i am very far

In the coast near Juneau, Alaska

Well again, the idea that someone buying a dog from a breeder is ‘taking away a potential home’ from a shelter dog isn’t accurate. Just because someone doesn’t buy, or can’t buy, a dog from a breeder doesn’t mean that they will want or will adopt a dog from a shelter.

A lot of it is situational. People who want a pet dog have specific requirements based on where they live, their lifestyle, their energy level, how much they’re willing to groom, how much they want to exercise a dog, etc. There may not be a shelter dog in their area that fits their needs. In my city, for example, there are very few dogs available at the local shelter. They usually average 10-15 dogs at any one time. There have been times they have had no dogs available at all. That’s just my city. Other cities may be overwhelmed with adoptable dogs, and have an enormous range of dogs to choose from, giving potential adopters a greater chance of finding the dog that will fit their needs.

And I feel like it can’t be emphasized enough that people need dogs that fit their lifestyle. An older retired lady who wants a companion is not going to want a 1 year old 60 lb herding mix. A younger guy who jogs every day is probably not going to want an elderly chihuahua. Families who already have dogs, or cats, or children, will need a dog that has been socialized or can be socialized to live with dogs/cats/children. A shelter puppy with unknown parentage can be socialized to live with dogs/cats/children, but genetics could rear their ugly head when that dog grows up and turns out to be dog aggressive.

Rescue animals are fantastic. But with rescue animals there will always be some element of mystery and risk involved. Mystery breed, mystery socialization, mystery training. I’m not saying all rescues are ticking time bombs, but knowing the background of an animal can make a huge difference in taking them into your home and being prepared to care for them and meet their specific needs. If you’re prepared to take on possible health or behavioral problems with a rescue animal, that’s great! That’s what I’ve done with most of my animals. But if you are not prepared to deal with possible health or behavioral problems, if you have a lifestyle that limits itself to a specific type of dog, rescue may not be the best option for you or the rescued animal.

If you buy a dog from a responsible breeder, you’re going to know all the traits of that breed, you’re going to be able to meet the parents, you’re going to know how that puppy has been socialized and what they’ve been exposed to from day one. This can be extremely important for people who have children, who already have other pets, who want some advance knowledge about what they’re getting into and how this dog is likely to grow up.

And again - if somebody wants a pet, but they have specific requirements for that pet, and there are not rescue animals that fit those requirements, they will not rescue an animal as a pet. This is not a home being stolen from a rescue animal, because this is not a home that can handle having a rescue animal.

I mean long story short every prospective animal owner needs an animal that fits their lifestyle and their capabilities (this is how animals stay in homes instead of bouncing back to a rescue situation). Every prospective animal owner lives in a different area where their access to breeders good and bad and rescues good and bad varies. When some breeders are shitty, some rescues are shitty, some breeders are great, some rescues are great, etc etc etc, it all comes down to people being educated and taking the responsibility to find a dog that they can guarantee keeping for its whole life.