I'm divided. Elvis was a rescue, Violet wasn't. But she was from a responsible, local breeder and in great health.
Just to follow up: Violet's breeder was my college prof and only rarely, rarely breeds and only her own pet whippets. It isn't exactly a business for her, just something she enjoys to do occasionally. I did lots of research into what kind of dog I wanted. While I could have gone to whippet rescue, you can wait months, even years for a local rescued whippet. And at the animal shelter a lot of the dogs were poorly trained, abused, too big etc.
I didn't want to spend a year or more retraining a dog when I could get one (in the breed/size/temperment I wanted)from a person I knew and trusted. I even met Violet's mom and grandmom before I brought her home. Does this make me a bad person? No, I think it makes me an educated consumer. I did my homework and picked out the breed that had the characteristics I wanted and spent time picking out a reputable breeder. I visited Violet several times and saw how she related to other dogs and how the dogs were treated before I took her home.
Why should I have that choice taken away from me because there are needy dogs in the shelter? I don't know if I could have handled a shelter puppy that grew up to be twice the estimated size like my mom did or a dog that was aggressive.
Thanks rachel...and for the record, I'm not totally anti-breeder. Just as you showed, some folks do it responsibly.
If everyone with a dog was responsible, we wouldn't have a shelter problem.
thanks for thinking and talking about the issue
Commenting by HaloScan
