Especially if it’s your first dog? This also includes getting a dog from a secondhand rehoming website..
It seems with cats, you can buy a “used” one and not have any problems (breeders just give their excess away, they are less destructive, don’t really need to be trained, have less health issues and are cheaper to treat)
On the other hand I’ve noticed dogs that are given away often have severe behavioural or health issues, and many shelter dogs were just pest abandoned on the street
For a first time dog owner is it better to just buy a puppy?
I'd say it's best to adopt privately from a good owner who can't take care of the dog anymore but has teached him the basics and will always help out with questions.
A friend of mine always adopts former strays an they were/are all very good dogs even if some needed some time to warm up to her.
>Got a 5 year old shelter Belgian Malinois
>First dog we tried to walk with, instantly fell in love with her
>Even as a Malinois, she is pretty calm, gets pretty happy with long walks but it is pretty hard to get her to play anything that isn't chasing/calling her
>Never has broken anything, tried to steal any food or done anything that would be problematic
>Pretty obdient and responsive, doing basic training with her was pretty easy
>She enjoys to cuddle and walking with you everywhere, doesn't get anxious with food nor territorial, nor does it get separation anxiety if you have to leave her alone a couple hours (albeit we rarely do)
>Sociales well with people and other dogs
>Only problem is that she comes with a lot of vet bills due to age + years of the shelter, but she is in pretty decent health otherwise even if she needs constant medicine and regular check ups to see that the treatments are going well
Frick, I'm pretty sure that if I get a new dog once she is gone, I'm not going to hit the jackpot again like that. Not from the US anyways.
The lack of play is a red flag that she was abused and just happened to have a submissive enough personality to tolerate it.
Especially if she will play on her own but not so much with you
The good behavior is because you're good to her
She can play with you just fine: running, chasing you, jumping and even a bit of hide and seek. But the hard part is to get her to do anything with toys or on her own.
For example, if I get to play with a ball with another person, she will want to get in the middle of it (the same if she sees a group of kids playing with a ball), but she won't look at any toy on her own or ask you to play much (except some rare days were she is really excited when I go out with her). We try to get her out on walks as much as we can and give her attention at home, but I also would like her to be a bit more playful for her own physical and mental health.
>Abused
Yeah, that much I suspect. She was scared shitless of any kind of stick/broom (even if nowadays she mostly just moves out of the way at first, then just ignores it). One of the first weeks when I was starting to let her do the first leash-free walks (I live next to a pretty large patch of grassland that is also surrounded by a the river that separates it from a local natural park, so basically all the dogs from the neighborhood go there), I just grabbed a random stick and she almost a run for it, and when I called for her, she sat into the ground with her ears and head down and avoided looking at me until I threw the stick away.
My dog was the same with the fear of brooms and sticks and lack of desire to play alone. He grew out of that fear after a few years. He loves tug-of-war and chasing around, but he only has one squeaky toy he picks up once in a blue moon. And he doesn't even play with it - he holds it in his mouth, doing a gentle squeak squeak, then whimpers along with it. Whatever floats his boat, I guess.
He whimpers with the toy? What could that mean? And what breed is he?
means he was diddled. keep up, anon
>Only problem is that she comes with a lot of vet bills
That's why some sheltes offer life long vet service for free or their more medical needy pets.
My dog is a city shelter dog, and he's awesome. He's also my first dog, not counting the family dogs we had.
If you are not looking for any particular breed and ok with having a mystery mutt, yes, look at shelters first. Best place to shop around to see if something clicks. Just make sure to avoid all the toddler chompers, or anything you even suspect of having pit bull genes.
However, like buying anything pre-owned, it's a gamble. Sometimes the dog is just lost, the owners don't have time for it, or the elderly owners die, and you get a great pup. Other times it's abused/neglected/violent.
Unfortunately just like used car dealers, good fricking luck getting the shelter to disclose the dogs history. You just have to spend time with the dog. Just shop around and don't rush, NEVER let the shelter women guilt you or pressure you into an adoption. Take your time.
