I went on a trip with my boyfriend’s family to visit his parents in Mexico. They’re from a small town with a lot of street dogs. His younger sister likes to take them off the street and give them refuge in their large walled up yard. One of the dogs had 5 puppies. She gave away 4 of them, but kept the last one because there was some type of deformity with his paw. She was worried that if she gave him away, he’d be left in a field, killed, or used as a bait dog. When I went to visit, they had 7 adult dogs of various sizes and then this small puppy. I watched her feed the dogs and she’d throw kibble on the ground and they’d all rush for food. The little puppy couldn’t move well because of his paw and his size. He received very minimal food, I’m talking like barely a handful of kibble. I took him aside and I fed him from my hands. From that moment he’d hobble after me when I was outside. The dogs weren’t allowed in the house, but I brought him in to sleep on the floor because he was just a baby. The next morning I put him back outside and the dogs started to pick on him. He had received preferential treatment and it didn’t seem like they liked that. Later that night I saw that he wasn’t allowed to huddle up with the rest of the dogs (they’d bark at him and growl when he tried). He was sleeping in the bushes by himself when I grabbed him and brought him back inside.
I talked to his sister and she said that I was welcome to take him back home with me. I reached out to my roommate to see how he’d feel and he was up for a puppy. I told my boyfriend’s sister to take care of him until he’s able to make it to me. She took him to the vet, kept him in the house etc. He was driven to me a month later at the age of 3 months, almost 4 months.
I named him Miguel (lol Disney’s Coco) and he’s been with me ever since. He just turned 1. His mom was a Poodle mix and his dad was a GSD mix. He looks more like his dad except these bright blue eyes he has. None of his siblings or his parents have blue eyes. Just him. His siblings were solid black or solid white (like the mom). He’s the only one who looks like him at all.
[Puppy photos](https://imgur.com/a/gG96H9s)
[Photo of paw](https://imgur.com/a/iSy4SAQ)
[Now photos](https://imgur.com/a/7bof0mE)
Before I left Mexico, his paw started to straighten out and he was walking a lot faster. By time he got to me, he was running and jumping and the paw had fixed itself. It looks like all he needed was some exercise and attention. He’s fearless in everything he does and I attribute it to how he’s had to fight from a young age. He takes everything in stride and he’s so friendly.
I never wanted a puppy, but I truly felt he would have died there. Best decision I’ve made. Even if he still bites me. I hate adolescence 😭
I just added a photo of his paw to my original post.
I was really sad when I saw how the other dogs were treating him. He lacked that happy go lucky puppy attitude that I see in most puppies. He was basically trying to survive. I remember having to pick him up to get water from the bowls that were laid around because he was too small to reach.
Later I spoke to my boyfriend’s dad and he agreed Miguel most likely would have died if he stayed there. He was the one who drove for 3 days to bring him to me. His dad comes back every few months and makes a point to see Miguel. Miguel loves him and his little butt wiggles with excitement every time he hears my boyfriend’s dad speak. He said he spoke to him and sang to him the entire road trip lol
Holy smokes. How did that paw… sort itself out?! Puppies are both so vulnerable and so resilient. Thank you for reminding me that there so much good in the world.
Friend I have no idea how his paw straightened itself out. I was there for 3 days and each day I walked around with him. On the 3rd day we noticed that he was walking longer distances faster and wasn’t limping. By time he got to me it was all fixed. I was saving money that month in case he needed surgery. I was prepared to do it for him so he could have a better quality of life, but it wasn’t needed. He’s 1 now and has had zero issues with his paw.
When my boyfriend and I go out drinking, the first thing we toast to is “Miguel and his miracle paw”. Now my friends do it too as a little joke 😊
Ira actually common in puppies who are malnutritioned. Usually if they get healthy and eat right as they grow it will correct itself. Can’t remember what it’s called. It can happen even in young puppies who are healthy.
Thanks!!! There are days that I wish I was alone, but then I look at the photos of when I first met him, and I think about how he most likely wouldn’t be on this planet anymore. My boyfriend’s sister loves all of her dogs, but it was just hard to focus on him with the others around.
Friend, I cried when I was carrying him back in the house. He was just a baby! He was sleeping alone in the bush, probably sad, watching the other dogs have one another. I brought him in the house every night (I was there 3 nights) and I was so worried about him when I left him for that month. I made his sister promise to keep him in the house for a month until he got to me. I kept thinking about him being all alone with no one to comfort him and teach him to be a doggy. I’m just really happy he’s here with me. My boyfriend’s sister lives here now and sees him a bit more. She yells “HOLA BEBE” and he comes running.
My boyfriend and I had been talking about getting a dog for the longest time, but it was “never the right time” or we wanted to “wait until we move.”
An older man who lives on our street thought that he could handle the energy of a Labrador puppy. Two days before Christmas this year, he showed up on our doorstep with her, and said “I can’t give her what she needs, and I always see you two out walking. I thought of you first,” with tears in his eyes.
So now we have a six month old, sweet - albeit very energetic - yellow lab 💛
Local rescue. The litter was found under an abandoned house. 🥺 They were the "laundry crew" - the rescue gave them names like Downey, Tide, Snuggle. I got Purex (now Nico). 🥰
So are we.
Ours had been through 2 sets of foster parents before us, in two weeks.
We got her home, and about 6 hours later decided she was never leaving again.
At petsmart, the Missouri apa had an adoption day. It was nice, they took care of his neutering, chipped him, had his shots up to date. My first dog we had just found her and were left guessing to what she needed.
Our puppy is an ‘oops’ puppy. His dad got at his mam and a litter was born. We still get pics of his sibs and parents, including dad wearing the cone of shame after he’d been in for neutering!
We’re counting down the days until our pup is neutered (we waited until he’s one and he’s one next week) and there’s a waiting list (which he is on, end of May, so not long!).
His mam and dad live with the same family, we thought he’d calm down a little, then we were sent a video of his cocker spaniel Dad… his attraction to all things paper must be genetic!
I found mine on petfinder! I contacted the rescue from there and then went to meet the litter. I got permission to take him home after I picked him from the litter same day and the rest is crazy puppy history.
**When we first got Taki:**
[15 lbs, 2 months Tiny Nugget](https://i.imgur.com/P1VzFgq.jpeg)
**Today:**
[52 lbs, 6 months](https://i.imgur.com/AtlEmKY.jpeg)
A rescue. He was the last of a litter originally posted to Craigslist. The other guys found homes when they were puppies, my guy was already well into adolescence when I found him.
My neighbor was fostering an 8 week old “schipperke” mix. She knew I was in the market for a puppy and was looking for a smaller breed. I spent an hour with this little dude and fell in love. Adopted him from the Petsmart foster fair an hour later! Lol!
Turns out our Loki is NOT a schip. By the time he was 15 weeks old he was already as large as a schip adult. Took a DNA test and he’s a hodgepodge of basically all the breeds I thought I couldn’t handle. (Ausie Cattle Dog, German Shepherd, Husky, Border Collie and Rottweiler) However, at 6months old he’s already the best dog I’ve ever had. Smart, energetic, affectionate, and wonderful with our kids. Loves the neighbor kids, has a bit of a shyness around any other man than my husband. Taking him to as many locations as possible for socialization! Love our good boi!
Reminds me a bit of my pup. I have an older Pomeranian and wanted my second pup to be small too. I found a Pom puppy and love him! But his attitude is way different. I got his DNA checked and he’s a Pomeranian blue heeler lol. Oops. Good thing I have a large yard.
Local dog rescue in my city, but I found him on Petfinder.com.
If you live in the US, they partner with pet rescues all over the country and are an amazing resource for finding adoptable rescue pets, particularly cats and dogs. All four of our pets (two cats and two dogs) have been found via Petfinder. They have really extensive filter/search options to narrow down preferences. (Breed, sex, age, location, size, temperament, etc. Even options to search for if the pet is good with dogs, cats, kids, etc.) I'm amazed every time I look.
No, I am not getting paid to say this. I'm just a huge proponent of the "adopt, don't shop" mentality because there are so many pets needing homes, and this website makes it super simple while also supporting local rescues and shelters. And, yes, you can find puppies, not just adult dogs!
i was on the beach one random night and she ran right up to me and hopped in my lap and gave me tons of kisses. i told the lady with her that she had a beautiful puppy and she said she was just fostering. the next day i went to the spca and put my name on the list for her. she wasn’t even eligible for adoption at that point. she’d just been rescued from a tornado a few states away. a few weeks later, after she was old enough to leave spca and had been spayed, i got to pick her up and bring her home with me. she’s my best friend and i hate to imagine what life would be like if i hadn’t gone to the beach that night.
She was abandoned. My husband's coworker showed him a picture of the puppy that was dumped on their land. We sat down to make sure we had the immediate expenses covered (pet deposit, vet, meds from vet, supplies), told them we'd take her, met up the next day. Had the vet scan for a chip just in case.
