Breeder Dog vs Shelter Dog.

I'll take my baby skunk over a dog/cat any day, shelter or not.

 

As a person who is in the field of interacting with dogs everyday. Seriously, every day! I think I will put my 2 cents in.

For the people who breed dogs and actually do show and compete, I see no problem with it. Like you said, it's preserving the gene line and keeping the breed alive. I highly support that. You really have to be passionate for those types of things. Most people don't know the rules, time, effort people and their pet have to put in for those shows. Even if the dog is purebred and comes from a shelter, it can not compete without papers! Most people do not know that. However, most people do not compete in shows. So why do we expect them to? Most owners just want a loving pet. A shelter animal is a great choice. In my opinion the better of the two if the animal is going to be a family pet. You are saving an animals life! What better feeling could one get than to save an animals life? As for what pet is better, well it really depends on what your pet is intended for. Are you someone who wants to compete in shows? Or is this literally just a pet? Both are great for their purposes and can not really be better than the other!

 

They're just animals. I don't see why everyone has a big fuss over this kind of thing.

 

To some people, those animals are family.

 

The OP makes a great point, puppy mills are an ongoing problem and unfortunately people are quick to put kind hearted people who breed dogs into the same group as these inhumane monsters. There are many good people who have the pups welfare at the top of their priority list, whereas others don't care less what kind of condition the pups are in and living in, only thinking of the profit.

Our dog came from someone who breeds working dogs for a living. Our fella came from a Border Collie-Springer Spaniel cross litter, an unplanned litter, but one that she wanted to find good homes for. She felt their intelligence would see them become friendly, loyal and protective of those he or she holds dear, and she was correct, our dog has been loyal, obedient, very friendly, super with kids and loves nothing more than seeing us show our affection for him.

This is of course not to say I wouldn't get a dog from a shelter, but we came to a decision as a family that we wanted to adopt a dog as a pup who had the chance to build a relationship with us from an early age. He won't be around forever, and if the time comes that I want a new dog, I would definitely consider adopting one from a shelter, there are lots who may have a few years under their belt, or perhaps have some sort of medical condition, but they also have a lot of character and a lot of love and appreciation to give for rescuing them.

 

Apologies for having an opinion.

 

I probably have a slightly biased opinion considering my mom operates an organization that rescues and adopts out shelter cats and dogs, but here it is.

Now, just like there are good breeders and bad breeders, there are also good adoption shelters and bad ones. If you adopt a shelter dog from a reputable organization, they will include as much of the animals history as they know, whether or not the dog has any known problems (food aggression, bad with kids/other animals, etc) and they will make sure that the dog or cat is up to date on all its shots, etc.

Why is it a good thing to adopt from a shelter? Because a lot of times shelters simply have too many animals, so if an animal does not get adopted out after a certain period of time then they consider it to be "unadoptable" and it's pretty much taking up space that a younger, cuter animal who is more likely to get adopted out could fill. These animals are often euthanized, unless the shelter is a "no-kill shelter" of which there are few. So by adopting a shelter animal, you could very likely be saving its life. And a lot of the time, there is nothing wrong with these animals other than the previous owners just couldn't or didn't want to take care of it anymore.

Even dogs that have certain issues (such as food aggression or not good with other animals) can find a perfect fit in a home that is suited to their needs, by adopting it to someone who knows how to deal with a food aggressive dog or with a house that doesn't have any other pets, respectively. A good adoption agency will make sure that the animal being adopted out is going to a home that meets the criteria for their specific needs.

On a personal note, every animal we've ever adopted into our own home has come from a shelter or was rescued by my mom's organization, and every single one worked out great. I've never seen the need to have a pure bred cat or dog. I have no interest in showing or breeding my pets, and I place less importance on what they look like than their personality and the companionship they provide.
That, and like what has been said before, mutts typically are less prone to the genetic disorders that purebreeds get, although reputable breeders do make an effort to breed out these disorders. So shelter or breeder, either way a dog's overall health over the course of its lifetime really is a crapshoot. Only difference is a shelter animal is typically free or close to it, and dogs from reputable breeders could run you more than a thousand dollars.


On the other side of the coin, my grandma currently has 3 Irish Setters that she regularly shows, all have AKC pure bred certification (or whatever its called) and all 3 hold multiple blue ribbons. They are extremely healthy and beautiful looking dogs, however, they are horrendous when they are at home. My grandmother believes that obedience training will interfere with their show training, so they pretty much run wild around her house... running around, jumping all over the furniture, barking at EVERYTHING, etc. Although that isn't their fault so I can't really hold that against them, they'd probably be great house pets if she just taught them how to sit haha.


So basically I'm of the opinion that if you're not going to be showing your dogs or aren't really attached to a specific breed, then there's no reason not to adopt from a shelter. Unless you have a couple grand burning a hole in your pocket I guess.