Every dog I've owned was adopted from the shelter or picked up from the streets and only one has had behavioral issues. Don't get a breed prone to aggression or neuroticism, don't get a "lab mix" (shitbull), don't get a dog the shelter says is bad around children or a "one-person dog," and meet the dog to see before you adopt it. Dogs end up in shelters for all kinds of reasons and they're not all broken or evil. One of my best dogs ever was a purebred Pyrenees whose owner didn't want once he wasn't a puppy anymore so they dumped him at the shelter, there was nothing wrong with him though. I think that's really common right now especially with how many people got "pandemic pets" the last couple years without realizing the commitment.
Would you date someone who's been abused as a child? Same type of shit, not worth the hassle.
Like all things in life, it really depends.
Most shelter dogs are incompatible with most prospective owners. That's because in the US, most shelter dogs are abandoned young adult pits with little socialisation and training. In those cases, only very good and competent dog trainers are a good fit, and they're obviously few and far between.
That doesn't mean you couldn't find a shelter dog that works for you. Every now and again, a competent owner has to give up their dog to a shelter for one or another completely valid reason. Mostly because a health issue in the family has drained all their money and they've become nearly homeless (America is a third world country). Of course such dogs are in high demand, so if you find one you better try and snatch it before it goes.
I've had a couple of rescue greyhounds from a breed-specific charity and so have a couple of my friends.
None of us have ever had any problems, sure, a couple of the dogs were not safe to walk off-leash when they first arrived due to small animal prey drive or lack of recall training or both but other than that they've all been great dogs. If you care about animals picking up a shelter dog is a good thing to do.
Makes sense though, greyhounds are pretty chill dogs (apart from the tendency to chase anything small and fluffy) and most of the dogs going to a greyhound-specific rescue are going to be either failed or retired racers which means no pitbull genetics and probably at least some degree of training/socialization.
Its like someone saw eraser head and said "I should make a toy of the baby."
>For a first time dog owner is it better to just buy a puppy?
No, it’s way too easy to screw up a puppy. This is how most dogs get severe behavioral issues in the first place.
Maybe start out fostering an elderly dog. The health issues will be covered by the org already and it lets you ease into the lifestyle changes that are part of having a dog, plus you can get experience/confidence with training new things to an easymode dog as well.
I’m pretty intelligent though, I know about training I wouldn’t just do something without researching it.
>fostering
The shelters within 100kms of me are all extreme pieces of annoying shit. They didn’t even let me foster a cat despite having extensive cat experience. They didn’t even call me for an interview. I can’t imagine they’d let a beginner foster a dog, lmao.
Also I would want a small dog, and I would probably get too attached and keep it despite it not being my top choice.
I've had a couple of shelter dogs and it's never been an issue. Go for it.
They tend to be traumatized because the average dog owner is as abusive and neglectful as the average cat owner but rather than let them get ran over by a car after dehydrating them to death they corner them and beat them for getting on the couch or sitting within 10 feet of the table, and then when they begin biting strangers and barking non fricking stop they say "uh, gard dawg".
Most dogs end up in shelters because they're dysgenic and no one wants them (pitbulls) or because the owner is a moron (). Those issues can't be fixed. Once a dog has been beaten, it will never fully trust a person again. You won't know what to look for and shelters will absolutely lie to get animals out.
I don't have experience with private rehoming. All the potential problems are the same, but I think your odds of getting a good dog are a little better since the owners care enough to not just dump them.
It's best to buy a good breed from a reputable breeder. You can get exactly what you want with the least amount of risk. Like
said, it's easy to screw up a puppy. Find a good trainer and work with them from the beginning. Look for one that mostly uses positive reinforcement, maybe ask around at a dog park.
t. beaten shelter dog owner
Can you show us your dog and tell us how long you’ve had it and what it does that’s bad?
> Those issues can't be fixed. Once a dog has been beaten, it will never fully trust a person again.
Patently untrue. I have had three beaten dogs, only one was still flighty, but she loved and trusted me and others she got to know. Other one, who was my best pal, had an air rifle bullet embedded in his back from being shot at. Only found it during an x-ray done for a different reason. He grew to love everyone.
There are different severities of abuse. Maybe your own dog was too far gone, but it's not a given.
> You won't know what to look for and shelters will absolutely lie to get animals out.
This is unfortunately true.
>Mentions cats out of nowhere
Absolutely obsessed
dogs and cats are the two most common pets and tend to be owned simultaneously or serially by the exact same people so yes they are always in the same discussion
medium sized carnivoran companion animals.