Pound puppy vs Purebred puppy

**lgw** · 03-16-2009, 12:59 PM

We get pound kittehs, hand's down. And for two we got a two-for-one deal, since they were companions and the pound wanted to keep them together.

**One Frugal Mom** · 03-16-2009, 02:47 PM

We have done both bought pure and shelter/given pets.

I have tried to get a dog and/or cat recently and all the shelters and rescue groups around here require the hoop jumping also. I also understand why, but it gets frustrating and some charge over $200. Oh... and then there are some that will not let us adopt because we have kids. <shrug>

I will just continue to enjoy ones that we get from divine intervention. :-)

**rasilla** · 03-16-2009, 05:04 PM

We, like annymol, got a discounted purebread as he was "too big" for showing... great for us. We were concerned as we have small kids in the house of adopting from a shelter as we would not know the "issues" that the dog would be bringing with them (i.e. biting, etc.). I don't know where you are getting your vet costs, but it cost us 35$ to get him fixed, 16$ a year for worm meds and we go to the feed store to get shots, about 6$ each. Our purebred Bichon friese dog is perfect for us and cost us 300$ and that included the dog, his kennel, leash, neutering, first year of shots/worm meds, and a 40lb bag of puppy chow.

**mommy4ever** · 03-16-2009, 05:20 PM

Originally Posted by rasilla

We were concerned as we have small kids in the house of adopting from a shelter as we would not know the "issues" that the dog would be bringing with them (i.e. biting, etc.). I don't know where you are getting your vet costs, but it cost us 35$ to get him fixed, 16$ a year for worm meds and we go to the feed store to get shots, about 6$ each. Our purebred Bichon friese dog is perfect for us and cost us 300$ and that included the dog, his kennel, leash, neutering, first year of shots/worm meds, and a 40lb bag of puppy chow.

We had issues with an older we'd adopted so we had to find her a new home, and 99% of the shelters in our area will NOT adopt to a family with children under 10.

As to costs, it varies by area. Here a basic check up is $100, and shots on top of that. To get our female spayed at the vet was $349 + cost of blood work. At the Spay clinic(city subsidized) it is $230. I'm not sure I could immunize ourselves, but may look into it, it would save us a good amount, but I will bring her for the first check up for the puppy and finish her immunizations, immunize for everything along with kennel cough so we can bring her to 4H.(her safety). And then we'll look at our options.

Pets aren't cheap, but they don't need to be expensive either.

**jamie79** · 03-16-2009, 07:43 PM

all of my cats come from shelters. Love them all

**shadowfax** · 03-16-2009, 07:55 PM

Both of my dogs are shelter animals and my cat is from a litter that came of a stray that a friend took in. In the past I have also had other cats and dogs that were shelter animals. Never regretted it at all.

**checkerkitty** · 03-16-2009, 09:34 PM

Our two cats were both "found". Of the five dogs DH and I have had, 2 were from breeders, 1 from a truck in a parking lot, and 2 brothers we adopted from a single mom last year. The dogs were all purebreds, one German Shepherd (breeder), one Rough Coat Collie (breeder), one Golden Retriever (parking lot), and the brothers are Australian Shepherds (pre-owned).

I will say this about pure bred dogs, I really do believe that they have more health problems than mutts, especially large breeds. I grew up with a cockapoo that never had any serious health problems besides deafness and cataracts and he died at 18 years of age when he somehow escaped the backyard at my parents and was hit by a car. Our GS, Collie, and one of the AS have hip dysplasia. I think the other AS may also have slight hip problems. Our poor $500 Collie, with every dog in her lineage going back about 6 generations, except her dam, was a champion show dog, has two different eye conditions and is now partly blind. She is not even 4 years old. My in-laws have a Chocolate Lab that has allergy problems and constant yeast infections.

Anyway, sorry for getting on my soap box. I've loved all of our dogs and wouldn't change owning any of them. I would say though that pure bred dogs are no better than mutts. And we did try to adopt from a shelter, a rescue organization and a private party when our GS died since our Collie was lonely. Sadly, none of them worked out since our Collie is WAY too laid back and the other dogs kept trying to take chunks out of her. Poor girl! At least the Australian Sheps worked out!

**cojo** · 03-21-2009, 07:51 PM

We got both of our dogs from a breeder, but our next dog will be a rescue.

DH has done volunteer work at our local ASPCA shelter and the number of dogs that are brought in simply because the owner travels a lot, or someone doesn't like the smell, or they don't have time to train it, or it isn't a cute puppy anymore, is sad.

Once we were talking about all the expensive purebred dogs that are given up. He challenged me to go on Petfinder.com and look up the rarest, most expensive dog he could think of - a purebred Dogue de Bordeaux (French Mastiff). These are $3000 dogs.