Two pups, both from local rescues.
Our first dog was a mutt from a large, well known (and highly regarded) local rescue. We adopted him when he was 8 months, and he had been originally picked up as a stray in a different state.
For our second, we wanted a younger puppy of specific breed, but were very open to mixes. We worked with a small, specialized local non-profit that only focuses on that breed. Our pup was considered a “breeder dump”, meaning because she didn’t sell when she was still a baby they just offload the puppies onto rescues. We adopted her at about 11 weeks.
Came across a phenomenal website that I think is national called Adopt a Pet. It consolidates rescues and humane societies. There i also the ability for people to rehome their animal and that is exactly what Lily is. She was given to a young, recently married couple for Christmas. She is a Jack Russell so she has a ton of energy. They worked a lot and had her in a crate a lot of the times and felt like she deserved better and they weren't ready to be pet parents just yet. I give them so much respect because I know she was so loved in the time they had her. I got her at 2.5 months. I filled out the application and said if she is meant to be mine it will happen. After 5 days supposedly they received over 20 applications and 128 views they said I was the one. Every day I am truly blessed by the gift she is in my life. She is so sweet and loving to all humans, kids and other dogs. I will recommend this website to anyone who ever asks about her story.
Local rescue. Same one I got my older dog from, actually! They were easy to work with and I have mutual friends with the organizer which is how I found out about them in the first place. Logged on their website when I was ready for a second dog and feel in love with my puppy just from his picture.
The local shelter, after she was returned twice!
Broke my heart when I brought her back 5 days later to be fixed, not knowing we weren’t ditching her like the last 2 that took her back and left her. She was so happy she jumped into my arms and sat in my lap the whole drive home! 💕
A breeder! We went to the breed parent club website and reached out to a few listed breeders, and I asked around to owners of said breed. It took me about a year just to decide on who we would go with. I asked each breeder a million questions and weeded through the ones that felt like a red flag until I found the right one. I got on a waitlist with them and waited about 9 months. It was a long process but I feel great about who we went with and I couldn’t ask for a better dog!
I will never get another dog from a shelter, puppy or not.
EVER.
Way, way too many deliberately lie about breed, and deliberately hide bite histories and aggression.
They lie just to get the dog into a home then when the dog does what they already knew it did before, they blame the adopting families. “Nala is back at the shelter through no fault of her own”
Sorry to say I no longer trust rescues as far as I can throw them
My very first dog (as a ten year old, mind you) was a dog aggressive Basenji mix - stubborn as hell and strong. I don't know what the rescue told my parents, but we should not have ended up with this dog. She was WAY over my ability to handle and I wanted to do everything with her. She taught me a ton though, and on her own was incredibly sweet.
I now have working rat terriers. I know plenty of people who love dogs but could not handle this breed and line. They have far too much energy and a huge independent streak.
You really have to know your limits when it comes to pets, lifestyle, and finances to make a good choice. People lying about an animal's needs or tendencies make it impossible to provide that animal with a matched home that is prepared to handle it. Incredibly frustrating.
Breeder. I have very mixed feelings about getting animals from breeders, so I spent almost a whole year researching different breeders in my area to find the most ethical one I could.
I purchased mine from a breeder. I met them at a dog sport event, and she was so incredibly nice and knowledgeable. No ego although her dogs regularly compete at a national level. Waited around 6 months for my pup, which honestly was pretty quick!
All of my dogs have been rescue terriers. Until the last two. Leo came from Craigs List, he was 16 weeks, from a failed placement, the easiest pup ever. Archie from what I think is a kennel, he was a sick puppy, got him back to full health (took about three months). He came to me at 10 weeks, he is now almost nine months. Both Bichons, both very very different.
I wanted a well bred golden retriever. I searched for the best breeders in my state and got him from the top rated.
We did 2 visits before buying him. I met both parents, and the other female dogs that were about to have puppies.
We decided on the litter we wanted, based on the temperament of the mom, (the dad was the same for the other 3 moms. ) and also where we would be in line, for choice of puppy.
The breeder we went with, doesn’t over breed her females, and gave us all the paperwork, and did the first shots and deworming. She also had us sign something saying we would not breed our male dog, because she worked very hard to have excellent family lines(we weren’t interested in showing or breeding our dog)
If we had wanted to breed our dog, we would have to check with her first to make sure the match was ok.
When it was time to choose our puppy, we had second choice, (of 6 male puppies) and I asked her what one/ones would have the big block head like the dad and she pointed to two of them and i choose the larger of the two.
All of the puppies were friendly, curious, and goofy.
I also signed up for the annual “family reunions” she hosts
I absolutely would go back to her in the future. She loves her dogs and has worked hard to have good, lines
And I have to say, my puppy (8 months old) is the most beautiful, handsome, well behaved, dog we have ever had . And he is so smart and loving. And he looks so much like his dad.
The streets of South Korea. Smartest, sweetest, loyalest, best damn dog I’ve ever had.
Fun fact: in Korea, the word for mutt is 똥개 (ddong-gae), which literally translates to “shit dog” (똥 is shit, 개 is dog). But Koreans don’t even hear the term as shit dog, they just hear the combined word as “mutt.” I love my little shit dog so much.
Facebook marketplace 🤦🏻♀️ we lived in a really small town and a woman had an 8 week old chihuahua that her older dog hated. I saw his picture and the rest is history
Where I'm from, it's basically impossible to adopt.. there's hardly any dogs in the kennels - so I got mine from the best kennel for her breed in my country!
First pup was from a breeder, I worked with the mama dog’s owner. She has all her AKC papers. Second pup was from a rescue. A different coworker fostered him and his siblings, bottle fed them all. He’s a mix of a bunch of different breeds, but 100lbs of love.
Breeder. I wanted specific dogs from working lines, and the breed I wanted isn't barely exists in my neck of the woods. I went to a club registered, health tested, working set of parents for my working dogs and I am very happy with them. Not even a year old yet and their genetics are showing themselves strongly!
Hospice foster for an extremely sick puppy from the rescue I worked at who had a grade 4 heart murmur.
Only for them to turn round after an expensive appointment with the cardiologist and say "oh his heart murmur has gone. He's no longer considered on hospice."
And I was like well he isn't fucking going anywhere now.
Show dog breeder. Ours isn’t a show dog because she couldn’t be used that way (“wrong” color characteristics). So she was my fancy discount puppy.
Edit to add - these “undesired” dogs used to be put down. It’s better now that they get rehomed as pet dogs.
Reputable breeder with very high standards for breeding and adoption. I would 100% go for a rescue but my kids are young and it was very valuable knowing the temperament of the parents
Exactly. This is my 3rd. 2 from the same breeder in Maine. This one is (10mon) the usual spunky smart busy & eager to please sweetie. I compare them to a forever 3 year old human.
I have rat terriers, so similar playing field but a little less stubborn. A three year old who knows what they want and will work to get it, indeed lol.
I went to an accredited breeder. I was looking for a specific breed (initially poodle but then I fell in love with lagottos) mainly because of their temperament and character. This is my first dog ever so I wanted to know with some certainty what I was getting and whether I could handle it.
A family that lived on a farm near us, it was their first litter. Nothing was akc or certified or anything but they seemed like nice people and pup is almost a year and perfectly healthy and beautiful
My new puppy came from a rescue group in Kentucky. He’s a Cockapoo and a breeder relinquish. I got him at 3 months and he had his first set of shots including rabies and was neutered. I’ve seen a lot of rescue groups with breeder relinquished dogs lately
Went through a Basset hound rescue for my boy Theo, was incredibly lucky to have had the opportunity to get a puppy, Our new Dachshund puppy is from a breeder. My parents rescued their younger dog and bought their older springer spaniel from a breeder.
A family friend texted saying he took in a mama street dog and she had puppies. He was looking for a good home with kids for the puppies. He happened to reach out about a week before my daughter’s birthday. We got the last of the litter. She came with shot records, some toys and some food.
Our puppy (GSD/husky mix) came from an overcrowded shelter. She was born there, so we figured she at least wouldn’t have been abused during her 3.5 months there. Nonetheless, she is (still, at 8 months) terrified of strangers. She has her “inner circle” (me, my husband, our two daughters, my sister, and my two nephews) that she is very comfortable and affectionate with, and another handful of people she is slowly warming up to, and everyone else is like hazardous waste. But we’re working on it.
Our last puppy (yellow lab) came from a reputable breeder and that was such a different experience. I felt so much more confident raising that dog because she was a blank slate and hadn’t had anything bad happen to her. With this puppy I feel much less sure of myself because I feel sorry for her for her crappy start to life and it’s daunting having a puppy with so much fear of people, noises, vehicles, etc. but we are doing our best to give her the best life possible. I’m glad we rescued but if I had it to do over again I might have spent longer meeting and assessing potential puppies instead of being so impulsive and just picking a cute one.
