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Sam- mixture pup, just extra puppy on a farm. Bassett Hound/Corgi/Shepard Mix.
Penny- Dacshound, given to us by family who had too many pets and kids.
Minnie-Chihuhua, given to us by the vet, who knew my Grandma was looking for a small, older dog. I think that the owner was getting rid of her, she had been a breeding dog for a breeder, too old for breeding, and asked the vet to find a home for her.
Murphy- Shelter dog, rottie/pitbull mix. He was on "death" row, and our friend who worked at the shelter said he was just too great to go. She brought him to our house until she found a home for him. Right. He was a nice dog, looked mean as satan, goofy as all out. Not a mean bone in his body. He even let Minnie boss him around.
Hunk-Norwegian Elkhound, purebred, gift from a friend. He did not work out in our family, and went to live on a farm. Too Alpha? That is okay, he is a farm security dog, just right for him.
My greyhound came from a rescue group that worked with a race track to adopt out their retired racers. My bulldog came from the county animal shelter, she was turned over by her previous owners who no longer wanted her, their loss, our gain.
Our Labx came from a local all breed rescue - she's extremely neurotic.
Our two Bostons and one Frenchie came from reputable breeders who do the OFA and CERF testing and register the results. We drove out of state for one, two hundred miles for another and one was local.
Ringo, sometimes I feel guilty about not adopting more too, but I try to do my part by being a foster home for a Boston Rescue org., by regularly making cash donations, etc. I've fostered three dogs in the past two years.
I sort of fall into several categories with my dog, Bandit:
1) Bandit came from a litter of (four) puppies that my brother's purebred Siberian Huskies had. It was an accident...or carelessness...as such things often are. The pair of them (from the same breeder, although from different litters) were just under a year old when Dakota went into heat and got pregnant.
2) My brother sold Bandit when he was 12 weeks old to a young man. The guy had to sign a contract stating that he would return Bandit to my brother if the guy found he couldn't care for the dog for any reason.
3) The guy's job changed when Bandit was 5 months old, requiring him to work 24-hour shifts, and he realized he wouldn't be able to care for a young puppy, so he returned Bandit to my brother.
4) Bandit was cryptorchid; he had his surgery at 5 months of age, and then I "adopted" him from my brother. He's been my baby ever since.
I donate cash too - every year - in memory of my beloved maltese, Casper. RIP litle buddy! I drop food into the donation bins at the grocery store; I purchase from their booth at the mall at Christmas; but there is still more, I'm sure, that I could do. Fostering is out because Ringo likes other dogs only very selectively. But thanks to those who made me feel like less of a bad person.
Wow... imagine marrying someone who hated your dog!
wouldn't happen .... that would be a deal breaker for SURE..... love me, love my furkids.......
Quote:
Originally Posted by miu
Most of my dogs were found through Petfinder. I prefer adopting older dogs. Two of my currents dogs are from a NC rescue. One was pregnant when I got her. Of her five puppies, I still have four of them. One lab mix is from a NC animal shelter where he was there for two months. One lab mix is from a TN animal shelter.
I go out of state for my dogs because all the best dogs are snatched up quickly from the animal shelters by rescues and people. Usually what is left in MA shelters are pit bulls and pit mixes, large dogs or dogs with major issues. The local rescue groups charge a lot of money for their dogs and their application process is too invasive. And I'm not interested in having random home visits from their volunteers later on.
Anyway, I've been very lucky with my adopted southern dogs. Everyone of them has been a real joy to own.
the southern states are where the need is greatest anyway...... spay/neuter has been much more successful in the north and northeast.....
i had had cats only for years and years..... i always worked lots of long hours and just didn't feel like i could take proper care of a dog......not that i didn't always want one....... well, one fine june sunday morning in 2005, my then room mate and i were on the front porch with our coffee and newspaper when a car drove by with a pup hanging his head out the window with a look of pure joy on his face...... i looked at megan and said something to the effect of how i would LOVE to have a dog to run around with me like that..... she looked at me and said that with TWO of us in the house, we could take care of a dog...... we ran inside, threw on some clothes and 10 minutes later were on the road to the shelter where i had adopted my kitties 6 months earlier......
told the shelter that we were looking for a boy, about 8-10 months old and about 30 lbs grown...... they took us around and showed us all of the dogs and told us as much of their stories as they knew....... none of them really "grabbed" me...... get to the last cage and there is bailey..... then named patches...... a 4 month old girl who was already about 20 lbs..... the shelter guy said people were really not looking at her much for whatever reason...... i took one look at her and KNEW..... this was my dog...... talk about pretty much opposite of what i had gone in looking for...... couldn't bring her home for 3 more days so they could spay her.... man oh man ..... was THAT a tough wait.........she has been my velcro / heart dog ever since......
had a big ol' yellow lab boy in the house for about 14 months and when i had to kick his person out (whole 'nuther story) the jackazz abandoned buddy with me..... i knew i could not keep him.... he is 98 lbs of solid, untrained, undisciplined lab muscle..... too much dog for me and a potential liability issue for me as well, because he was VERY protective of bailey and me..... took me a while, but i found a lab rescue group in the tulsa, ok area that had room for him...... took him down there on a saturday in april and he was adopted into his forever home within about 4 weeks..... is doing very well with "lab people" and i feel like i really did what was best for him and for bailey and me........ as hard as it was at the time...... sobbing for about half of the 400 mile trip home.......
as rough as buddy was on bailey, i knew she was missing canine companionship during the day, so went back to the shelter to look at another red heeler boy they had had for a couple of months..... he was far too dominating toward bailey, so i knew that he would not be successful in our household..... looked around at the other dogs, saw dave, then named spike, fell in LOVE with his face and long long long legs and now we are five.... 2 dogs, 2 cats and me......
Coco, my husky/pointer mix, from North Shore Animal League (NY)
Elly, my Siberian husky, from the Bergen County Shelter in Teterboro, NJ
Jasper, my pom/sheltie, from the Las Cruces, NM animal shelter.
My granddaughter recently brought home a home-bred puppy that I consider a rescue too - rescued from a life outdoors as coyote bait
I got Callie 14 years ago from a family that had an accidental breeding. When I had to have her put to sleep 2 months ago I knew my next dog would be from a rescue. I got Sandy from Pets Miracle Network.
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