Why Choose a Shelter Dog?

When I was young, I couldn't understand why anyone would adopt an older, mixed breed dog.  I empathized with all the dogs put down every year, but I was positive that if you wanted a great dog, you should buy a purebred puppy from a breeder.  I was wrong.  More about that later - first, let's take a look at some facts about pet shelters (statistics from ASPCA):

• 5 to 7 million pets enter animal shelters every year.  
• 60% of dogs and 70% of cats  (a total of 3 to 4 million) that are brought to shelters are euthanized. 
• About half the animals in shelters are surrendered by owners.
• About 25% of dogs in shelters are purebred.
• Few pets that enter shelters are returned to their owners - 15-20% of dogs, and less than 2% of cats.
• Most pets are euthanized because there's no room in shelters.  Even "No-Kill" shelters are unable to take all the pets that are brought to them, so they do little to reduce the total number of animals put down.

Clearly, the problem here is there are too many dogs and cats. Although even responsible breeders contribute to the pet overpopulation problem, "Backyard Breeders" and "Puppy Mills" are the real concern.  Puppy mills produce hundreds of thousands of dogs per year, most of them sold through pet stores (if you buy a dog at a pet store, just go ahead and assume you're paying top dollar for a puppy mill dog).  Since they're producing dogs for profit, their focus is on maximizing sales and reducing costs.  Dogs are often kept in unsafe and inhumane conditions, and no attempt is made to assure the health and fitness of puppies.  Puppies are separated from their litters at too young an age, often leading to behavior problems.  Although the dogs are frequently sold as purebred, they may not be - and even if they are, they're likely to be a poor example of the breed.

A Backyard Breeder is exactly what it sounds like - it's an amateur who decides to have their dog produce a litter of puppies.  Often, they think it's good for the dog to have pups.  Many of these are people who bought a purebred dog from a pet store or another backyard breeder, and think they're doing a good thing by breeding their dog to a friend or neighbor's purebred dog.  These dogs, while not raised in the horrific conditions typical of puppy mills, will not tend to be great examples of the breed (although they may very well turn out to be wonderful pets). 

A special catagory of breeder is the seller of "Designer Dogs".  Chances are you know someone who has a "Labradoodle", "Goldendoodle", or some other type of doodle.  These dogs are a mixed breed, of Poodle mixed with a Labrador, Golden Retriever, or some similar breed.  There are other designer dogs, mixing virtually any two breeds - each purporting to have all the best traits of each breed.  These dogs - especially the puppies - are very cute.  Many of them are great dogs - of course, many purebred or mutts are great dogs, too.  The thing to keep in mind is, these are not a breed, but a hybrid (nothing wrong with that - I'm a hybrid myself).   Most of the time, these designer dogs sell for more than a purebred dog, so there's a big financial incentive for the breeders to produce more of them.  Here are some pictures of Labradoodles - note that they don't look like a breed - each of the four has a distinctive appearance.  Again, that doesn't mean they're not great dogs- it just means they're a mixed breed.

Looks like a Poodle!

Looks like a Sheepdog?

Looks like a Lab!

Looks like "Who Knows"!

A real breeder will tend to specialize in a particular breed.  They'll show their dogs, and should have some titles in both conformance and obedience.  Don't expect to buy one of their dogs without answering some questions - they will tend to be pretty selective about who gets their pups, and they'll keep the litters together longer than the backyard breeders.  If you ever decide you don't want the pup, they'll want you to contact them first.  Pups that don't meet their standards will most likely be neutered and sold as pets, although dogs with serious problems may be destroyed.

At the beginning of this post, I said I had once been convinced the only way to get a great dog was to buy a purebred pup.  I now understand that is not true - there are tons of great adult dogs in shelters (there are plenty of nice pups in there, too).  Far from being somebody's problem, many of these dogs are well-adjusted, trained, and ready to join the family.  When you adopt an older dog, you miss the puppy stage - chewing, potty training, etc.

Although I'll probably never buy another puppy, there are certainly times when it's a good choice:

• If you want to compete in conformance, obedience, or field trials.
• If you are in law enforcement, ranching, or some other business that uses specific breeds of dogs for the purpose for which they are bred.
• If you have specific needs or desires for a dog - size, usage, etc. that may not be met by a mixed breed dog.

If you feel like you'd like a purebred dog, by all means get one, but first consider an older dog from a shelter.  There are plenty of purebred dogs in shelters - take a look at PetFinder, and you'll see a tremendous variety.  If an older dog is not for you, and you can't find a rescue pup, contact a breeder and get your puppy.  Don't support puppy mills by buying a pet store puppy.

In a future post, I'll describe how I pick out the right dog in a shelter.  I'll also continue talking about some of the dogs I've owned.