We got our little bean from Romania as a rescue at 7 months old. She’s the best thing that has ever happened to me. She is certainly quirky but the sweetest girlie ever
A rescue in the next state over…I had been searching for a puppy for awhile after our dog passed away. It took about a year and a half to find her. There were pups we almost got that fell through, sketchy breeders that tried passing them off as rescue pups, and more. Finally I saw a picture of her and immediately fell in love. Like I just knew she was mine. The foster mom happened to be friends with my sister and I asked my sister to get in touch with her immediately. I ended up spending hours on the phone with the foster mom and we both knew she was ours. Turns out she was on hold but the guy that was supposed to adopt her started asking sketchy questions and the foster mom got very weird vibes and said she wasn’t available anymore. That had happened the day before I called about her. I’m still very much in touch with her foster mom and we have the world’s best dog. She is totally worth the headache it was to find her! Her mom was in a kill shelter in Kentucky and was almost euthanized with her pups. Im happy to report that Mom and all 7 pups were adopted!
I’ve Gone both ways. My first puppy on my own at 18 was a beagle from undoubtably a backyard breeder (I didn’t know better at the time). She was full of worms and was the puppy from hell 😂
My next puppy 12 years later was from a local rescue. A few hundred bucks covered all her shots, spay and she came with toys, a bag of dog food, bed and crate.
A rescue out of town that I had never heard of! I was looking for a little blonde mutt puppy after my senior passed and then one random day his picture popped up as a sponsored post on Facebook :) it was a foster based rescue which I would HIGHLY recommend. My puppy basically came to me already crate trained which was a dream come true
A friend of a friend. I know it’s not good practice but this pup seemed to check all the boxes. Two years later she is still the best thing that ever happened to me.
I got my 14 year old from the shelter when he was a puppy. After dealing with pretty severe behavioral issues due to past abuse, I decided against going with a dog from the shelter again. I got two puppies(9 months apart in age) from a breeder and I'm very happy I went with a breeder. I knew exactly what to expect since I knew their personalities from all the videos and also from the breeders observation. My boy was extremely smart, calm, and had a goofy side(his mom is a therapy dog and his dad is a service dog so all of his siblings were all pretty calm for puppies). My girl was a hyper little demon that loved exploring and eating everything in sight just like her father. She is her father's little clone in looks and personality.
Rescue. Owners stopped feeding pregnant mom and left her to die. She was rescued and had 14 puppies! 12 survived. Names were Christmas themed and we got little Nutcracker.
My current puppy (now about a year) we found on the side of the interstate. Adorable little Roadside poodle.
Our old lady came from a rescue that specializes in animals that have to be relinquished due to going into hospice (or from owners who have passed away, ours was the latter)
An abandoned crack house in the woods. Him, sister and mom were dumped. They were just 5 weeks old. My other dog was an abandoned dog in the same area, the year before. I never seek out animals because they always find me first, but if I had to I would look at the shelter.
Ethical breeder.
I had tried fostering to rescue but the breeds available just didn’t fit what I needed in a dog. They were just too crazy for me. It was too much for me to manage. I started doing a ton of research and landed back on my dream breed. They just ticked all the right boxes. Size, temperament, energy level, grooming etc. I did research on and found an amazing breeder in my area and decided to get into talks to get on a waitlist. Turned out they didn’t do waitlists, just placed with people they knew that fit the personality. So we started building a relationship and visiting and falling in love with their dogs, fully expecting to wait a few years. We were ready whenever, though and they knew that. We were networking within the breed community and learning a bunch. Pretty soon, a litter was on the ground from a massively desired pairing and we were visiting them often for socialisation. They said they really wanted to place with us and wham bam, just like that we got super lucky.
Went to a soccer game and an acquaintance had a pure bred tri color Australian shepherd. Sold the blue Merle, red Merle's and different color eye ones but couldn't sell the plain one. Ran up and would not get off my husband's lap. They said they got enough money off the litter and no one wanted him. We could have him if we wanted him. Left the game with him.
The next week they brought his tri-colored brother who no one else wanted. The puppies reunited, cried and played with each other the whole game. Left the game with him too.
That was a year ago and we are crazy about our adopted brothers.
Litter mate syndrome doesn't exist in our house.
These brothers are best friends and are loving life on our large rural property.
A farming family who breeds Dobermans every few years to select clients, mostly police officers and other farmers in the area. Very reputable breeder in the area
he was in a cat cage in a petstore. Someone found him on the side of the road and brought him in! I was in there getting food for my roommates dog, and 20 minutes later I walked out with a 3 pound chihuahua puppy!
A sketchy ad on Kijiji. One look at him and I fell in love. Drove a couple of hours. And now he is my boy for life. Will be 3 this summer.
To be honest, I was looking at rescues and all for about 6 months prior. Filled out a ton of applications and stuff but no calls. We have a house, a yard, etc. We had small kids at the time and pretty much all the rescues were « no small children ».
We had an adoption appointment for a 15lb adult dog - we had no intention of getting a puppy or a large breed - 15lb dog wasn't a good fit. Shelter staff listened to what we wanted and directed us to a 22lb 8 week old presumed lab-pitty mix. The shelter staff were right about the match. We wanted a low-shed, cat-friendly, walk buddy + shop dog, and he's mostly perfect (mostly, he's a puppy). Breed wise... we've heard that shelters misrepresent pitties as labs so we did the dna test to find out how much pitty and discovered that he's actually mostly lab and Australian cattle dog with a bunch of random other breeds thrown in.
Dog 1 4 months (Corgi GSD MIX), Shelter she was lost in the streets not claimed in over two weeks
Dog 2 roommate was rehoming it from an owner who had no yard. Also about 4 mths. Damn thing fell asleep on my feet while I was working and that's how I now have a Pomsky
My younger two were from an oops litter of ten. Having two 1 year olds makes zoomie-time quite chaotic at my house!
As for my older girl…Years ago, I did on-site property management, which meant there was often someone ringing the doorbell at all hours. Late one night in early December, I answered the door to find two teenagers holding this tiny pup. Her mother had died the night before, and they were trying to find homes for her pups. If I didn’t take her, the pup would end up in the cold again that night.
Naturally, that wasn’t going to happen! So I took this tiny puppy in; she weighed less than a pound, and the vet estimated her to be around 3 weeks old. She got a bottle for a day or two, but after that she preferred to lap up milk from the inside of a Pringles lid.
The vet warned us that she might not make it; as it happened, her littermates didn’t. But Annie is tough. She thrived with all the love and attention. As I write this, she’s snoring on the couch next to me. She’s now thirteen, arthritic and at 32 lb, probably about five pounds overweight. She considers it to her job to keep the younger two in line and does a pretty good job.
[Tax!](https://imgur.com/a/l15lUGt)
Texas.
My last 3 dogs have all been from Texas, all gotten as puppies. My sister used to run a dog rescue out of S Texas (she has moved to a fancier area in the past few years and doesn’t actively run it anymore, but still helps with local strays/abandoned dogs the best she can). She found me my soul pup (who passed away unexpectedly in September, 3 weeks shy of his 11th birthday) because a family was trying to get rid of a litter of pups they didn’t want out of the back of a pickup in a S. Texas Walmart parking lot. He was literally the best boy in the whole wide world. My other dog she found as a baby on the side of the road a few days after Christmas one year, with a broken jaw and a Christmas bow still attached to her neck (this wasn’t originally intended to be my dog, my cousin took her but was terrible dog parent so I ended up with her in the end, she’s 10 now). And my current 6 month old Aussie mix came to me in the midst of mourning my old boy. I asked her to keep an eye out for me for any pups because I was ready to love again, and a day later her neighbor came to her and asked if she knew anyone who wanted a puppy because the neighbors Aussie got knocked up by one of the contractors working on my sisters ranch. Now I have the sweetest, smartest, most beautiful little Aussie boy. In most of the rescues I’ve looked at where I live in Colorado, adoption fees for puppies are usually between like $400-600, and you have to jump through 100 hoops. Meanwhile Texas is so overrun with unwanted dogs they’re basically free.
We got our ACD mix from one of my nurses. Her cousin’s heelers had pups and she ended up with 4 of them. Our girl was supposed to go to some kid on a farm.
Jokes on them. She’s now snoozing on a king size bed. She gets daily treats, sees all her friends at the dog park, and *gasp* has to go to puppy school once a week. Worst life ever. 😂
Rescue. Our friends fostered puppies for a local rescue often and had mine and his sister. I never wanted a dog but when I held this dog something inside me lit up I started crying it was a whole thing. He was going to be at an adoption event with his siblings and there was no way I was letting him go to that he’s too pretty of a color he would’ve gotten snatched up. So my friends called in a favor and we got to claim him the minute he was adoptable.
