Posted on 04/23/2010 4:33:02 PM PDT by SmartInsight
Angels doing God’s work! :-)
It sound’s like you’re putting a lot of thought into it, so I’m sure you’ll end up with the best situation for your family!
If you would like to know about bringing an adult dog into a family, let me know via Freepmail and I will happily bore you with a long, rambling narrative of how I did it; either way, make sure you post pictures of your new pet when you get it! Some of us live for the pet picture threads. ;-)
I just signed up with my local (no kill) shelter to foster large breed dogs. My neutered American Mastiff is a sweety, he has been socialized to strange dogs that I welcome. The shelter neuters all dogs, say that they have a problem finding foster care for the large ones. I can’t start till the middle of June, due to my commitment to help care for my son-in-law who has cancer.
I really love the large dogs.
Best way (IMHO) is to go to a dog show and find the shepherd ring. Talk to the people there about what you want and they can point you to a good, reputable breeder. You want someone who is breeding for health first, then intelligence the rest comes with the package.
No matter what breed you are looking for, find those who love the breed first and they'll help you find your dog.
Good post...
after seeing the story of “Buddy” leading the Alaska State Trooper
to the burning workshop of his master on FOX yesterday and again today.
(”Buddy” got a special food bowl, silver-plated?, to honor his assistance
to the Alaska LEO and his “pack”)
Having, after about six months, being accepted by my brother and
sister-in-law’ pound-adopted Australian Shepard...the story of this
thread means a lot to me.
That’ll be fun!
I fostered a dog a couple years ago, and it was very satisfying. I hope everything goes well for you!
I’m sorry to hear about your son-in-law; may he be healed very soon.
Thanks for the info, this will help in my search. I won’t buy until I find the right breeder, that’s for sure.
My Timber was from New Skete stock and I’ve spent time with the monks. Their diligence in screening bloodlines, and the environs in which the breeding, upbringing and training are the very best. $2-3K x dog and a long waiting list are not at all unreasonable, and are comparable with getting a GSD from European stock. They do very, very low volume, and have cultivated a number of repeat customers over the decades.
Not saying they are not fine dogs, but I have had 6 GSD over 45 year and all have been wonderful, strong, intelligent and great family pets. I have no interest in breeding them or showing them and even registration papers are useless to me as they have all been spayed.
Pure bred GSD from German stock are available widely throughout the country and the average price is about $1500.00. In the end all you can really do is pick the one you like (you cannot do that with the New Skeet dogs) and hope for the best. Paying $3000.00 doesn’t in my opinion give you any more in a dog then paying $1500 as long as the buyer does his due diligence.
That may be the case, and certainly you're entitled to your opinion. There are a number of people with $3,000.00 who disagree with you, enough so that they've gone back to New Skete for second and third dogs.
Sure, they had a great experience and wished to have another one. On the other hand in my particular case, I have never paid a cent for any of my dogs. I was nothing short of lucky is all it was. The first one was given to us by her (my wife) cousin who had a dairy farm and along with the cows he owned some GSD. He had one left from a litter and asked my wife if we wanted her. the next one was from a friend of my daughter who was a local breeder (for show) and in a litter of 8 there was this "runt" which he was going to destroy because it was not a show quality animal. M7y daughter begged him not to do it and he gave her the dog without papers and she was a wonderful pet. Next we got one when i owned a pet shop (no dogs or cats) and had a customer bring a tan and black female in asking if I knew of anyone who wanted it. We had a Shepherd and a cat but I said I'd let my wife look at her and let him know. We kept her and she was also a great dog. Then my wife was offered a 16 female by a perfect stranger after she admired the dog as it was being walked past my daughters home a few years ago. It seem the woman was walking the dog for a friend and knew the friend was having marital problems and was moving to an apartment where dogs were prohibited. She said yes and it happened twice more in ensuing years. At one point we had 3 of them at once. My belief is having a gentle sweet dog as all of ours were is wholly dependent on the love and affection the owner shows them from early on. Tat and the proper socialization of the animal among people and other pets. The only crap shoot is the health of the dog as it gets older and as long as you take proper care of them and see to their diet it's a matter of genetics after that. Paying $3000 may get you a great animal for sure, but it also may not while paying $1500 0r even zero cam also get you a great animal, or not.
Ford and GM may produce excellent, perfectly serviceable, generally affordable vehicles, but this has yet to put Ferrari out of business.
However, if one finds a rescue, you can sleep well knowing you just saved the life of a wonderful dog. And for a family pet they can be just as wonderful as the most expensive dog bought from a breeder.
MsLady — in your family situation, you might actually consider a German Shepherd that is a few years old, more mature. Young dogs can be very rambunctious, and at the beginning they don't know how to be gentle, they just want to play.
As LongeElegantLegs says, there are advantages to adopting an adult dog. Especially if you can adopt them from a place that rescues that particular breed and can tell you a lot about the particular dog's temperament.
Basically, to each his own, as they say, as long as you take good care of the dog, as I am sure all of you here would.
It still boggles one’s mind, how this 26 year old woman, could have the dog for a while, then stop feeding him and giving him water, while keeping him tied up, so he couldn't even go and find water and food.
I'm with you, it's beyond me how anyone could treat an animal like that. If you can't take care of them, find someone who will. And who hard is it to at least give a dog water and dry food? all of 5 seconds???
Ahh, but you see it then comes down to what ones definition is of “the best”
The best what? the best as far as purity of bloodlines? The “best” as far as coloration, size and bearing? Or maybe the best as far as lovable, maybe a bit goofy and silly but sweet and gentle. It’s different for all of us and a matter of what we want in a (for me) GSD. I think we can agree all of them are protective and make wonderful “watch dogs” in that the will at least bark when someone rings the bell (at least mine always did)
LOL. That is so jack russel. He is a doll.
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