Can We Stop the Dog Shopping Stigma?

No, we cannot. Breeding dogs is cruel.

Can we stop using “cute” words like “pitties” for assault weapon-type dogs, please?

You sound too damaged to have a dog.

assault-weapon dogs, LOL! [R3] trust me, I went to therapy after my latest rescue experience.

I also think that many of these rescues are cruel in their own way. They allow people to adopt sick dogs, covered in feces and urine, as mine was. Clearly shows how well they take care of these animals.

[quote]Unfortunately, some of our friends have an “adopt don’t shop” mentality and make comments about it.

Tell them to fuck off.

[quote] Rescues, especially in L.A. aren’t right for everyone. Can we lose the stigma?

I visited my cousin in LA, she'd rescued a dog. I remarked that the dog was mad. She said "How do you know?" - "well, he's in your backyard, spinning in circles, chasing his own tail...that's how I know".

She was a lonely, recently widowed woman who deserved better than that. She eventually took it back and got a cockapoo. My mother tried to guilt her for taking the dog back. The widow did the right thing.

It's a shame the "adopt don't shop" crowd don't feel the same way about children. Instead, they'll spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on IVF for years in the hope of shitting out a mini-me while orphans gather dust in orphanages.

I believe pit bulls should be outlawed and eradicated. Not worth the trouble.

Orphans gather dust was the funniest shit I've read in ages. I just imagine them like little Russian Dolls r6.

[quote]Orphans gather dust was the funniest shit I've read in ages.

What else makes you laugh? Actually...don't bother.

Tell them that if everyone shopped from reputable breeders only and then everyone had their dogs spayed/neutered, there wouldn't BE any dogs to adopt. Also, everyone would know what type of dog they were getting and what its breed traits were.

No one is advocating for animal cruelty, R2. That is a false equivalency.

Just make sure you’re not getting a dog from a puppy mill. There are lots of good breeders and no, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with getting a dog from one. Just tell the “adopt don’t shop” people to fuck off. Not everyone is interested in taking in a rescue. And I’ve taken in three of them.

This is a troll post. Don't feed it.

Hmm, OP, this must be why most of the millennial families in my 'hood who thought it would be cool to adopt a puppy during COVID no longer have the animals. Pfffft! Gone.

I'll take all the pitties. Sweetest dogs I have EVER had. My one pup that came from a breeder is a total asshole (but I love him anyway).

There’s a difference between going to a reputable breeder vs a puppy store. Avoid the pet store always. I live in LA and have four adopted dogs, none pit or chihuahua. Yes, the rescue lady was insane but so what? You have to be insane to have a farm with 100 dogs. One of the dogs we adopted started to attack one of my other dogs and I didn’t feel like I could take on that risk even with extensive training. So we took her back to the no kill rescue farm and adopted a different dog. My point is that you can rescue a great mutt that you’ll love as much as a purebred and if there is a very serious issue with the dog that you can’t risk even with training and effort, you can take the dog back. I’ve also picked up five or six dogs off the street over the years and placed them in homes. People who abandon dogs to the streets are such scum. I’d be fine with lifetime incarceration for them.

If you like your current dog, start setting aside money ($50,000 total) and you can clone that animal. That way, you know exactly what you're getting.

A reputable shelter that screens its animals would never have put that dog up for adoption in the first place.

A pedigree is basically worthless in terms of verifying that you're getting a healthy animal with a good temperament. All it proves is that the animal comes from a limited line of inbreeding.

The first step toward happiness is often not caring what others think. You know yourself, your heart, your intentions - do what feels right. You’re not hurting anyone.

I wish you'd been my Papa, R18. You sound so old and wise.

Am we ignore the 2/10?

excuse me r6? I got pregnant the old fashioned way. Drunk in the back seat of a car by the captain of the football team. tyvm.

Only time I've ever been attacked by a dog was by a pitbull. Walking on the sidewalk, in my suburban town at the time. Guy with pitbull walking towards me in the other direction. The dog lunged at my arm. I had a flannel shirt over it that I was carrying, luckily. The dog shredded part of the shirt. Pitties my ass.

I have been attacked by 2 chihuahuas, a pekingese, a cattle dog mix, a Rottweiler, a Doberman pincher and several undetermined breeds. never a pitt. I have had more exposure to pitts than the average person.

[quote]I have had more exposure to pitts than the average person.

CNN: “Area “rescue chick” who frequented gay gossip “Datalounge” “was mauled to death by a pitbull earlier this morning...”

OP, which rescue?

*her last words were: awww, waht a cute smoosh face lit.... *

I won't engage in a conversation about pit bulls here as people become unhinged.

***********

OP, I do get mad about dog shopping to a degree.

BUT - I know very responsible dog breeders. They're usually small operations, they love and care for their animals, and if you were interested in a specific breed and worked with a breeder like that, I would respect your choice.

The awful ones are the big puppy mills, who breed without much knowledge to get "cute and fluffy" dogs that will sell, with no mind as to their well being and health. The kind of places that will toss disabled puppies that don't look shiny and cute on the side of the road.