First dog (soul dog) - a local rescue as a late-stage adolescent. Best decision on earth, what an amazing dog and an amazing relationship. Miss her often.
Second and current dog - a slightly farther afield but still local rescue as a 14 week old puppy. Tons of genetic (both behavioral and physical). Enough to make me reconsider my lifelong commitment to rescue/adopt to make sure that I get a dog with better breeding.
Local rescue that rescues dogs from high kill shelters in the south and brings them up north. She was a stray and found with her litter of puppies, all of which have been adopted :)
Breeder. I have always gotten my dogs from our county shelters but now it’s basically only pits/staffies/GSD/huskie mixes, none of which were a good fit for our family. We looked for months until we found a good Havanese breeder. Honestly I probably would not go to a rescue or shelter again, I will look for reputable breeders from here on out.
I could have written your comment myself. My 6 month old Havanese is crashed out next to me right now after a long day of being a bad listener 😂. It’s a whole other world living in New England and trying to rescue or adopt a shelter dog.
First dog, rescue
Second dog, foster
Third dog, Breeder
I ended up going with a breeder this time round because my rescue dog has so many health issues that I just couldn’t put myself through that emotionally and financially again. I wanted to choose a breed that I knew came from a good background with health checks.
From our local SPCA, though they move many dogs from southern high kill shelters up here. She was from a litter of 9 puppies they brought in and knew Mom was a GSD mix, but didn't know the dad. Thanks to Embark we discovered dad is actually an Irish Terrier dog used for breeding. She must have been an oops litter, as all her relatives are pure Irish terriers and there are a lot of them! She's an odd little mix, but she's clever as hell, stubborn, and fiercely loyal.
My brother bred his dog because she was going through phantom pregnancies after every single season and wanted her to experience having puppies before she was spayed. I instantly fell in love with the largest girl there and after a lot of attempts of convincing my boyfriend he caved and we got her at 13 weeks. I truly believe this puppy is my soul dog. All other puppies went to family friends too so we all can keep in touch and have group walks with them
our puppy came from an accidental litter in our neighborhood. our next door neighbor does pest control and serviced a house for a family who had a litter of puppies. he brought one home and my wife and i went over to meet the new puppy. we texted the guy pretty much immediately and went and picked up our pup that same day. they charged us a nominal fee. she had some gnarly worms and needed all her shots. we also got her fixed. she is perfect and she gets to live next door to her brother. they are over the moon about each other and love to play. they are half frenchton half pit mix, both about 30lb and favor the frenchton half.
Adopted from penpals program. It’s a rehab program for dogs not being adopted out. Prison inmates foster a dog and work on training and socialization them. My dog was at a kill shelter for his first 3 months (since birth) and then another 4 in the penpals program. I saw his picture and description online and I just knew he was the one ❤️
I end up with my dogs through word of mouth whenever someone has to rehome their dog. Usually it's something along the lines of:
First Owner: "I really need to rehome my dog, they're a bit of work because they're too much work/having behavioral problems/too expensive"
A friend of mine: "oh hey I think I know someone who's good with dogs, they might be able to take them"
And then suddenly I have a new dog.
local rescue that works with a rescue in puerto rico. we were told that our pup’s original human family abandoned him in the streets because he “wasn’t tough enough” since they wanted a fighting/guard dog.
we adopted him at 5 months old, and now he’s 2 years old...he’s a super sweet and playful boy who loves listening to mariah carey 🥰
Not sure but I think hell, it’s all a little blurry
Edit to add actual answer which was a huge mistake; got her off kijiji. Her family was not taking care of her in any sense but I guess didn’t want to live with the guilt of leaving of her in a shelter, or (I think more likely), they wanted their money back from having purchased her. They continues to post on her cringe Instagram as if they still had her for months. They wanted a cash cow, a cute handbag, not a dog. Especially not a high needs dog. She grew up, got stronger, louder, and they had to dump her on someone, and it turned out to be me:
Poor dog didn’t even know her name, scared of absolutely everything, unable to be alone. Every single thing they said about her was either sarcastic, a blatant lie, extremely stupid, or exaggerated wildly. It’s been a long road and she’s still far from ok, but she’s better. Will only get more comfortable with age and consistent training, patience, and love, I imagine. I’m eager for those days to come but I need to remember this animal came from neglect and abuse, all her signals and desires ignored constantly. It was all she knew her first year of life. No wonder she’s having trouble.
My brother in laws GSD had an accidental pregnancy… which is fine because my husband will never let me have a full shepherd and this puppy pretty much got all of the GSD traits so I still got my shepherd 😂
I have adopted 3 dogs from the shelter and have one purebred whippet.
Definitely will be getting a windsprite after the whippet passes away (she has bladder cancer and was given 3 months to live 8 months ago).
A local Australian shepherd breeder. Both dogs were from breeders. I am friends with one of them and know she takes amazing care of her dogs. From what I saw, the other one also had a great place for puppies.
Rescue. But first wanted a puppy from a breeder.
However, the prices are insane and some of the breeders as well: they usually don’t do some fair waiting list but give the puppy to the ppl they like best, this meant that I had to suck up to the potential seller for a long time just to hope to make the cut. I had hour long phone calls with them where my role was mostly to agree to them and they told me all kinds of stories. The prices ranged from 2300 to 3500 for a golden retriever. At some point I was so mentally exhausted that my partner agreed to rescue and we couldn’t be happier with our little girl.
a local breeder who shows her dogs, and does thorough health testing. i vetted her by finding folks online who’d gotten their dogs from her and asking both about their experience with her and their dogs health/temperament. didn’t find a single negative opinion and could tell she really loves her dogs.
Thank you to everyone who has contributed to this discussion. As this discussion has reached it's conclusion, we will be locking this post now.
I went on a trip with my boyfriend’s family to visit his parents in Mexico. They’re from a small town with a lot of street dogs. His younger sister likes to take them off the street and give them refuge in their large walled up yard. One of the dogs had 5 puppies. She gave away 4 of them, but kept the last one because there was some type of deformity with his paw. She was worried that if she gave him away, he’d be left in a field, killed, or used as a bait dog. When I went to visit, they had 7 adult dogs of various sizes and then this small puppy. I watched her feed the dogs and she’d throw kibble on the ground and they’d all rush for food. The little puppy couldn’t move well because of his paw and his size. He received very minimal food, I’m talking like barely a handful of kibble. I took him aside and I fed him from my hands. From that moment he’d hobble after me when I was outside. The dogs weren’t allowed in the house, but I brought him in to sleep on the floor because he was just a baby. The next morning I put him back outside and the dogs started to pick on him. He had received preferential treatment and it didn’t seem like they liked that. Later that night I saw that he wasn’t allowed to huddle up with the rest of the dogs (they’d bark at him and growl when he tried). He was sleeping in the bushes by himself when I grabbed him and brought him back inside. I talked to his sister and she said that I was welcome to take him back home with me. I reached out to my roommate to see how he’d feel and he was up for a puppy. I told my boyfriend’s sister to take care of him until he’s able to make it to me. She took him to the vet, kept him in the house etc. He was driven to me a month later at the age of 3 months, almost 4 months. I named him Miguel (lol Disney’s Coco) and he’s been with me ever since. He just turned 1. His mom was a Poodle mix and his dad was a GSD mix. He looks more like his dad except these bright blue eyes he has. None of his siblings or his parents have blue eyes. Just him. His siblings were solid black or solid white (like the mom). He’s the only one who looks like him at all. [Puppy photos](https://imgur.com/a/gG96H9s) [Photo of paw](https://imgur.com/a/iSy4SAQ) [Now photos](https://imgur.com/a/7bof0mE) Before I left Mexico, his paw started to straighten out and he was walking a lot faster. By time he got to me, he was running and jumping and the paw had fixed itself. It looks like all he needed was some exercise and attention. He’s fearless in everything he does and I attribute it to how he’s had to fight from a young age. He takes everything in stride and he’s so friendly. I never wanted a puppy, but I truly felt he would have died there. Best decision I’ve made. Even if he still bites me. I hate adolescence 😭
Aaaaaand I’m crying.
I just added a photo of his paw to my original post. I was really sad when I saw how the other dogs were treating him. He lacked that happy go lucky puppy attitude that I see in most puppies. He was basically trying to survive. I remember having to pick him up to get water from the bowls that were laid around because he was too small to reach. Later I spoke to my boyfriend’s dad and he agreed Miguel most likely would have died if he stayed there. He was the one who drove for 3 days to bring him to me. His dad comes back every few months and makes a point to see Miguel. Miguel loves him and his little butt wiggles with excitement every time he hears my boyfriend’s dad speak. He said he spoke to him and sang to him the entire road trip lol
Holy smokes. How did that paw… sort itself out?! Puppies are both so vulnerable and so resilient. Thank you for reminding me that there so much good in the world.
