On 2019-02-13 11:47 a.m., Ed Pawlowski wrote:

>> Yes, we'd clearly better stay away from animal shelters. I wish people
>> wouldn't go to breeders while the shelters are full.
>>
> Mostly ignorance and vanity.Â* There are those that don't want some mutt,
> but a pure bread dog that looks cute, no matter how poor a fit it may be.

There are some great dogs at shelters. There are also a lot of losers. I
have a friend who rescued a dog from Mexico. It is a sweet enough dog,
but she is very skittish. When he takes her to the dog park he has to
wait until she has had enough exercise and will return to him to be
leashed. No one else can approach the dog. She got away from him a few
times and it took a week or more to get her back. Over the Christmas
holidays he took the dog with him to a family event in Toronto. She got
away from him and bolted. As far as I know, she is still missing.

Another friend from the dog park rescued a similarly skittish dog who
once slipped out through the gate while someone else was coming in and
bolted. It took a couple people two hours to catch her. The poor guy
can't leave her alone in his apartment. She has such serious separation
anxiety that she tears the place apart, including chewing holes in the
wall.

I have been lucky with rescues. I had a German Shepherd/Bouvier that
was a complete idiot when we got him but he turned into a nice dog. Then
we had a Groenendahl that was one of the best dogs I ever had. While we
still had him we got a Malinois who was a real handful, but he turned
into a nice dog. He is now on his last legs and last spring we adopted a
mini Golden Doodle who is quite a character.

My son has a bit of an issue with the term "rescue". He considers it to
be a buying a dog cheap. I have an issue that I raise with the town
every year. I don't mind registering my dog but think it should be a one
time thing so they know who is responsible for the dog. I resent having
to pay an annual fee which is then used to pay for enforcement and to
support the local shelter. There are very few local dogs in the shelter.
Most of them are imported from shelters in the US. There are about 5
times more cats than dogs in the shelter, and cats are not licenses. As
a dog owner I am forced to support cats and imported dogs.



> When the Disney 101 Dalmation move came out many people wanted one but
> did not know the characteristics of the breed until too late.

A lot of them probably ended up in shelters because they can be horrible
pets. They are very high energy animals and are not really good with
kids. Malinois fans were upset when there was a movie about a Malinois
war dog, fearing that people would rush out to buy Malinois pups, not
realizing what they could be getting into.