Adopting dogs?
 

when i move into my new place im gonna be getting a couple dogs i have an idea of the breeds i want. has anyone here adopted from the shelter before? pros/cons?

There are no cons to adopting..

all my 3 dogs came from the pound. two were in kill shelters.
the pros:
The Dog can be house trained already you are saving a life,considering the amount of dogs killed every month in pounds.its crazy to buy one from a pet shop.
Seeing changes in behavior for the better can be very rewarding.A dog that didnt want to be touched is now sleeping on your lap.
the cons:
Its damaged goods if they have been abused like two that i have/had. Like shorty gets scared very quickly and anxious. It breaks my heart that someone beat this little dog so much that any chance of tone in my voice scares the crap out of him.
CJ was left alone and neglected, he had some physical problems ( like he must of been hit by a car and they did nothing about it.So a part of his spine was fused together)and he liked to be around us all the time like a shadow because he was left alone so much.
You dont know close to anything about the dogs history and the age tends to be a guesstimate at best.

A trick I have learned is when looking at dogs at the pound.Its so noisy, if I see a dog Im interested in I tell it to sit and if it sits. I know it has some training and I can work from there. My friend who is a big dog saver says you dont pick the dog he picks you.

I have a shelter dog pit bull, that was taken and trained by someone as a "foster" dog for 4 months before we got her. She sits, stays, shakes, and when you put her food down in front of her she sits there and waits until you tell her to "take".

Best dog ever, the only person she ever hurt was a guy who was trying to pet her, she got so excited she jumped up to lick his face and they bumped heads. He was feeding her for us when we were out of town a couple days.

She bumped him so hard he fell out, woke up with the dog licking his face and acting all sorry.

Best part is, everyone sees her and goes "Oh NOES a vicious pitbullll!!!11" and gives her a wide berth.

I adopted my black lab from the pound. She is such a joy to have. I adopted my german shepherd from a rescue group. When you give a dog a second chance, they really do know it. They will be so loyal and loving because they know that you saved them. I will always adopt from the pound or a rescue group. I also read that 25 percent of the dogs in the pound are pure breeds. So if you want a pure breed, you can get one from the pound too.

The hardest party is figuring out how to tell the dog that it was adopted. When it eventually asks you can say something like "I don't know why they couldn't take care of you, but I'm sure they wanted to." During this period when the dog is digesting this idea, it needs to be reminded, along with a hug, that it's always going to be yours now.

Yep. I adopted a little shitzu and he's been my buddy. And I've always been a big dog kinda guy.

:1orglaugh:1orglaugh

Pros are your doing something good. Your not giving your money to puppy mills, or abusive breeders, or whatever. I have mixed feelings about breeders, because there are SO many dogs sitting in pounds and being euthanized that I just don't understand why breeders just add more. Then again, people want specific breeds, and know that a dog comes from a good place - which leads to the BIG con of adopting...

you have no idea what the dog you are adopting has experienced thus far in it's life. My dog Kali seems to be TERRIFIED of men with beards. Perhaps she was abused by a man with a beard? They picked her up with a broken leg, and a broken tail...no idea how.

Anyway, it can be hit or miss unfortunately...another example with my dog is that, one morning I woke up and she was scared of ME. I mean...I am never ever anything close to abusive to my dog - if anything shes pampered to all hell, but never the less, she would not come close to me, when I asked her to come, or sit, she would run to her bed and cower. Lasted about 24 hours, the miraculously was fine - it may have been something physically wrong with her, but she showed no signs of physical discomfort, but I took her to the vet anyway and all seemed fine. So god knows what triggered this weird 180 in behavior.

Point is - you may adopt a dog that in a year from now, may act strangely due to some long lost memory that it gets reminded of. But, I think the pros FAR outweigh the cons.

Also, adopting tends to be much cheaper, and are almost always (if not always) neutered before being put up for adoption.