I dislike that places like Petco can sell dogs willy nilly without any attempt to determine the best dog for an owner or family. It may feel way out of control when shelters want to basically have 50 years of employment and rental history and strands of your DNA before they'll even think about speaking to you. But there's a happy medium in there somewhere.

And if you don't want to work generically with a shelter, there are rescue groups all over the country. We are thinking of adopting a dog in the next year and one place I will be looking is For The Love of Labs. Sometimes, they work with very small shelters who can help find dogs and transport them closer to you, etc.

“*her last words were: awww, what a cute smoosh face...” moments later her own face was torn off by the pittbull” - Anderson Cooper

I have something to say about breed rescues - some of those cunts are crazy! My mother-in-law lost her dachshund a few months back and was heartbroken, so I helped her register for no less than four dachshund rescue organizations. You would not believe the bullshit they put her through. Every time she asked about a dog ready to be adopted she was told no - she didn't have a back yard, this dog was too young, this one required a "companion" animal to be adopted, there were gaps under the gate a dog could get under (she lives in a gated condo community)...and so on. She was in tears more than once, wondering what she was doing wrong. The last straw for me was when this one cunt responded to an adoption inquiry with an email that began: "You need to go back and read the description on the website," and ended with, " ...and besides, the foster mother will never go for it. " I let the bitch have it in a scathing email - I wanted to know if they wanted to place the fucking dog in a forever home or not. And for the adoption fees they were charging $250-300) they could stand to be a little nicer, volunteers or not. Listen, I love my dog, but they are NOT fucking human children.

Anyway, there's a happy ending - a friend of a friend had a one-year old Maltese - terrier mix who's owner had just died. My mother-in-law a picture of him, fell in love and we brought him home two weeks ago (for FREE, by the way) and so far he's a great little companion for her.

I don’t want to mention which rescue, but I found later that they have a bad reputation. I guess that Vanderpump rescue is better, but I wasn’t seeing any dogs that looked like a good fit for me. I’ve heard that a lot of the less reputable rescues bring dogs to L.A. from Mexico, usually American Staffordshire Terrier mixes, or Chihuahuas.

[R29] I had a similar experience, which is why I was shocked when they handed me a puppy covered in feces who was quite ill. I think some of these rescues are hoarders and have a hard time giving dogs away to their new families.

I also noticed that some of them spin what breed they dogs are. “He’s a lab, with probably a little bit of staffordshire terrier”

I have heard many horror stories, both IRL and on DL about how tough many of the rescues make it for people to adopt.

I understand they don't want the dog to undergo the trauma of being rejected again, but many don't seem to have people skills.

Reputable breeders for "doodle" dogs-- goldendoodles, labradoodles, cockapoos-- often make a small fortune, they will charge $2K and up for the dogs.

In urban areas OP, the pit bull or chihuahua thing does seem to be real and their middle class clientele does not want either of those breeds.

Many have take to importing rescues from the rural South, where the rescues are more likely to be more of a mix

[quote] I made sure that I took some time to heal from this experience

God, what a pussy. You were traumatized and needed therapy after your last dog experience? And now you need the whole world to validate your decision to purchase a dog? "Adopt don't shop" should no longer be encouraged because it hurts your feelings? You sound like too much of a mess to own a dog.

[R35] sounds like she was abandoned as a child. Do you need a hug?

Can we also stop the stigma of Dogging?

You're a really, really bad person OP. Either you're a pernicious little troll, or you're lacking in empathy and kindness. F&F for you.

R36 I'm not R35, but you do sound fucking ridiculous. You had a good rescue 15 years, but one bad one, so you bought a puppy, wonderful... but fuck off for wanting to undo decades of activism to stop feeling "shamed". It makes me wonder why you feel so guilty, because if you weren't guilty, it wouldn't bother you that people are trying to stop a serious problem with backyard, over breeders.

I know someone who complained the same exact way after getting a puppy. Most likely he was feeling guilty because he bought a 4 week old puppy like an asshole. A year later, all he did was bitch about its behavior because the dog didn't socialize like normal.

If you got a puppy at least 3 months old, from a responsible breeder, then you shouldn't have anything to feel "shamed" over.

Dogs I've had:

1. Mixed breed (German Shepherd & collie mixture). She came from a family member and was subjected to too many pregnancies (not spayed), but had a very nice temperament. If I had had her from puppy-hood, I would have spayed her.

2. Beagle (looked purebred) that was abandoned / adopted. The beagle was awesome but would probably bite if you touched his food. I wished I could have had him from a puppy.

I don't have children & never will.

At this point in life, I would not feel guilty about getting a puppy from a breeder (mild-tempered breed that doesn't need tons of exercise).

Thirty years ago, many middle-class people wouldn’t spay or neuter their pets for a whole variety of dumb reasons that ranged from financial (“in this house we don’t spend hundreds of dollars on unnecessary surgeries for dogs!”) to weird gender hang-ups (“I don’t want to cut his balls off!” “It’ll be good for her to be a mother!”) which resulted in lots of oops litters and intentional but amateurish breeding of family dogs - and those puppies and dogs would often end up in shelters or “free to good home” situations. Nowadays, thanks in large part to the humane movement, the vast majority of the western world has accepted the idea that owning a dog is a serious emotional and financial commitment and that you must have that dog spayed or neutered - the result is that there aren’t nearly as many unwanted litters of “pet caliber” dogs and people will pay lots of money for purebreds and desirable mixes.

