So I'm looking for pro's and cons regarding to buying a dog vs adopting a dog..

And I know I know, adopt, don't shop.

But for my dog, I like to care about genetic passed down health and therefore I would go for a shelter mutt or a very responsible breeder who only breeds with 100% happy, healthy dogs who live in families.

However shelters are very selective and we're often opted out because we have kids of several ages and cats too.

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@Rita:

Oh 😔 I "like" potty training 🤣

@Toni:

The kids and cats are only a problem in regards to shelters opting for people who don't have (young) kids or cats.

We have been to multiple shelters and they never have a dog in for us (capable of living with kids and cats), and even if they do they prefer to sell them to others above us. So it's very frustrating. I don't mind waiting for a dog, it shows commitment and I think that it's necessary, however I'm not willing to wait for 10 years.

We ended up buying before because the shelters showed us the door. Not because we weren't fit to hold a dog but they told us they would prefer their dogs to go to homes with a calmer environment so they would always choose others before us.

Our dog thrived in our house, we did daily walks, weekly walks of more than 10 km's, she was very well trained too. So we're fit to hold a dog..

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Free update

I wanted other people's opinions when I posted here.

For me personally my pro's and con's are the following :

Shelter dogs:

- you help a dog in need of a good home 👍

- are usually housebroken 👍

- have basic knowledge👍

- compared to a responsable breeder they're cheap. (puppy mills are 100% off the table) 👍

- they have been taught things I may not agree with 👎

- they may have learned bad lessons from their past 👎

- shelters being too damn selective 👎

- they can be a hazard in unexpected situations because you don't know what they've been through 👎

- can't always choose to neuter your pet 👎

- not sure how it's out there but here you can't actually visit dogs to see if you connect.. You're basically online shopping like on amazon. Which gives me a nasty feeling.. 👎👎

They claim it's to not disturb the dogs. But it gets me extra weary because you can't actually look at a dog's general behavior.

.

Puppies from responsable breeders:

- have documents of health 👍

- their parents are DNA and röntgen screened 👍

- have stembook papers (no thumb here because I literally don't care but it matters to some, though I do feel like it' s a good thing because it's proof of no inbreeding.. (brother and sister dog making puppies or father and daughter,...) )

- you have contact with the breeder, the owner(s) of the parents and the owners of the other puppy parents.. There's always a helping hand with experience on the identical bloodline (at least that happened with our previous dog) 👍

Also thesame point.. The breeder gave us knowlegde about how she starts her puppies. How they're made accustomed to noises inside and outside of the house, fireworks, thunderstorms (my dog loved being outside in rainy weather and thunderstorms in particular.. It made her happy 🤣🤣🤣) and even what and how they're fed even before the dog was pregnant. Our breeder only bred a nest if she had people wanting all pups and even in excess she made people wait always. It would eliminate people who'd impulse buy and actual dog shoppers.

- you get to start your puppy from scratch 👍 teach them everything you want them to know 👍

- you have a lot of vet checkups in the first year 👎

- they are pricey 👎 (then again.. Not unfair if you see the money going into screening them and caring for their health)

- you don't get to help a dog in need 👎

- not all breeders are this responsible 😢 👎👎👎👎

So we had a good experience with a good breeder before.

Now our dog is gone, and I'm still looking into getting a shelter dog because it feels like the right thing to do, to help a pet in need. But the shelters are honestly chasing us away.