08-13-2012 at 2:31 PM

Some no kill shelters don't kill but they still do. I read in a Readers Digest issue, an article called, "50 secrets your vet won't tell you, is that "no-kill" shelters still kill. The shelters send pets to be euthanized to the vet and the vet takes care of it. Not all shelters do that, but lots do. But adoption isn't always the best option for some people. You don't know what kind of background those pets have, verses buying a puppy from a breeder. <br /> <br /> My family tried adoption for our first dog. The dog developed a terrible disorder within the first six months we had her. She was just a pup and we didn't have the money and we didn't want her to go through a painful, risky surgery that had a 50% chance of curing her. <br /> <br /> So then my family adopted another dog. The dog was nice at the shelter, but right after we brought her home, she dug a hole under the fence, went into the neighbors yard and bit their little kids more than once. After weeks of training, no improvement and she ran, escaping the newly installed electric fence.<br /> <br /> My mom didn't want to adopt another shelter dog after two tries that failed. We did our research on a breed that would be perfect for us. We took our time in finding the right breeder, health checks, good environment, friendly parents, etc. We found our perfect dog. She is still with us after 5 years.<br /> <br /> I would try adoption again, but odds are, I will probably go with a breeder.

07-24-2012 at 7:06 PM

I think it depends on your situation and what you want from your new friend, for example, I have a dog, I bought him from a family when he was 7 months old and I have reason to believe that he was abused, I had him nuetered for free at my local vets and we think something may have happened there and coupled with the fact that he was attacked by another dog just a few days after he was done (I took him out to the little park near me so he could go to the loo with a change of scenery) he has become dog aggressive and I have since learnt that he gets on much better with female puppies than older dogs and when I have looked on my local shelter websites, many of the dogs descriptions say they would either not do well with young children (I have 2 younger sisters) or they do not get on with other dogs and all the puppies that are listed say that they should be raised as an only dog so for me it appears that I may have to go and buy a puppy from a breeder, however, to curb the amount of dogs ending up in shelters, the dogs trust give out vouchers to get your dog spayed/nuetered for free (thats how we got our dog done) but they usually only give them out to owners of high risk breed such as staffies and such...

07-24-2012 at 3:55 PM

I've volunteered at my local shelter (a "kill" shelter - but don't even get me started on kill vs no-kill) for 7 years, so I can say with extreme conviction: <i>Adopt!</i> Any animal adopted from a legitimate animal shelter/rescue is a life saved. Even if that rescue doesn't euthanize, the adoption of one animal from them opens a space for that rescue to pull another animal from a kill-shelter, thus making one less animal the kill-shelter is forced to euthanize when no one comes to adopt. <br /> <br /> Buying from reputable breeders is fine as well, though the definition of reputable is not so cut-and-dry. And if it's a purebred you're looking for, there are breed-specific rescues all over the place. Regular ol' animal shelters also get in purebreds - that purebred puppy that grew out of its "cute puppy" stage, those dogs seized during a puppy mill raid, a few dogs willingly surrendered by a breeder because the breeder decided she didn't want to breed anymore (this happened at my shelter - she just came by and handed over a few Italian Greyhounds cause she was "done breeding").<br /> <br /> There's one small flaw with your initial argument - buying an animal from a pet store isn't the same as saving a life. While you may have taken that animal out of their little cage, there will be another sad little animal in that cage probably before the store opens the next day. Sure, some pet stores may cull unsold animals or give them to animal shelters. But without asking them this directly, you won't know for sure. Buying an animal from a pet store opens a space on the floor for yet another animal, and another, and another, and this only perpetuates the existence of animal (puppy, rodent, etc) mills.

07-24-2012 at 10:00 AM

Clayton_ My point exactly. <br /> Also, many dont realize some petstores cull there unwanted animals so between a shelter and certine petshops Ive seen little to no difference.

07-24-2012 at 1:28 AM

The only way that adopting a dog from a shelter saves a life is if the shelter is a kill shelter<br /> Adopting a dog from a shelter will not remove a purebred dog from the world.

07-24-2012 at 1:02 AM

Shelter, no question. I've volunteered at my local shelter for a few years now and you'd be surprised how many pets come in there that people got from breeders and decided they didn't want the dog/cat anymore. The shelter I volunteer at is a no-kill shelter, so we've still got some cats that have been there since I started volunteering. Its so sad to see all of the animals who've been there nearly all their lives.