Best site for finding a dog?

John,

It's really a trade-off. Where I live (southern California), it's very, very easy to adopt a dog through any city or county shelter with a driver's license and a check, and that's the route I've taken. The downside is that the dog will come with very little useful information.

The first dog I adopted was a Great Pyrenees mix. It cost me $87 to adopt him, and I remember naively thinking what a terrific deal I had gotten. A couple of days later, I took him to the vet and discovered that he had a broken canine tooth, which cost me over $600 to extract. It also became very apparent that he had never received any training, had never been inside a house before, and would chew and destroy anything in sight. I spent a great fortune on doggy day care, took him to obedience classes, and even hired a private trainer. Still to this day, I've never added up the costs because they were substantial. I still have, for example, over $500 in damage to my car, which I haven't fixed yet. After two months, I concluded that he needed a new home, for his own good and for my own sanity, and with much effort and luck, was able to place him in a no-kill shelter, from which he was adopted by another, more suitable family.

So, yes, you can go that route and find a shelter that will take a quick look at your driver's license and take your cash. However, if you're willing to pay a slightly higher adoption fee and provide more information about your home and family, you can adopt a dog that's been fully vetted and has been fostered in a home setting. You'll know what you are getting in terms of the dog's health, personality, and behavior.

In retrospect, I could have saved myself much stress and at least a couple grand if I had gone through a rescue group instead of a shelter with my first dog.

John,

You have stunning birds. Thank you for sharing your photos.

In regards to your question, I don't think that a dog has any more intrinsic value than any other animal kept as a pet. One of my friends has always bonded very deeply with birds and has a sun conure that he loves as much as he would a child. A cat could provide the same enjoyment and companionship as a dog as well.

I would like to address this point in your last post:

John Howard said:

Thanks for all the compliments guys.
I simply meant that I believe that getting a sheltered pet is more riskier then getting one from an owner that knows the dog (which is how I have gotten almost every one of my many great dogs throughout my life). Most (Not all, most) of the dogs at shelters have been rejected by their owners. People in general do not REJECT good well balanced dogs without problems. They either keep them themselves or make sure they find a good home if they can't keep them. This is just plain common sense. That is not to say that dogs do not end up in shelters for other reason, or that all dogs in shelters are bad; it just means that when get a shelter dog, you run a greater risk of getting a pet that has been rejected because they have some kind of problem.

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To some extent, you are right. My first shelter dog, Maru, most likely was ignored in someone's backyard. He was picked up as a stray and probably escaped an enclosure by digging under a fence. He had had no previous training and did not know how to behave within a home. He was reactive to people, especially men. He was a classic "project" dog, and when I realized that I couldn't provide him the training he needed, I placed him in a no-kill shelter.

However, a few months later, I adopted two amazingly wonderful dogs from a public shelter: Jesse and Miles. Jesse is now living with a close friend of mine, another first-time dog owner, and except for wanting to be the only dog in his home, he is a terrific dog. My friend thanks me time and time again for finding the "perfect" dog for her family. And, Miles, the dog in my avatar, is the happiest, most lovable, most well-balanced, companion dog that anyone could wish for.

The question is how these two dogs ended up in a public shelter in a poor neighborhood. Jesse most likely was an indoor dog who ran out of an open door and was struck by a car. He had a broken paw, and I wouldn't be surprised if his previous owner didn't reclaim him because of the likelihood of high vet bills. Miles was clearly a much-loved, pudgy, senior dog who quite possibly belonged to a senior citizen and brought to the shelter by the owner's children. He's such a homebody that I can't believe that he had ever gotten lost. So, yes, one can find "project" dogs like Maru or Gus in public shelters. However, there are also wonderful ones like Jesse and Miles.

What we all hoped that you would do was to consider adopting through a rescue group that would help you select the best available dog for your family and your home. The reason you've gotten so much exasperated responses is that you strongly rejected that advice and then seemed rather critical of the members of this forum.