 

I've had exotic pets since I was a small child, Have worked at 3 pet stores for a total of 10yrs, I have 13yrs of experience fostering dogs, training and showing dogs. I've had both positive and negative experiences with both breeders and animal shelters.
For several years, I showed and hunted dogs for a kennel. I did fostering of red zone and difficult cases for the animal shelter and local agencies to get hard to place dogs trained and socialized so they could be rehomed. I find there are merits and faults to both pure and mix breed dogs. Mix breed dogs are harder to tell on personality, size and general temperament unless they are adults. They will have an advantage genetically being a mix breed dog, however, they can still inherit breed related illness. It can also be hard to potty train a dog that's been peeing in a kennel.
Also, I find the biggest issue with shelter and fostered dogs is that people coddle them and feel sorry for them. I follow the Cesar Millan method, so I don't think you shouldn't expect any less from a dog that was abused than a dog that grew up in a loving household- It shouldn't matter, you should still discipline them. Also, people assume that the dogs at the shelter where mostly abused or neglected, working there, most came from average households and people just didn't have the resources or the time to care for the animal anymore- course you get that small percentage that come that are awful human beings that shouldn't be allowed to have animals under any circumstances.
I got out of fostering for local agencies though because of the rise in hoarders. I find alot of hoarders make there way into the fostering program and they never adopt out any of the animals and before long, they have 50 cats and 25 dogs. Also, just like hoarders, many people can get this holier than thou mentality, as if they know what's best for the animal and no home but theirs is good enough. I would try for months to adopt a dog out and the people in charge of the agency would turn down really good people merely for some of the most ridiculous reasons. One guy got turned down from adopting a lab mix because the people at one of the agencies I worked at for a brief time wouldn't let me adopt a dog to him because he wanted to take it hiking and jogging with him and they thought that was cruel even though the dogs previous owner had jogged with it. They also stopped sending me food and paying for vet care, all while turning down prospective owners. The last straw though was when I was told I was a bad representative for the organization because I had a service dog, and making a dog work was cruel, so they wanted me to have my service dog stop working. I basically told them where they could go. Several other people I've known have stopped fostering for similar reasons.

With a pure breed dogs, I find that there's a general temperament and size you can rely on. Of course finding a good breeder is important. Just like with mix breed dogs, the health of the dog can be just as iffy depending on the breed. I have a UKC redbone coonhound, so he has a line of excellent health. While the AKC golden retriever I got died at 2.5 yrs old due to long bone cancer and softball sized tumors.
Puppy mills and backyard breeders are completely different than respectable breeders in that the people generally don't know anything about genetics, health and are usually looking to make money (you wont make money from breeding dogs if you're doing it right).
On principle though, I think you should look to adopt first if you're just seeking a pet dog because the shelter is so overrun with dog in need of homes. Also, you shouldn't breed dogs unless you're looking to improve the line and make a better dog. The is such an over population problem with cats and dogs that many perfectly good animals get euthanized simply due to lack of resources to care for all of them. We have a major overpopulation of feral cats in our city right now and I've been helping set out traps to catch them so they can get spayed or neuter before re-released.
Just remember, do plenty of research, train your dog properly and figure out a back up plan should you not be able to care for the animal anymore.
<--Abe, my service dog wearing a jaunty hat

 

You're right, not all breeders are bad, and its fine to buy from them if they're not the problem kind.

As for witch is better? It depends on why you want the dog. If you want a purepred show dog, then you're right, its good to get it from a breeder. Or if you have a specofic breed in mind that you can't find at your local shelter.

On the other hand, if your just looking for a companion, shelter dogs are great, because A) Your saving the dogs life & B) Shelter dogs are genneraly cheaper.

 

I support the adoption of dogs and cats from shelters, but also have nothing against breeders.

I do, however, have issues with some of these arguments. A lot of extreme people out there are pushing against breeders because they say it saves animal lives to adopt from shelters, and by not adopting people are effectively allowing those animals that might be put down in shelters to die. In a way, this is accurate, but it is also very wrong. I believe we should have even better laws to regulate whether or not people should be allowed to breed dogs, as well as how many dogs they should be allowed to care for. All states should have laws in place like that as well as the means to enforce them. Breeder's licenses are important. However, consider this: if a person who neglects shelter dogs is allowing them to die, isn't a person who neglects impoverished humans in third-world countries allowing them to die as well? That simply isn't a relevant argument; we all make choices every day that essentially amount to us looking out for ourselves. It can't be argued.

On the opposite side, the OP stated that breeders allow certain species, which might have been so genetically intermingled with others that they disappeared, to cling on and continue to be "pure bred." While I think that it's certainly noble to choose saving a species from poachers who would kill them for money, when a species dies out simply because it has bred with another species, that is a natural part of how this world operates. When a species "dies out", nothing is really lost; the original species might be gone, but traces of it are found in the new species that has been created with its intermingling. The idea that dog shows are imperiled by this is also laughable; if enough intermingling is done, a new species may be considered (by the committee in question) to be a viable entry in the dog show. All breeds of dogs are pretty much mutts anyway, considering they evolved wildly from other species far before we domesticated them.

Change is the law of life.

 

I fully support responsible breeders, but I don't support backyard breeders. Especially ones who use Schnauzeranian, Labradoodle, Bagel, etc. when selling. If you want to call your mix that, fine, but not when selling to deceive people into thinking it's some special breed. Though IMO, if you get a dog without looking into it's breed at all, you're already failing as a pet owner. I do support selling mutts for a small bit, enough to cover dewormer and if you get them shots, their shots. But not for hundreds of dollars like some mixes are sold for as if they're a purebred.

Now I'll say; yes, there's a couple purebreds I want. Labrador, basset hound, irish setter, and collie for starters. So I have NOTHING against the purebred animals or the people who breed them.

 

It really depends. I plan on getting an Australian Cattle Dog next year from a breeder because they are a dog I have researched about and I feel they fit my lifestyle, so I definitely have nothing against reputable, responsible breeders, but a lot of families just want a dog, not that type of dog, and that's where I think you should rescue.

Shelter puppies are definitely an extreme guessing game. I have a rescue dog lying at my desk right now, and even though we socialized the heck out of her, she is suuper dog aggressive, which is definitely something we didn't know about.

There's some breeds I really just wish would stop being bred irregardless. (Usually the dogs that have their face so smashed in they can't breathe.)