The ethical breeding of purebred dogs is not a really profitable endeavour and the breeders who do it do it because they are striving towards some sort of “plato’s cave ideal” of their breed and not because they are trying to create the next generation of nice family dogs for John Q. Public. While basically all responsible breeders will care about the puppies they place in pet homes, so much so that they will take them back at any point during their lives if things go south, they typically aren’t very accessible to the average prospective pet owner. If you told the average person that they would have to do a bunch of “relationship building” with a breed community with the hopes of getting putting on a waiting list for a summer 2022 litter, they would balk because that it goes against everything we’re trained to expect as consumers.

In many of parts of North America, breed-specific rescues usually scoop up the few purebreds or desirable mixes that end up being surrendered to shelters - and as they are usually run by hardcore dog Karens who have seen firsthand dogs that have been severally abused or neglected. they will usually place labyrinthine requirements on potential adopters (and mostly prefer to just rotate the dogs among each other in a series of fosters). That leaves Pitbull-types, because of their popularity with the lower classes, as the vast majority of dogs that end up in kill-shelters in most parts of the country - and whatever “adopt don’t shop” advocates say, pitbulls can be wonderful animals for the right owner, I wouldn’t recommend them to the average person.

Very well put R41 and a very good summary of the current situation.

There's also something very bonding about having a dog from the time it was a puppy, watching it go through the various phases of life.

The exception to your post are senior dogs, pets whose longtime owner has died or had to go into a nursing home and whose relatives are unable to care for the dog.

Two of my friends got cockapoo puppies during the lockdown. One got a beagle puppy and another a boxerterrier puppy. Lots of friends have French bulldogs. The dogs are all super cute, friendly and also super expensive. Cockapoo puppies more than $2000 because of high demand during the pandemic. I don't usually shame people but I don't know if this is right to spend so much money on puppies while so many people are struggling right now and thousands of dogs are euthanized each day.

Am I needed here?

R29, I am going through the same thing half a world away in Europe, trying to adopt a kitten. I have always had purebreds but am fed up with the fragility and endless vet bills from genetic flaws, so decided to get an ordinary cat. What these associations require is - permanent fitted screens on all windows - and our windows are usually up to 1.5 metres high, plus security nets on all balconies. No lawns/gardens, no first floor apartments. Generally, they try to get you to adopt two and they try to shame you into adopting a very old, or blind, or three legged, or FIV/FLV+ animal (that is feline aids and feline leukemia). Plus you must have an in-home visit, and agree to microchip, neuter/spay and stay in touch with the association. For every healthy young long haired kitten, there are two hundred people clamouring to adopt it from all over the country. Now - these are cats that have been living on the street! In all my years of cat ownership, not one has jumped off a balcony or fallen out of a window.

There are many reasons why adopting/rescuing isn't for everyone. I've been attacked by a pit bull before and I know two others who lost their dogs from crazy pit bull attacks. As mentioned, most rescues are pit bulls (or mixes) and I don't want anything to do with them. Sorry.

R45 a kitten from a litter I was fostering fell out of one of my (4th floor) windows once. One had a habit of sleeping on the windowsill and it seemed fine, he seemed sure-footed. Of course one of his sibling pounced on him whilst he was asleep on that sill and he startled awake and fell right out onto the sidewalk below. He was 100% fine, slightly bruised, and a bunch of passersby all stopped to make sure he didn't run into traffic. Still feel guilty about that, though, because I should have anticipated it and didn't.

As for dogs, someone else already said it but the US south is crawling with perfectly fine mixed breeds in awful shelters. Beagle cross rescues are generally sweet as pie (best dog I ever knew, and the sweetest temperament on any creature - canine or otherwise - was a beagleXcollie rescued from kentucky.)

There is also the Takis shelter in Crete, Greece, which necessitates a trip to Greece but is a)not run by an insane person and b)the dogs are very well socialized with people and dogs.

Can we stop the stigma of dog breeds?

[quote][R45] a kitten from a litter I was fostering fell out of one of my (4th floor) windows once. One had a habit of sleeping on the windowsill and it seemed fine, he seemed sure-footed. Of course one of his sibling pounced on him whilst he was asleep on that sill and he startled awake and fell right out onto the sidewalk below. He was 100% fine, slightly bruised, and a bunch of passersby all stopped to make sure he didn't run into traffic. Still feel guilty about that, though, because I should have anticipated it and didn't.

Some of these stories are priceless.

Thanks R41. Very informative post.

I'm thinking, maybe, must maybe, about finally getting a dog. Of course, I'd rather adopt, buy shit the horror stories I've heard from some of my friends by Adopt A Dog Karens are the stuff of nightmares.

[quote] No, we cannot. Breeding dogs is cruel.

If we don’t breed dogs, dogs would basically go extinct. It would be overrun with pit bulls while all the other breeds die out.

go to your local vet - look at the notice board.

just a suggestion.