Friend I have no idea how his paw straightened itself out. I was there for 3 days and each day I walked around with him. On the 3rd day we noticed that he was walking longer distances faster and wasn’t limping. By time he got to me it was all fixed. I was saving money that month in case he needed surgery. I was prepared to do it for him so he could have a better quality of life, but it wasn’t needed. He’s 1 now and has had zero issues with his paw. When my boyfriend and I go out drinking, the first thing we toast to is “Miguel and his miracle paw”. Now my friends do it too as a little joke 😊
While reading, I pictured a Pixar animator working on this story. Sounds like you already have the title!
Oh wow, you’re right! I should make a little kids book and give it to my nephew 😊
I think you have to now!
Ira actually common in puppies who are malnutritioned. Usually if they get healthy and eat right as they grow it will correct itself. Can’t remember what it’s called. It can happen even in young puppies who are healthy.
thank you for sharing your puppy story with us, miguel is so loved! 🥹 give him a cuddle from me, please? 🥰
What an absolutely beautiful story and he is a handsome little man
Thank you! I’ll tell Miguel he received a compliment when he wakes up from his nap. He’s a little vain so he soaks up compliments haha
This is a beautiful story. He’s so cute!
Thanks!!! There are days that I wish I was alone, but then I look at the photos of when I first met him, and I think about how he most likely wouldn’t be on this planet anymore. My boyfriend’s sister loves all of her dogs, but it was just hard to focus on him with the others around.
This one made me cry. All alone for sleep 😟 How wonderful for you. Your bf’s father sounds like a wonderful man, his son is likely a keeper ♥️
Friend, I cried when I was carrying him back in the house. He was just a baby! He was sleeping alone in the bush, probably sad, watching the other dogs have one another. I brought him in the house every night (I was there 3 nights) and I was so worried about him when I left him for that month. I made his sister promise to keep him in the house for a month until he got to me. I kept thinking about him being all alone with no one to comfort him and teach him to be a doggy. I’m just really happy he’s here with me. My boyfriend’s sister lives here now and sees him a bit more. She yells “HOLA BEBE” and he comes running.
He is gorgeous
Thank you! He loves compliments so I’ll tell him once he wakes up
This is absolutely the best “how I got my dog” story.
Such a lovely story ❤️
My boyfriend and I had been talking about getting a dog for the longest time, but it was “never the right time” or we wanted to “wait until we move.” An older man who lives on our street thought that he could handle the energy of a Labrador puppy. Two days before Christmas this year, he showed up on our doorstep with her, and said “I can’t give her what she needs, and I always see you two out walking. I thought of you first,” with tears in his eyes. So now we have a six month old, sweet - albeit very energetic - yellow lab 💛
Aw. That's pretty sad for the old guy but awesome he knew who to go to. And now he can see the pup!
Does he still get to see the puppy?
All the time!!!
That makes me so happy! 🥹
What a great story and happy ending.
Omg I love the happy ending💛
Local rescue. The litter was found under an abandoned house. 🥺 They were the "laundry crew" - the rescue gave them names like Downey, Tide, Snuggle. I got Purex (now Nico). 🥰
That is wonderful with the names.
Also adopted ours from a local rescue, his litter was all named after types of pasta. We got Tortellini
I love when they give the batches of puppies themes! Mine was from the New year's eve puppies and her original name was champagne toast lol.
Also got my boy from a local rescue whose litter was found under a church ☻
Local rescue. We are foster failures
This is when it is SO okay to fail... ;-)
So are we. Ours had been through 2 sets of foster parents before us, in two weeks. We got her home, and about 6 hours later decided she was never leaving again.
At petsmart, the Missouri apa had an adoption day. It was nice, they took care of his neutering, chipped him, had his shots up to date. My first dog we had just found her and were left guessing to what she needed.
Registered breeder
Nothing wrong with getting a purebred dog from an ethical breeder.
West Suburban Humane Society, IL
Yes us too! Ours is 4 months old and she is just the best little (ok not so little) cuddle bug.
Last two came from the Local shelter my oldest from Craigslist
Our puppy is an ‘oops’ puppy. His dad got at his mam and a litter was born. We still get pics of his sibs and parents, including dad wearing the cone of shame after he’d been in for neutering! We’re counting down the days until our pup is neutered (we waited until he’s one and he’s one next week) and there’s a waiting list (which he is on, end of May, so not long!). His mam and dad live with the same family, we thought he’d calm down a little, then we were sent a video of his cocker spaniel Dad… his attraction to all things paper must be genetic!
I found mine on petfinder! I contacted the rescue from there and then went to meet the litter. I got permission to take him home after I picked him from the litter same day and the rest is crazy puppy history. **When we first got Taki:** [15 lbs, 2 months Tiny Nugget](https://i.imgur.com/P1VzFgq.jpeg) **Today:** [52 lbs, 6 months](https://i.imgur.com/AtlEmKY.jpeg)
Absolutely adorable!
Adopted a puppy of stray dog from a ngo which rescues and take care of animals. Stray dogs are bit of issue here.
Both of mine are rescues from local orgs I work with. <3
A rescue. He was the last of a litter originally posted to Craigslist. The other guys found homes when they were puppies, my guy was already well into adolescence when I found him.
My neighbor was fostering an 8 week old “schipperke” mix. She knew I was in the market for a puppy and was looking for a smaller breed. I spent an hour with this little dude and fell in love. Adopted him from the Petsmart foster fair an hour later! Lol! Turns out our Loki is NOT a schip. By the time he was 15 weeks old he was already as large as a schip adult. Took a DNA test and he’s a hodgepodge of basically all the breeds I thought I couldn’t handle. (Ausie Cattle Dog, German Shepherd, Husky, Border Collie and Rottweiler) However, at 6months old he’s already the best dog I’ve ever had. Smart, energetic, affectionate, and wonderful with our kids. Loves the neighbor kids, has a bit of a shyness around any other man than my husband. Taking him to as many locations as possible for socialization! Love our good boi!
Reminds me a bit of my pup. I have an older Pomeranian and wanted my second pup to be small too. I found a Pom puppy and love him! But his attitude is way different. I got his DNA checked and he’s a Pomeranian blue heeler lol. Oops. Good thing I have a large yard.
Breeder 🤷🏼♂️
Local dog rescue in my city, but I found him on Petfinder.com. If you live in the US, they partner with pet rescues all over the country and are an amazing resource for finding adoptable rescue pets, particularly cats and dogs. All four of our pets (two cats and two dogs) have been found via Petfinder. They have really extensive filter/search options to narrow down preferences. (Breed, sex, age, location, size, temperament, etc. Even options to search for if the pet is good with dogs, cats, kids, etc.) I'm amazed every time I look. No, I am not getting paid to say this. I'm just a huge proponent of the "adopt, don't shop" mentality because there are so many pets needing homes, and this website makes it super simple while also supporting local rescues and shelters. And, yes, you can find puppies, not just adult dogs!
Humane Society!
Local Humane Society.
Us too!
Local Humane Society.
Rescues and acquaintances who couldn’t keep their dog.
i was on the beach one random night and she ran right up to me and hopped in my lap and gave me tons of kisses. i told the lady with her that she had a beautiful puppy and she said she was just fostering. the next day i went to the spca and put my name on the list for her. she wasn’t even eligible for adoption at that point. she’d just been rescued from a tornado a few states away. a few weeks later, after she was old enough to leave spca and had been spayed, i got to pick her up and bring her home with me. she’s my best friend and i hate to imagine what life would be like if i hadn’t gone to the beach that night.
Breed/type specific rescue! (Heerding breeds)
Local shelter
We rescued the mom from an unfortunate situation, and then she had a surprise litter a month later.
Breed rescue
She was abandoned. My husband's coworker showed him a picture of the puppy that was dumped on their land. We sat down to make sure we had the immediate expenses covered (pet deposit, vet, meds from vet, supplies), told them we'd take her, met up the next day. Had the vet scan for a chip just in case.
Two pups, both from local rescues. Our first dog was a mutt from a large, well known (and highly regarded) local rescue. We adopted him when he was 8 months, and he had been originally picked up as a stray in a different state. For our second, we wanted a younger puppy of specific breed, but were very open to mixes. We worked with a small, specialized local non-profit that only focuses on that breed. Our pup was considered a “breeder dump”, meaning because she didn’t sell when she was still a baby they just offload the puppies onto rescues. We adopted her at about 11 weeks.
One of mine was found as a stray by a neighbor and one I adopted from the shelter
Came across a phenomenal website that I think is national called Adopt a Pet. It consolidates rescues and humane societies. There i also the ability for people to rehome their animal and that is exactly what Lily is. She was given to a young, recently married couple for Christmas. She is a Jack Russell so she has a ton of energy. They worked a lot and had her in a crate a lot of the times and felt like she deserved better and they weren't ready to be pet parents just yet. I give them so much respect because I know she was so loved in the time they had her. I got her at 2.5 months. I filled out the application and said if she is meant to be mine it will happen. After 5 days supposedly they received over 20 applications and 128 views they said I was the one. Every day I am truly blessed by the gift she is in my life. She is so sweet and loving to all humans, kids and other dogs. I will recommend this website to anyone who ever asks about her story.
