 

[Flobo]

Always adopted or dogs have just kinda come my way...

 

[Caro Perry]

Bought - Welsh terriers in rescue are few and far between. If a girl turns up then I will be applying to adopt.

The cat is secondhand. He belonged to someone in the village and needed a new home urgently when her circumstances changed. Somehow he moved in with me temporarily - 7 years ago. I guess he is staying!

 

[arealhuman]

Out first dog is a rescue dog and we've had him for a little over two years. Yes, he has some issues and frustrates us sometimes, but I wouldn't change him for anything, I love him to bits and am so glad I adopted.

 

[Flobo]

It is really sad that the criteria for adopting a dog is so rigid, generally as I believe like a lot of people, there are some fantastic homes missed as a consequence and people are lead into the minefield world of buying a pup.. and as a side line the puppy farms are encouraged to keep churning out pups as there is a demand, in my opinion..and I am not saying all breeders are bad, there are obviously many, many conscientious breeders out there but there is an awful lot who intensively farm dogs for profit also..

 

[merlina]

TBH the rescues that I've homechecked for bend over backwards to get good homes for their dogs. That's what they exist to do, usually run by dedicated dog lovers who work themselves into nervous or physical breakdowns with the effort and stress. I've seen both. They have to have clear criteria for very good reasons. 1. Legal. There is a duty of care to the person adopting: that means if the background of the dog is unknown small children, elderly and mentally or physically impaired residents of the home can be put at risk. 2. To allow a dog into the wrong home (which doesn't mean a bad home) usually ends up with the dog being returned. They are called yo-yo dogs and are scared and bewildered by losing one home, then another. They can become almost unhomeable if this happens more than once.(My current rescue has had multiple homes and would never be safe to be rehomed elsewhere!) Dog rescues on the whole have no interest in keeping dogs from suitable homes. But as with people who buy puppies there is a feeling of entitlement from some that they should be given a dog under any circumstances. If rescues get it wrong it's because experience has forced them to err on the side of caution.

 

[Flobo]

Yep I do agree, everything you say is right, and it has to be so, but sometimes with some rescue places maybe, I wish the element of judgement was a bit flexible, say if you didn't tick all the boxes but actually you could give this dog a really good home then why not? But then saying that I also understand making this judgement is a massive call and depends on people being honest and if you get it wrong like you say the dogs come back and get even more messed up, so...( it is all f.u.basically!), sorry... I did have a mum talk to me once about adopting a rescue dog and me knowing her and her situation I advised against it and was totally honest in my reasons, she then went on to adopt a dog from an online based rescue, couldn't cope and gave the dog back within 6 months or so. I was gutted,(and didn't hold back when she told me,) she blamed the rescue place and she asked me to talk to her daughter about why the dog was going back!!! The other side of what I am saying I suppose...
Sometimes in my head I think people can be so much more than they are,but heyho.... ( I just wish there was a magic formula for all the homeless dogs)

 

[JudyN]

Some rescues are flexible and don't have hard and fast rules. When I first got Jasper, I got to know an old man and his rescue greyhound Stan. He was becoming less and less mobile, but could let Stan off for a good run in a safe place. Then he got a mobility scooter and would whizz up and down the trailway with Stan on lead. I did ask him once if he had arrangements in place for if he should become ill, and he had a relative who would take Stan on. Stan died very suddenly and despite the man's age and lack of mobility, he was able to adopt a small middle-aged lurcher, Grace. They absolutely enriched each other's lives.

I haven't seen him for a couple of years now and can only assume that he died or went into a home Grace, I'm sure, would have gone to a new home or back to the rescue, but even though dogs 'bouncing back' isn't ideal, I still think it was worth it for the benefit of both of them.

Assuming our next dog is a rescue, we're going to have to put up higher fences on one side of the garden, that I know the neighbours wouldn't like. We've been lucky with Jasper in that he doesn't know he can jump fences and has never even thought about it (we monitored him carefully for a long time as he grew). But any rescue that would let someone with a 3' fence have a lurcher isn't the sort of rescue I'd want to support.

 

[merlina]

Rescues will of course take dogs back- and rehome to the elderly. But this isn't a flexible rule, it's still a rule which is: put a dog in a home where it and the owner will be likely to prosper. I've helped rehome numerous mature dogs who've lost their owners and gone to very mature people. It was what both wanted and needed. I've rehomed to a couple, one disabled dog lover, one not so much but a dog walker. It still means you can keep to the sensible rules of risk assessment. I've rehomed a youngish beagle to a family of five: parents and 10 and two 12 y.o.'s who lived in a ground floor social housing flat! Two hours spent with them taking me through their dog-ownership plan left me in no doubt. Brilliant home. Beagle still in it. Anyway happy to start a sep. thread on rehoming if it helps. Probably not here though.