Dog shelter question?

[BrendaJ]

Depends on the shelter.
You have to understand the overhead they have. Some switching to no or low kill.
They have an endless supply of animal coming into them daily.
They need to purchase Pet Food, cleaning supplies, office supplies, heating/cooling/light bill, cat litter & supplies, vaccines - de wormers - flea products. Animals need to be spayed/neutered/ have medical conditions. The list goes on & on. Not to mention the staff. Some are volunteers yes but most have a few paid employees as well.
Some even have veterinarians & techs as staff.
Most shelters have a yearly cost break down available. It costs money to run shelters & to rescue the unwanted overpopulated animals.
Now this is not to say I agree with the way all shelters are ran & or how they manage there budgets but they don't run for free either.

 

[PinkFlamingoFrm]

Unfortunately, they are charging a lot. The shelter I volunteered with had to put down 4 surrendered or stray dogs in bad health for every adoptable dog. So no I wouldn't say they are all "no kill' shelters. On the flip side of that - they IMPORT small breed shelter dogs from california to oregon and charge premium adoption fees for them. Its a very weird business. It has a lot to do with the number of animals that come in seriously ill, unaltered or stray though. They can't assume anything. The dogs must be quarantined, tested, given exams, shots, health care and have behavior observations. And then too the shelter was rampant with kennel cough and highly contagious diseases still! It costs serious money to house stray and sick animals in the hopes you can find them a home. Plus administrative fees - most of the people in the office weren't volunteers and we had at least 7.

Most people who actually care about their animals take them to the shelter as a last resort. Most of the ones at our shelter that got put down were stray pitbull mixes and dogs people turned out or dumped in advanced states of starvation or with health issues.

Try craigslist Its one place people give away their dogs in the hopes they won't end up at a shelter.

that makes me sad that most of the ones put down were pit bull mixes, if only people knew what great dogs they were. I check craigslist once in a while, I dont need a dog right now, I would just like one while my Kiara is still here to teach it how to be a guard dog . Im hoping shes got alot of time left.

 

[dainerra]

the reason behind paying the extra upfront for a "well-bred" dog is stacking the deck in your favor with genetic problems. For instance, my breed is prone to Hip problems. Other breeds are prone to numerous other genetic issues - thryoid, eye problems, hips, elbows, etc etc. You greatly increase the chances of a healthy dog by going to a breeder who KNOWS their dog is free from these problems as well as all of the ancestors.
Yes, your dog could still have an accident or pick up a disease from somewhere else. I could get hit by a bus leaving my driveway tomorrow but that doesn't mean I should over-look the fact that my family is prone to heart disease. The two are entirely different scenarios - one I can work to prevent, the other I cannot.

 

[PinkFlamingoFrm]

the reason behind paying the extra upfront for a "well-bred" dog is stacking the deck in your favor with genetic problems. For instance, my breed is prone to Hip problems. Other breeds are prone to numerous other genetic issues - thryoid, eye problems, hips, elbows, etc etc. You greatly increase the chances of a healthy dog by going to a breeder who KNOWS their dog is free from these problems as well as all of the ancestors.
Yes, your dog could still have an accident or pick up a disease from somewhere else. I could get hit by a bus leaving my driveway tomorrow but that doesn't mean I should over-look the fact that my family is prone to heart disease. The two are entirely different scenarios - one I can work to prevent, the other I cannot.

I guess we have two way different opinions lol.. My mom had gotten 2 "well bred dogs" that I had totally forgotten about until last night. She had to drive to another state to get them and paid waaay too much in my opinion. She got a great dane. Parents, grandparents, etc no hip problems. My moms dog was 2 years old and diagnosed with hip dysplasia. Her english bulldog, very expensive dog, but horrible horrible allergies to food. They have to get it prescription food. Breathing problems, etc.. My "poorly bred shelter dogs" the only one that has EVER had an issue is my Kiara and her problem is Lymes disease... which isnt genetic. My fiances dads german shepard. He isnt a "well bred dog" 7 years old..NO issues. My grandparents just had a dog, which was a puppy of a dog they had had. no genetic testing done(the rest of the "line" had died around 9-10 of cancer), he lived to be 15 years old... My aunt has now had 5 generations of her puppies, Not a single health problem with any of them. I still dont see the point. People get diseases all the time that no one in their family has had, and some people dont get diseases that everyone else in their family has. I guess we can just agree to disagree.

 

[dainerra]

the problem is, a lot of people claim to be reputable and do testing and they charge a LOT of money but it is only lip service. They don't actually do the tests and can't provide results if you ask to see it in writing and then they turn around and charge even more than a responsible breeder. Or they are a big kennel, and they are well-known and people buy on the basis of reputation but they really aren't responsible. They are just pumping out high volumes of puppies. It's sad that so many dogs have so many issues.

I'm talking about a small breeder who works their dogs, lives in the house with their dogs, might have one or two litters a year.... that is a responsible breeder. Yes, you might have a pup that still has an issue - my breeder has had one pup diagnosed with hip problems out of 30 years of breeding.
Allergies are a bit of a crap shoot. - they can be inherited or they can be triggered by over-vaccination. Many vets believe that is why we are now seeing so many of them - we take a puppy and vaccinate it every single year for everything under the sun and basically hyper-stimulate the immune system into a panic mode.
Sure, some mix dogs are going to be healthy. In fact, most of them will. Just like most well-bred dogs will be healthy. Why? Because their parents are healthy. Unfortunately in pure-bred dogs, you have a lot of people who either just want to make some $$ or love their dogs and mean well but don't have the knowledge to do it properly. They don't realize (or care, depending on which group they are in) that they dog A + dog B will have a great litter of pups but dog A + dog C will equal a genetic train wreck. They take their dog to the vet and the vet says "dog is healthy" but it's a matter of "you can't find what you don't look for." Kind of like going for a general check-up and walking out and saying "I don't have a brain tumor" They weren't looking for one so how would you know that you don't? They wouldn't find it checking your pulse.

Even better than stacking the odds in your favor, is the lifetime of support. From being frustrated with a teething puppy to "too early to call the vet is this an emergency?" or training questions. I can call my breeder and talk to him. Not just about my dog from him but about any of my other dogs too.