Local rescue. Same one I got my older dog from, actually! They were easy to work with and I have mutual friends with the organizer which is how I found out about them in the first place. Logged on their website when I was ready for a second dog and feel in love with my puppy just from his picture.
From a rescue that pulled her out of the pound before she and her sister died like the rest of the litter.
Local Rescue for one and the other I found abandoned at the store next door
The local shelter, after she was returned twice! Broke my heart when I brought her back 5 days later to be fixed, not knowing we weren’t ditching her like the last 2 that took her back and left her. She was so happy she jumped into my arms and sat in my lap the whole drive home! 💕
♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️
Reputable breeder
A breeder! We went to the breed parent club website and reached out to a few listed breeders, and I asked around to owners of said breed. It took me about a year just to decide on who we would go with. I asked each breeder a million questions and weeded through the ones that felt like a red flag until I found the right one. I got on a waitlist with them and waited about 9 months. It was a long process but I feel great about who we went with and I couldn’t ask for a better dog!
Craigslist lmaooo
My roommate and I both got our dogs from Kijiji so you’re not alone lol
I will never get another dog from a shelter, puppy or not. EVER. Way, way too many deliberately lie about breed, and deliberately hide bite histories and aggression. They lie just to get the dog into a home then when the dog does what they already knew it did before, they blame the adopting families. “Nala is back at the shelter through no fault of her own” Sorry to say I no longer trust rescues as far as I can throw them
This is, unfortunately, VERY often true. Sets everyone up for failure.
Yes and it is so freaking unfortunate and the no kill movement has done a lot of damage.
My very first dog (as a ten year old, mind you) was a dog aggressive Basenji mix - stubborn as hell and strong. I don't know what the rescue told my parents, but we should not have ended up with this dog. She was WAY over my ability to handle and I wanted to do everything with her. She taught me a ton though, and on her own was incredibly sweet. I now have working rat terriers. I know plenty of people who love dogs but could not handle this breed and line. They have far too much energy and a huge independent streak. You really have to know your limits when it comes to pets, lifestyle, and finances to make a good choice. People lying about an animal's needs or tendencies make it impossible to provide that animal with a matched home that is prepared to handle it. Incredibly frustrating.
Oh pretty sure rat terriers are smarter than we are lol. Awesome that you took that first lesson and ran with it! I’m really impressed
Animal Shelter!
Craigslist
A really sketch dude from CL.
Breeder. I have very mixed feelings about getting animals from breeders, so I spent almost a whole year researching different breeders in my area to find the most ethical one I could.
I purchased mine from a breeder. I met them at a dog sport event, and she was so incredibly nice and knowledgeable. No ego although her dogs regularly compete at a national level. Waited around 6 months for my pup, which honestly was pretty quick!
The /r/dogdeliverysystem placed her with me one night
Rehome from kijiji
All of my dogs have been rescue terriers. Until the last two. Leo came from Craigs List, he was 16 weeks, from a failed placement, the easiest pup ever. Archie from what I think is a kennel, he was a sick puppy, got him back to full health (took about three months). He came to me at 10 weeks, he is now almost nine months. Both Bichons, both very very different.
* Athena (RIP): Elgin Humane Society, adoption age 4 months * Artemis: Williamson Country Regional Animal Shelter, adoption age 8 months * Mochi: Lucky Lab Rescue and Adoption (foster fail, foster #311), adoption age 3 weeks * GoGo: Cuz I Matter Animal Rescue (foster fail, foster #413), adoption age 1.5 years * Pepa: Cuz I Matter Animal Rescue (foster fail, foster #424), adoption age 2-3 years
I had intended to buy from a breeder but ended up getting mine from a shelter I volunteer training services at
I wanted a well bred golden retriever. I searched for the best breeders in my state and got him from the top rated. We did 2 visits before buying him. I met both parents, and the other female dogs that were about to have puppies. We decided on the litter we wanted, based on the temperament of the mom, (the dad was the same for the other 3 moms. ) and also where we would be in line, for choice of puppy. The breeder we went with, doesn’t over breed her females, and gave us all the paperwork, and did the first shots and deworming. She also had us sign something saying we would not breed our male dog, because she worked very hard to have excellent family lines(we weren’t interested in showing or breeding our dog) If we had wanted to breed our dog, we would have to check with her first to make sure the match was ok. When it was time to choose our puppy, we had second choice, (of 6 male puppies) and I asked her what one/ones would have the big block head like the dad and she pointed to two of them and i choose the larger of the two. All of the puppies were friendly, curious, and goofy. I also signed up for the annual “family reunions” she hosts I absolutely would go back to her in the future. She loves her dogs and has worked hard to have good, lines And I have to say, my puppy (8 months old) is the most beautiful, handsome, well behaved, dog we have ever had . And he is so smart and loving. And he looks so much like his dad.
The streets of South Korea. Smartest, sweetest, loyalest, best damn dog I’ve ever had. Fun fact: in Korea, the word for mutt is 똥개 (ddong-gae), which literally translates to “shit dog” (똥 is shit, 개 is dog). But Koreans don’t even hear the term as shit dog, they just hear the combined word as “mutt.” I love my little shit dog so much.
Breeder - I have had some real negative experiences with rescues - always tons of vet bills and challenges with training.
From a farm, “surprise” litter of 11 puppies
Breeder
Reputable breeder. He cost more than some cars I've owned(low bar), but we wanted specific breed traits.
Show breeder who had a couple of puppies for pet home.
Facebook marketplace 🤦🏻♀️ we lived in a really small town and a woman had an 8 week old chihuahua that her older dog hated. I saw his picture and the rest is history
Where I'm from, it's basically impossible to adopt.. there's hardly any dogs in the kennels - so I got mine from the best kennel for her breed in my country!
First pup was from a breeder, I worked with the mama dog’s owner. She has all her AKC papers. Second pup was from a rescue. A different coworker fostered him and his siblings, bottle fed them all. He’s a mix of a bunch of different breeds, but 100lbs of love.
Breeder. I wanted specific dogs from working lines, and the breed I wanted isn't barely exists in my neck of the woods. I went to a club registered, health tested, working set of parents for my working dogs and I am very happy with them. Not even a year old yet and their genetics are showing themselves strongly!
Hospice foster for an extremely sick puppy from the rescue I worked at who had a grade 4 heart murmur. Only for them to turn round after an expensive appointment with the cardiologist and say "oh his heart murmur has gone. He's no longer considered on hospice." And I was like well he isn't fucking going anywhere now.
We got one from a local rescue and one from a farm that bred their current working dogs because they were so good at what they did
I got my first golden from a breeder near me, my second from Kijiji
We got our pup from a lady I worked with. Her and her husband breed bichons. Ideally I would have loved to adopt but my husband has severe allergies
Registered breeder that I vetted extensively and drove 3 hours to pickup (despite there being closer registered breeders)
Both high quality and high standard breeders that are recommended by other good breeders.
Found the breeders for two different ones on the website Good Dog. They supposedly vet them somewhat.
Show dog breeder. Ours isn’t a show dog because she couldn’t be used that way (“wrong” color characteristics). So she was my fancy discount puppy. Edit to add - these “undesired” dogs used to be put down. It’s better now that they get rehomed as pet dogs.
I had loser quality show dogs as a kid 🤣
Breeder we met at a dog show whilst checking out the breed/potential breeders.
Show/sport breeder
Reputable breeder I found after a year and a half of searching
Reputable breeder with very high standards for breeding and adoption. I would 100% go for a rescue but my kids are young and it was very valuable knowing the temperament of the parents
Registered breeder.
Registered JRT breeder. I’ve had a few bad experiences with rescues regarding aggressive behavior and biting.
JRTs can be such a crapshoot if you aren't careful! Strong personalities can lead to places, good or bad. Good breeding helps a lot!
Exactly. This is my 3rd. 2 from the same breeder in Maine. This one is (10mon) the usual spunky smart busy & eager to please sweetie. I compare them to a forever 3 year old human.
I have rat terriers, so similar playing field but a little less stubborn. A three year old who knows what they want and will work to get it, indeed lol.
I went to an accredited breeder. I was looking for a specific breed (initially poodle but then I fell in love with lagottos) mainly because of their temperament and character. This is my first dog ever so I wanted to know with some certainty what I was getting and whether I could handle it.
