I have a 1/2 Kuvasz and 1/2 Akita, a slightly retarded arthritic Black Lab, and a Shih Tzu Malty Poo. I really can't wait to have no dogs again though.
I grew up with pugs. Had three of them in my life. Cute little loyal creatures who have horrible eye and back problems.
And they're only cute like on TV and in the movies for the first year. Then they look like little black and tan beer kegs.
No. that is not true. However, their fucking barking can drive anyone mad! Perhaps their ancestors were used as footballs that plummeted into solid walls.
My dog is very smart also whenever I say Let's play football he will go to the other side Of the yard and I will throw him the ball And he will run it back and try to juke me Out and then when he gets to the fence He drops the ball and jumps around in the Air . IT's hilarious
I remember when I got my dog when I was 16...my mom got dropped from her homeowners insurance because of the Akita breed.
angus looks like a great dog! i miss having a big dog. i haven't had a big one since my wonderful snowball (1/2 lab, 1/4 husky, 1/4 spitz) passed away this past april. the best dogs, i think, are always the free ones. but i can't complain about the pug we adopted from a cousin who stupidly bought it from a breeder without considering the attention it would need. pugs are pretty good, loyal little dogs and they're hilarious too. my parents also bought two rat terriers years ago and they were great. but when we really started to consider how many lived in shelters or on their own we decided never to buy another dog. and anyone who buys a cat is just not thinking because they seem to breed almost as rapidly as rabbits.
thats cool. my family bought two dogs before we decided to just rescue animals. nothing against purebreds or their owners, it just doesn't feel right for me.
You know I worked at the SPCA and I never once saw a dog go for free, in Canada they are $260 for dogs and $110 for cats. I have two purebreds and I'd normally RATHER have purebreds because of traits both mentally and physically that only that breed has. I like buying a dog knowing the parents, health issues etc. Justice my Doberman Great Dane X came from the SPCA and she was on her last day there and was going to be put down because of agression. One thing that definatly you should consider about going to a shelter is 99% of the dogs have huge mental issues. And while you may feel great about adopting from there it's not all sunshine, 75% of the dogs adopted will be returned due to some 'issue' the owner can't deal with.
When we got the mastiff from a shelter, they told us the previous owners abused her... AFTER everything was done. ...surprisingly good dog though, she didn't like new people and was a bit hard to deal at times, but I think thats just in the breed, maybe not.
well when i said free i meant the only thing you had to pay was adoption fees. like i said, there is nothing wrong with having a purebred, and i can totally understand why people buy them, for exactly the reasons you stated. and i know what you're saying about problems in shelter dogs. we did adopt one shelter dog who seemed to be batshit insane and ended up running away. but two cats and one other dog came from a shelter too, with no problems. even if there had been some mental issues i'd rather deal with them than deal with the guilt of knowing i had contributed to someone breeding more animals while several were being put down in a shelter. i am not judging anyone who patronizes breeders, or prefers purebreds! i want that to be clear. anyway, you make a good point about the problems. anyone adopting from a shelter should be ready to deal with extra issues, since so many of those dogs have received bad treatment, lost their mothers at too young an age, lived in weird situations, been sick, etc.
Yeah, there's just a small difference between paying $1,500.00 to a breeder for a Great Dane puppy and giving a $90.00 donation to the animal shelter for a puppy that no one wanted. And that's before you get into the AKC registration, the vet bills, the medications, and the medical problems that are pretty much assured with large and giant purebreds these days because the AKC and CKC are shit and the breeders lie about the animal's lineage. Small breeds aren't exempt from this either.
i've got one dog now used to have two. the one i've got now is a great dane,pit bull, blue tick hound mix. the one i used to have i gave to HippieHillbillie, he was a cocker spaniel. The dane mix is sugaree the cocker is ohno it's a dog!
I dunno how it works in America, but over here if you adopt a dog from a rescue shelter the process takes a while. You can't just go to the shelter, pick a dog and take it home with you, but you have to spend some time with the dog, get to know the dog and see how well you bond. Also, if a dog happens to have some serious behaviour problems it won't be re-homed until it's been rehabilitated so to speak. I dunno the exact numbers but the majority of dogs adopted from shelters don't return to the shelters, mainly as the shelters try their hardest to ensure that people adopt a dog that will suit them and their lifestyle. I adopted mine from the Blue Cross, the amount they asked us to donate was £100. I'd much rather give a donation like that than pay money to a breeder, there's just too many horror stories about breeders who only do it for the money and treat their dogs as puppy-making machines. It's so sad. Sure, there's a load of good ones around too but then there's also loads and loads of homeless dogs that are just as great as pedigrees and they all deserve good homes.
Aw, the two cockers I had growing up were the best dogs ever. They were my best friends. But they both got terribly ill when they got older and died. *sigh* Cockers are especially prone to disease.
