Most days, I put a question relating to dogs up on my Facebook page and this has become an important element of my blog and social media use. The questions drawn hundreds of responses, and they are not debates, simply declarations of thought, a chance for my readers to speak up, since I get to speak up all the time. This morning’s question was “What Do you Think Is The Best Way To Get A Dog?” and the answers are, as always interesting. I write about this question in my new e-book “Listening To Dogs,” out next Tuesday.
Most of the people who replied – there were scores with in minutes – gave the same answer. There is only one way to get a dog, they said, and that is to rescue one, go to a shelter, adopt don’t shop, stay away from breeders while so many dogs are in shelters facing euthanasia.
I put my own reply in. I said I like getting a dog from a breeder most of all, that has worked the best for me, although I have and have always had dogs we call “rescues.” I have thought a lot about the best way to get a dog, and tried many ways. For me, life with a dog begins before you get one, and that is openly and thoughtfully. And if you think there is only one way to get a dog, then you are probably not open to that process. That’s unfortunate, because I think there are several good ways to get a dog, and the very best way is to get the right dog for you and your family. For me, that isn’t a moral decision but a practical one.
Choosing the right dog means understanding temperament, genetics, background. Thinking about what you and your family need, where you live, what you are like, who lives next door, how often you are home. Sometimes that means a rescue dog, sometimes it means a breeder or a shelter dog.
Good breeders keep some of the best traits of dogs going. People love to watch border collies herd, or swoon or loving Labs, or see the exploits of search-and-rescue and bomb-sniffing dogs, but they don’t like to consider where the wonderful traits in dogs come from. Red comes from good and careful breeding. So did Rose. So does Lenore. Some breeds are food aggressive, some are bred to be fighters or nose-dogs running through the woods. If nobody buys dogs from breeders, there will be no border collies herding sheep, no Lenore’s with irreproachable temperaments.
When you say the only way to get a dog is through rescue or adoption, you are talking about what you need, not necessarily what the dog or your family needs. It’s a good way for some people, a bad choice for others. So many dogs are returned to shelters, so many others are grappling with behavioral problems and health issues. Getting a dog is not simple, there is not just one way to do it, and dogs, as usual, often end up paying for their exploitation as emotional tonics for humans, ways of making us feel good in our disconnected society. We love to use animals to feel better about ourselves, that’s why so many dogs end up in so-called “no-kill” shelters where they languish in crates for years so people can feel better. We have lost any respect for death in the animal world, just as we hide from it in the human realm.
One reason I wrote “Listening To Dogs” was to challenge people to form their own idea about dogs and training and living with them. This begins with thinking about how to choose a dog. There are lots of good ways to get a dog, including rescuing them. I hope to encourage people to consider all of them. I’m excited about “Listening To Dogs.” Hopefully we will be talking about it a long time.