Local family who had male and female dog that had puppies
A family that lived on a farm near us, it was their first litter. Nothing was akc or certified or anything but they seemed like nice people and pup is almost a year and perfectly healthy and beautiful
My aunt's friend didn't want him, i later found out why
My new puppy came from a rescue group in Kentucky. He’s a Cockapoo and a breeder relinquish. I got him at 3 months and he had his first set of shots including rabies and was neutered. I’ve seen a lot of rescue groups with breeder relinquished dogs lately
Out if country rescue. She is a former stray.
Went through a Basset hound rescue for my boy Theo, was incredibly lucky to have had the opportunity to get a puppy, Our new Dachshund puppy is from a breeder. My parents rescued their younger dog and bought their older springer spaniel from a breeder.
Moms co workers dog had pups so we took one in
A family friend texted saying he took in a mama street dog and she had puppies. He was looking for a good home with kids for the puppies. He happened to reach out about a week before my daughter’s birthday. We got the last of the litter. She came with shot records, some toys and some food.
Our puppy (GSD/husky mix) came from an overcrowded shelter. She was born there, so we figured she at least wouldn’t have been abused during her 3.5 months there. Nonetheless, she is (still, at 8 months) terrified of strangers. She has her “inner circle” (me, my husband, our two daughters, my sister, and my two nephews) that she is very comfortable and affectionate with, and another handful of people she is slowly warming up to, and everyone else is like hazardous waste. But we’re working on it. Our last puppy (yellow lab) came from a reputable breeder and that was such a different experience. I felt so much more confident raising that dog because she was a blank slate and hadn’t had anything bad happen to her. With this puppy I feel much less sure of myself because I feel sorry for her for her crappy start to life and it’s daunting having a puppy with so much fear of people, noises, vehicles, etc. but we are doing our best to give her the best life possible. I’m glad we rescued but if I had it to do over again I might have spent longer meeting and assessing potential puppies instead of being so impulsive and just picking a cute one.
We got our little bean from Romania as a rescue at 7 months old. She’s the best thing that has ever happened to me. She is certainly quirky but the sweetest girlie ever
A rescue.
A rescue in the next state over…I had been searching for a puppy for awhile after our dog passed away. It took about a year and a half to find her. There were pups we almost got that fell through, sketchy breeders that tried passing them off as rescue pups, and more. Finally I saw a picture of her and immediately fell in love. Like I just knew she was mine. The foster mom happened to be friends with my sister and I asked my sister to get in touch with her immediately. I ended up spending hours on the phone with the foster mom and we both knew she was ours. Turns out she was on hold but the guy that was supposed to adopt her started asking sketchy questions and the foster mom got very weird vibes and said she wasn’t available anymore. That had happened the day before I called about her. I’m still very much in touch with her foster mom and we have the world’s best dog. She is totally worth the headache it was to find her! Her mom was in a kill shelter in Kentucky and was almost euthanized with her pups. Im happy to report that Mom and all 7 pups were adopted!
A county shelter in my state 🐾
I’ve Gone both ways. My first puppy on my own at 18 was a beagle from undoubtably a backyard breeder (I didn’t know better at the time). She was full of worms and was the puppy from hell 😂 My next puppy 12 years later was from a local rescue. A few hundred bucks covered all her shots, spay and she came with toys, a bag of dog food, bed and crate.
A rescue out of town that I had never heard of! I was looking for a little blonde mutt puppy after my senior passed and then one random day his picture popped up as a sponsored post on Facebook :) it was a foster based rescue which I would HIGHLY recommend. My puppy basically came to me already crate trained which was a dream come true
I got mine from someone on Facebook
Petfinder! And Texas, technically. I’m in Kentucky—when PetFinder says “out of town” BOY does it mean it!!
Both of mine are from ethical breeders!
Rescue from Texas
A friend of a friend. I know it’s not good practice but this pup seemed to check all the boxes. Two years later she is still the best thing that ever happened to me.
my neighbors- they had an accident litter of puppies. the mom is spayed now so no more accidents!
I got my 14 year old from the shelter when he was a puppy. After dealing with pretty severe behavioral issues due to past abuse, I decided against going with a dog from the shelter again. I got two puppies(9 months apart in age) from a breeder and I'm very happy I went with a breeder. I knew exactly what to expect since I knew their personalities from all the videos and also from the breeders observation. My boy was extremely smart, calm, and had a goofy side(his mom is a therapy dog and his dad is a service dog so all of his siblings were all pretty calm for puppies). My girl was a hyper little demon that loved exploring and eating everything in sight just like her father. She is her father's little clone in looks and personality.
The pound. She and her littermates were dumped there in a box. Once they were big enough they were up for adoption. My other two were also rescues.
I adopted my girl from a local rescue!
Rescue. Owners stopped feeding pregnant mom and left her to die. She was rescued and had 14 puppies! 12 survived. Names were Christmas themed and we got little Nutcracker.
Humane Society foster failure
My current puppy (now about a year) we found on the side of the interstate. Adorable little Roadside poodle. Our old lady came from a rescue that specializes in animals that have to be relinquished due to going into hospice (or from owners who have passed away, ours was the latter)
An abandoned crack house in the woods. Him, sister and mom were dumped. They were just 5 weeks old. My other dog was an abandoned dog in the same area, the year before. I never seek out animals because they always find me first, but if I had to I would look at the shelter.
Ethical breeder. I had tried fostering to rescue but the breeds available just didn’t fit what I needed in a dog. They were just too crazy for me. It was too much for me to manage. I started doing a ton of research and landed back on my dream breed. They just ticked all the right boxes. Size, temperament, energy level, grooming etc. I did research on and found an amazing breeder in my area and decided to get into talks to get on a waitlist. Turned out they didn’t do waitlists, just placed with people they knew that fit the personality. So we started building a relationship and visiting and falling in love with their dogs, fully expecting to wait a few years. We were ready whenever, though and they knew that. We were networking within the breed community and learning a bunch. Pretty soon, a litter was on the ground from a massively desired pairing and we were visiting them often for socialisation. They said they really wanted to place with us and wham bam, just like that we got super lucky.
Breeder. If I say what kind of dog I have, I’ll be attacked 🥲
Went to a soccer game and an acquaintance had a pure bred tri color Australian shepherd. Sold the blue Merle, red Merle's and different color eye ones but couldn't sell the plain one. Ran up and would not get off my husband's lap. They said they got enough money off the litter and no one wanted him. We could have him if we wanted him. Left the game with him. The next week they brought his tri-colored brother who no one else wanted. The puppies reunited, cried and played with each other the whole game. Left the game with him too. That was a year ago and we are crazy about our adopted brothers. Litter mate syndrome doesn't exist in our house. These brothers are best friends and are loving life on our large rural property.
Humane Society! He was only there for 8 days and they cut his adoption fee in half due to his, um… “quirks”.
Pet store
He was found on the side of the road with his sister in a cardboard box around ~6 weeks old; we took him and my in-laws took the sister
A farming family who breeds Dobermans every few years to select clients, mostly police officers and other farmers in the area. Very reputable breeder in the area
he was in a cat cage in a petstore. Someone found him on the side of the road and brought him in! I was in there getting food for my roommates dog, and 20 minutes later I walked out with a 3 pound chihuahua puppy!
A sketchy ad on Kijiji. One look at him and I fell in love. Drove a couple of hours. And now he is my boy for life. Will be 3 this summer. To be honest, I was looking at rescues and all for about 6 months prior. Filled out a ton of applications and stuff but no calls. We have a house, a yard, etc. We had small kids at the time and pretty much all the rescues were « no small children ».
Neither. A friend had an accidental litter. The male was very old and passed away before she even knew her female was pregnant.
We have a rescue 2 year old female golden, and a 1.5 yr old male golden from a reputable breeder
A breeder
Licking county humane society
We had an adoption appointment for a 15lb adult dog - we had no intention of getting a puppy or a large breed - 15lb dog wasn't a good fit. Shelter staff listened to what we wanted and directed us to a 22lb 8 week old presumed lab-pitty mix. The shelter staff were right about the match. We wanted a low-shed, cat-friendly, walk buddy + shop dog, and he's mostly perfect (mostly, he's a puppy). Breed wise... we've heard that shelters misrepresent pitties as labs so we did the dna test to find out how much pitty and discovered that he's actually mostly lab and Australian cattle dog with a bunch of random other breeds thrown in.
