Would you rescue a dog from a home or go to a breeder?  

I feel we are taking a risk with Max as he is a very skinny and poorly looking dog, but I feel that if we don't take the plunge he will just pine away in the kennels. I know we will have to take out insurance in case of vets bills but we already do that for the one dog we have at the moment and it wont be too much more for Max.
As for lizards...wow...I can imagine they need a lot of upkeep and looking after, think I will stick to dogs, much easier:-)

Actuarly the lizard i have doesnt require alot of upkeep, all he needs is to be fed some crickets and veg 2 times a day, washed once a week and misted daily and obviously lots of love and talking to daily!

Seems like I was showing my ignorance there, sorry about that, I've never actually met anyone who owned a lizard. I just thought they were quite high maintenance, guess I should have done some research instead of jumping in.

nonono its fine, i didnt know what it would be like to keep a lizard 8 months ago, i thought they would be much easier than they are now, i thought that you didnt have to feed them as much and i thought that they only ate greens....rather than those icky crawly things known as crickets...but by the end of this year i will be giving him something that i can cope with lol

Have to ask Balthazar, what is it that you can cope with? I can only think it means non-moving food! At least that is so much easier for dogs LOL

I think if I saw someone treating a dog like that I would feel obliged to treat them (the humans) in exactly the same way. We have Max here with us at the moment whilst the kennels do the home check and vetting procedure on us. He is really such a lovely dog and Jake (our German Shepherd) and him are getting on like a house on fire.
Trying to be firm, fair and kind with him, and the initial understandable nervousness is slowly being replaced with some trust as we come to terms with each other. He has definately been someones pet in the past as he does know basic commands and loves a soft bed to lie on!
It will be a long journey, but as long as we can keep moving forward together I am sure we will all get there in the end.

I must agree. Breeders seem to be interested in only one thing, I especially find it worrying when you see small ads from "unofficial" breeders. I wonder what happens to the poor animals if no-one decides to take them home, I guess they end up in the rescue centers and the cycle begins again.

Do you find it hard to integrate them into a household that already has a dog. we are trying very hard to keep our GSD as "spoilt" as he was before Max turned up b ut it is a very turbulent time for them both.

It took work. We just made sure that we showed no preference for the new one. If someone was petting the new one, someone else was petting the old one. When giving treats, we always gave it to the old one first. For some reason that made a difference. Good luck I am sure it will work out.

Thanks for the advice, we are trying to keep that up at the moment, but we both still feel like we are betraying our GSD when one of us pets or treats Max. How does a dog make the saddest eyes!

We had Jake (the GSD) from a puppy, not from a breeder I must add, and have had no problems with him. I just worry a little bit with not knowing past history on an adult dog, although I must admit that Max seems to be a very well adjusted fellow at the moment. He even lets us take toys away from him, my wife says I am cruel for doing this but I feel it earns trust between us and he does get them back almost immediately. I think that as long as a dog knows you can be trusted then half the battle is won when it comes to developing the relationship between you.

Wow, it sounds like that if you went to a rescue home you would end up with ALL the dogs. My wife is the same, she was almost in tears when we left because we could only take one dog away and there were so many that deserve a loving home and it so difficult to turn your back on a needy animal.
I do believe that having a dog in the house as a child teaches you responsibility for others and I hope that you and your son mangage to find a suitable pet soon as it sounds it will be in a very loving and caring environment.

I can see that not many people are sticking up for the breeders and I have to agree that most of them do seem to be in it purely for the money. It does seem that Max has been trained and lived in a home before we rescued him by the way he has settled in so easily. I guess we have been very lucky with him, have heard horror stories from others about rescue dogs but I just feel that given time and love even the most nervous/aggresive/protective dog can become a great family pet.

It sounds like you have given your dog the loving home it needed. I just hope we can do the same for Max and he does seem to be settling down nicely even though it has only been a few days. Thanks for the response, it is always nice to hear the good stories.

Wholeheartedly agree, as for the money aspect I would gladly pay more to help sponsor the kennels great work in providing the dogs a home until a more permanent solution can be found. With breeders they don't seem to have the same love for the animals, maybe because they are seen as commodoties to be traded.
Just wish we had more space for more of the poor dogs that we saw, but then I suppose we would end up running a rescue center.

Actually, running a Rescue Centre has always been my ambition, if I ever won the Lottery and had the money to do it properly. Knowing me - I would never want to part with any of the animals though!!!

Sounds just like my wife! Given the chance and the money she would be opening up the biggest sanctuary she could and never turning any animals away. She has already been expressing an interest in a donkey which I have to keep quashing every now and then. We had a stray dog in our house for a night because after being told by the RSPCA and the police there was nothing they could do, she couldnt bear to tell the dog warden about it. Luckily we managed to trace the owner ourselves through the local vet or we would have had three dogs now, which brings me to another topic, why dont all dog owners ensure their dog has a tag with a means of contacting them on it?

It is always a shame to see how many dogs/cats there are to be rehomed, if more people were like you and went to rehoming centers then I am sure the problem would dramatically reduce. Unfortunately too many people see the cute little puppy or kitten and don't think 1 year down the line as to what their animal will grow into and when they suddenly find their pet has lost it's cuteness then it is off to the kennels with them, if they are lucky.