We found two within a one-hour drive of us.

**mom2matty** · 03-21-2009, 08:25 PM

We got our dog from a breeder but because she didn't have papers for him we paid pretty much what we would have paid if we had gotten him from SPCA. We did get our kitty from SPCA and he was scheduled to be put down the next day! He is the sweetest thing and I'm so glad we were there that day and were able to adopt him!

**angelbumpkin** · 03-21-2009, 09:44 PM

I like pound puppys. Nothing better then saving a life.

**Spirit Deer** · 03-22-2009, 09:15 AM

All five of our kitties and both our current dogs are from shelters.

We looked into getting dogs from the husky rescues, but their post-placement regulations were literally tougher than those we had when we adopted eight kids from another state and two foreign countries. It was utterly ridiculous. I can understand them wanting to assure the animals are never abused again, but there's no way we would agree to have these people in our business for the entire lifetime of the dog, among other outrageous requirements. So two pf their dogs lost an excellent home with people who have owned huskies and husky mixes for over thirty years, a home that's set up to handle huskies and which has a good understanding of the breed and what huskies need to be happy and safe. The rescues really need to lighten up, IMO. By being too strict, they do a disservice to the animals they intend to help.

OTOH, the shelter where we got our current doggies was thrilled beyond words to let us take our two girls home. They required references, but never called them once they talked to our vet, who knows us well and knows better than anyone the level of care our pets get.

One of our girls had just been rejected by a family, something we still can't figure out. The director of the shelter couldn't figure it out either, since she was, in her words, "madly in love" with our girl because of her sweet personality. We still wonder what those "Pebbles people" wanted in a dog that our girl didn't have. (They gave her that stupid name which didn't fit her at all.) So I can relate to the post about people giving up pets because they're not cute anymore, or they need training, or they're messy, or, in short, they're not like a stuffed toy you can set on a shelf when you don't want to bother with it.

**cojo** · 03-22-2009, 09:54 AM

Originally Posted by Spirit Deer

All five of our kitties and both our current dogs are from shelters.

We looked into getting dogs from the husky rescues, but their post-placement regulations were literally tougher than those we had when we adopted eight kids from another state and two foreign countries. It was utterly ridiculous. I can understand them wanting to assure the animals are never abused again, but there's no way we would agree to have these people in our business for the entire lifetime of the dog, among other outrageous requirements. So two pf their dogs lost an excellent home with people who have owned huskies and husky mixes for over thirty years, a home that's set up to handle huskies and which has a good understanding of the breed and what huskies need to be happy and safe. The rescues really need to lighten up, IMO. By being too strict, they do a disservice to the animals they intend to help.

I know what you mean. I did try adopting a few dogs before we bought our 2nd from a breeder. I went through some rescue groups and most were very cold to us.

One woman from a rescue group called our veterinarian for a reference, and then called me literally SCREAMING because "our bulldog isn't neutered" and I am "contributing to the problem". I waited for her to take a breath and calmly explained that he is vasectomied and therefore it would take an act of God for him to contribute to the world of unwanted puppies. Additionally, he doesn't have any behavioral or aggression problems and we would address those the moment they arose. She was still very upset and refused to adopt to us.

We are a childless married couple. One of us is always at home. We walk the dogs every day and make efforts to take them on vacations and interesting trips. We own a large 6-bedroom home with a fenced yard. Between the two of us, we have owned 5 dogs of various breeds and have never abandoned, abused, or neglected them. They eat organic food we buy in specialty stores, the healthiest we can find, and we spend more on their medical care than we do on our own. We certify all of our dogs as Canine Good Citizens and undergo professional obedience training with them all. Our current dog (the "un-neutered" one) is a therapy dog and visits veterans hospitals. Our dogs are our children, and we're the most "dog people" I know. I'm not sure what else we can do to qualify for a rescue with these groups.

I called our vet to ask them to clarify his status on our records, but I was turned off to rescue groups and do not think I will ever try to adopt from one again.

**Spirit Deer** · 03-22-2009, 09:58 AM

Originally Posted by cojo

...I was turned off to rescue groups and do not think I will ever try to adopt from one again.

That's exactly how we feel, and obviously we dealt with different rescues than you did. It's really hard to get an answer out of them when you ask a question, too. The attitude we got was that they are God and how dare we question them, their rules, or what they do. No, thanks.

**Palooka** · 03-24-2009, 11:25 PM

All my animals came from the shelter.

**ml2620** · 03-25-2009, 08:46 AM

They say people are abandoning their animals because of the economy, and shelters are filling up. It's very likely you'd get a purebread from the pound.

And another thought, if you got an older dog instead of a puppy, they would already be nuteured, spayed, shot, housetrained and often shelters offer a discount when you adopt a full grown pup.

Whatever you decide to do .... post pictures!