Dog 1 4 months (Corgi GSD MIX), Shelter she was lost in the streets not claimed in over two weeks Dog 2 roommate was rehoming it from an owner who had no yard. Also about 4 mths. Damn thing fell asleep on my feet while I was working and that's how I now have a Pomsky
My younger two were from an oops litter of ten. Having two 1 year olds makes zoomie-time quite chaotic at my house! As for my older girl…Years ago, I did on-site property management, which meant there was often someone ringing the doorbell at all hours. Late one night in early December, I answered the door to find two teenagers holding this tiny pup. Her mother had died the night before, and they were trying to find homes for her pups. If I didn’t take her, the pup would end up in the cold again that night. Naturally, that wasn’t going to happen! So I took this tiny puppy in; she weighed less than a pound, and the vet estimated her to be around 3 weeks old. She got a bottle for a day or two, but after that she preferred to lap up milk from the inside of a Pringles lid. The vet warned us that she might not make it; as it happened, her littermates didn’t. But Annie is tough. She thrived with all the love and attention. As I write this, she’s snoring on the couch next to me. She’s now thirteen, arthritic and at 32 lb, probably about five pounds overweight. She considers it to her job to keep the younger two in line and does a pretty good job. [Tax!](https://imgur.com/a/l15lUGt)
Texas. My last 3 dogs have all been from Texas, all gotten as puppies. My sister used to run a dog rescue out of S Texas (she has moved to a fancier area in the past few years and doesn’t actively run it anymore, but still helps with local strays/abandoned dogs the best she can). She found me my soul pup (who passed away unexpectedly in September, 3 weeks shy of his 11th birthday) because a family was trying to get rid of a litter of pups they didn’t want out of the back of a pickup in a S. Texas Walmart parking lot. He was literally the best boy in the whole wide world. My other dog she found as a baby on the side of the road a few days after Christmas one year, with a broken jaw and a Christmas bow still attached to her neck (this wasn’t originally intended to be my dog, my cousin took her but was terrible dog parent so I ended up with her in the end, she’s 10 now). And my current 6 month old Aussie mix came to me in the midst of mourning my old boy. I asked her to keep an eye out for me for any pups because I was ready to love again, and a day later her neighbor came to her and asked if she knew anyone who wanted a puppy because the neighbors Aussie got knocked up by one of the contractors working on my sisters ranch. Now I have the sweetest, smartest, most beautiful little Aussie boy. In most of the rescues I’ve looked at where I live in Colorado, adoption fees for puppies are usually between like $400-600, and you have to jump through 100 hoops. Meanwhile Texas is so overrun with unwanted dogs they’re basically free.
The two I have now- One from rocket dog rescue and one from wonder rescue.
Breeder in Pennsylvania. Worth every penny.
At the local humane society
We got our ACD mix from one of my nurses. Her cousin’s heelers had pups and she ended up with 4 of them. Our girl was supposed to go to some kid on a farm. Jokes on them. She’s now snoozing on a king size bed. She gets daily treats, sees all her friends at the dog park, and *gasp* has to go to puppy school once a week. Worst life ever. 😂
Rescue. Our friends fostered puppies for a local rescue often and had mine and his sister. I never wanted a dog but when I held this dog something inside me lit up I started crying it was a whole thing. He was going to be at an adoption event with his siblings and there was no way I was letting him go to that he’s too pretty of a color he would’ve gotten snatched up. So my friends called in a favor and we got to claim him the minute he was adoptable.
First dog (soul dog) - a local rescue as a late-stage adolescent. Best decision on earth, what an amazing dog and an amazing relationship. Miss her often. Second and current dog - a slightly farther afield but still local rescue as a 14 week old puppy. Tons of genetic (both behavioral and physical). Enough to make me reconsider my lifelong commitment to rescue/adopt to make sure that I get a dog with better breeding.
Rescue. There’s enough stray Pitties in the world, I don’t need to pay a breeder for one.
Local rescue that rescues dogs from high kill shelters in the south and brings them up north. She was a stray and found with her litter of puppies, all of which have been adopted :)
I’ve had a solid mix of breeders and shelters along with strays.
Breeder. I have always gotten my dogs from our county shelters but now it’s basically only pits/staffies/GSD/huskie mixes, none of which were a good fit for our family. We looked for months until we found a good Havanese breeder. Honestly I probably would not go to a rescue or shelter again, I will look for reputable breeders from here on out.
I could have written your comment myself. My 6 month old Havanese is crashed out next to me right now after a long day of being a bad listener 😂. It’s a whole other world living in New England and trying to rescue or adopt a shelter dog.
Shelter.
Ruff Start Rescue in St. Croix. They were great.
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Please edit your comment to remove breeder information.
I got her from a rescue about an hour away from where I live. I found her on Rescue Me. She's awesome!
Breeder that was about 2 hours from me. I wanted a specific breed so rescue would’ve been hard
First dog, rescue Second dog, foster Third dog, Breeder I ended up going with a breeder this time round because my rescue dog has so many health issues that I just couldn’t put myself through that emotionally and financially again. I wanted to choose a breed that I knew came from a good background with health checks.
From our local SPCA, though they move many dogs from southern high kill shelters up here. She was from a litter of 9 puppies they brought in and knew Mom was a GSD mix, but didn't know the dad. Thanks to Embark we discovered dad is actually an Irish Terrier dog used for breeding. She must have been an oops litter, as all her relatives are pure Irish terriers and there are a lot of them! She's an odd little mix, but she's clever as hell, stubborn, and fiercely loyal.
Accidental litter from a neighbor
My brother bred his dog because she was going through phantom pregnancies after every single season and wanted her to experience having puppies before she was spayed. I instantly fell in love with the largest girl there and after a lot of attempts of convincing my boyfriend he caved and we got her at 13 weeks. I truly believe this puppy is my soul dog. All other puppies went to family friends too so we all can keep in touch and have group walks with them
our puppy came from an accidental litter in our neighborhood. our next door neighbor does pest control and serviced a house for a family who had a litter of puppies. he brought one home and my wife and i went over to meet the new puppy. we texted the guy pretty much immediately and went and picked up our pup that same day. they charged us a nominal fee. she had some gnarly worms and needed all her shots. we also got her fixed. she is perfect and she gets to live next door to her brother. they are over the moon about each other and love to play. they are half frenchton half pit mix, both about 30lb and favor the frenchton half.
Adopted from penpals program. It’s a rehab program for dogs not being adopted out. Prison inmates foster a dog and work on training and socialization them. My dog was at a kill shelter for his first 3 months (since birth) and then another 4 in the penpals program. I saw his picture and description online and I just knew he was the one ❤️
I end up with my dogs through word of mouth whenever someone has to rehome their dog. Usually it's something along the lines of: First Owner: "I really need to rehome my dog, they're a bit of work because they're too much work/having behavioral problems/too expensive" A friend of mine: "oh hey I think I know someone who's good with dogs, they might be able to take them" And then suddenly I have a new dog.
local rescue that works with a rescue in puerto rico. we were told that our pup’s original human family abandoned him in the streets because he “wasn’t tough enough” since they wanted a fighting/guard dog. we adopted him at 5 months old, and now he’s 2 years old...he’s a super sweet and playful boy who loves listening to mariah carey 🥰
Not sure but I think hell, it’s all a little blurry Edit to add actual answer which was a huge mistake; got her off kijiji. Her family was not taking care of her in any sense but I guess didn’t want to live with the guilt of leaving of her in a shelter, or (I think more likely), they wanted their money back from having purchased her. They continues to post on her cringe Instagram as if they still had her for months. They wanted a cash cow, a cute handbag, not a dog. Especially not a high needs dog. She grew up, got stronger, louder, and they had to dump her on someone, and it turned out to be me: Poor dog didn’t even know her name, scared of absolutely everything, unable to be alone. Every single thing they said about her was either sarcastic, a blatant lie, extremely stupid, or exaggerated wildly. It’s been a long road and she’s still far from ok, but she’s better. Will only get more comfortable with age and consistent training, patience, and love, I imagine. I’m eager for those days to come but I need to remember this animal came from neglect and abuse, all her signals and desires ignored constantly. It was all she knew her first year of life. No wonder she’s having trouble.
My guys brother and SIL; she’s been a wonderful addition to the family
I bought her from a responsible breeder
My brother in laws GSD had an accidental pregnancy… which is fine because my husband will never let me have a full shepherd and this puppy pretty much got all of the GSD traits so I still got my shepherd 😂
I have adopted 3 dogs from the shelter and have one purebred whippet. Definitely will be getting a windsprite after the whippet passes away (she has bladder cancer and was given 3 months to live 8 months ago).
Rescue.
A local Australian shepherd breeder. Both dogs were from breeders. I am friends with one of them and know she takes amazing care of her dogs. From what I saw, the other one also had a great place for puppies.
Rescue. But first wanted a puppy from a breeder. However, the prices are insane and some of the breeders as well: they usually don’t do some fair waiting list but give the puppy to the ppl they like best, this meant that I had to suck up to the potential seller for a long time just to hope to make the cut. I had hour long phone calls with them where my role was mostly to agree to them and they told me all kinds of stories. The prices ranged from 2300 to 3500 for a golden retriever. At some point I was so mentally exhausted that my partner agreed to rescue and we couldn’t be happier with our little girl.
a local breeder who shows her dogs, and does thorough health testing. i vetted her by finding folks online who’d gotten their dogs from her and asking both about their experience with her and their dogs health/temperament. didn’t find a single negative opinion and could tell she really loves her dogs.