Really big dog, anyone?

[Gsquared]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Notmuchlonger Help me out here. I am ignorant of how the rescue places work. Are these older dogs? Can they still go to obedience school? My wife works with a lady who rescues kittens. Do they do something similar for puppy's?

In general, rescues through breed groups will be older dogs, but this is not always the case. As SarahSC mentioned, Petfinder is a good source of seeing what is available in your area - both older and younger dogs.

We foster for a local group. It provides our three (rescued) boys with some excitement, socializes the fostered dog, and gives us the joy of helping for the minor inconvenience of some of the things that Al mentioned. Puppies are available via rescue, and tend to adopt quicker than older dogs.

Yes, a rescue/mixed breed dog can (and should) go to obedience school. For new dog owners, this is really helpful - it is more for the owners than it is for the dogs. You will learn lots of training techniques. The rescue group we work with actually provides free training classes through a partner organization.

G2

[brewer12345]

I don't have the time to do much with teh rescue orgs, and fostering with two small children is not a good idea, but when I did work with a couple of beagle rescues, I saw a very wide variety of beagles. Puppies through the elderly, as small as 15# and as big as 50#, all kinds of temperaments, a wide variety of colors and markings, etc. Some of the sweetest rescue beagles I ever saw were the three that DW picked up from a testing lab that had agreed to release the dogs to us rather than euthanize them. They had never been outside, been in a house, etc., but were lovely dogs. One of my neighbors adopted one of the three, and it is an absolute pleasure to see her.

So they are not all older dogs by a long shot. I actually prefer adopting adult dogs because y ou don't have to go through the time consuming and de$tructive puppy years.

[dm]

We have a newf and he is great with kids. He is rough on the house though. Our hardwood floors look like they are 100 years old and there is slober and hair everywhere.

[Urchina]

Everyone, thanks so much for the responses. We've considered rescue, but for a first dog will probably go for a young rescue (1 year or so) or a puppy -- we want our little kids to have a friend for more than a couple of years.

Runchman -- that's one fine-looking Dane.

Again, thanks to all! More to cogitate on...