Central Pennsylvania Nesties
Dear Community,
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
S/O of my breeder question
I realize that those dogs are pure breeds and more designer dogs. I'm sorry that I wasn't more specific. Also everytime my parents have gotten a dog at a shelter we didn't know the background of the dog, we couldn't potty train it well and had to get rid of them. That's the only problem I have. Plus I want a puppy so I can have them from almost the very beginning. I have nothing against shelters that's just what I would prefer and the experience I've had. I don't want to ruffle any feathers so to speak but that is my preference. Again thanks for all your info I will definitely use it!
Re: S/O of my breeder question
Nothing wrong with wanting a specific breed and age :-)
DH and I couldn't agree on a single breed, so we adopted. We still got a puppy (siggy pic) so she's still ours to mold, but she is a mixed breed.
Baby in a Blue Teapot
Tempest in a Blue Teapot, food and everything else
"You live, you learn, you drink, and move on." ~ Rotty
http://www.petfinder.com/petnote/displaypet.cgi?petid=12848399
http://www.petfinder.com/petnote/displaypet.cgi?petid=12610696
No offense to anyone but this place screams puppy mill. This article is long, but it gives really good information about identifying a puppy mill. http://www.badgerkennelclub.com/puppy_mills.htm#How Keep this information in mind as you look for a breeder because Lancaster County is one of the worst places in the country for puppy mills. This article (http://www.dachshund.org/puppymills.html) also explains things really well if you feel like doing some more reading. It's from a dachshund website but it pertains to all breeds.
I know you said that your parents have had bad experiences with shelter dogs, but I wouldn't rule out all rescues just because of that. You can always adopt a dog from a rescue organization where dogs are fostered in homes. The foster parents can give you a good idea of what to expect as far as the dog's background, housebreaking, etc. Or you can rescue a puppy. They're harder to find than adults, but there's still plenty of them out there if you just look. If all that fails and you want to buy a puppy from a breeder, there's nothing wrong with that as long as you make sure that the breeder is reputable.
FWIW, you can get puppies at shelters. Abby was 6 months old when we got her from the Humane Society and Chase was 11 weeks old when we got him from Molly's Place.
Just please be very careful and do your research!
We adopted both of our puppies at the York SPCA. You will be able to find puppies at shelters and you will be able to potty train them. Honestly, any dog you adopt you should go through classes to learn how to train them and teach them. If they can't be potty trained it isn't the dog's fault.
PA is one of the worst states for Puppy Mills so please PLEASE be careful and mindful of where you buy from.
We got our dog as a puppy (around 8-10 weeks old) from the York Co. SPCA and she has been such a joy! She's a mixed breed and is the best dog. Well-behaved, good with people and completely housebroken. Our siblings each have purebred dogs and our dog outshines them by far behaviorally, and other people agree. The nice thing about mixed breeds is that you don't have the genetic problems that you have with purebreeds. Our dog is now almost 4 years old. I'm so glad we got her. She actually had a sister in the kennel with her and we are kicking ourselves for not adopting her sister, too.
We took our dog to obedience classes when she was a puppy, even though she was very trainable. We really wanted to have her socialized with other dogs. It did take a few months to get her housebroken, but I doubt that had anything to do with the fact that she came from a shelter. I think it was because of our crazy work schedules at the time.
We will never ever get a purebreed. We'll always go to a shelter or rescue group. Good luck!
While I understand your point of view I disagree with some of this...a dog's behavior is going to be based on a variety of things and being purebred or mixed breed isn't as important as the quality of obedience training, home training, and socialization is.
Additionally you can have genetic problems in any dog and there are medical conditions that can be breed specific or size specific (i.e. many large breed dogs are at high risk for hip dysplasia,etc) so even a dog that is not purebred can have these.
You do come across purebreds in shelters. Just because a dog is in a shelter doesn't mean its always a mixed breed. My families first Newfie was a purebred who had an irresponsible owner who decided not to keep him and instead took him to the Humane Society. His irresponsibility was our gain.
Tara...ultimately the bottom line is whatever you guys decide to do you should do your homework in terms of breeds, places to look and visit, etc. Before we got Byron (who, *gasp* is a purebred) DH did a lot of research. We looked at the AKC stuff, the Newfoundland Club of America site, the local state pages for Newfs and Newf rescue, etc.
Regardless I agree that you if you do get a puppy/dog you should definitely go to obedience training. They teach you things not only just for behavior but commands to practice in the event of an emergency, etc. Byron did really well with his class...yes he still has an affliction for remotes and Ipods but we all learned alot there.
Well said Jen! I also have *gasp* a purebreed Yorkie but I did NOT by from some backyard breeder. She is an OUTSTANDING well known Yorkie breeder around here and breeds champion show dogs. Just because I have a purebreed doesn't make me a bad person or make my dog any less behaved then any mix breed.
that is *buy* not by. Sorry!
I"m very ANTI BYB and PetStore Puppy...so I'm a bit biased. Basically...it comes down to doing your homework.
Look up Puppy Mills in Wikipedia, followed by Back Yard Breeders. Research rescues and Pure Bred Breeders. THEN decide what type of dog you feel would fit into your home.
I don't think anyone was really bashing for having a purebred. They were upset with "designer breeds"...ie, Yorkiepoo, Cockapoo, etc. (I looked at the Greenfield Puppies website and it's appalling the amount of designers breeds they have on there! Some I've never heard of.)
I don't think there is anything wrong with getting purebred dog if you do your research. I, personally, wanted to rescue a dog (or two!) and that's why we chose to do the rescue route.
I know that no one came out bashing but this is such a touchy subject. I think buying a dog from a rescue or shelter is an excellent idea...my DH and I want to do this eventually so Del has a buddy to play with. I just think that people automatically get looked down on for buying a purebred dog even if you buy it from a REPUTABLE breeder.
I think that the main problem is that most people don't know what a truly "reputable" breeder is, and most people that BELIEVE they used a reputable breeder did not. I would venture to say that at least 95% of the breeders out there are not "reputable", but the average puppy buyer doesn't know how to tell the difference. I have NO problem with someone purchasing from a reputable breeder.
I'm not saying that those on the board with purebreds didn't buy from reputable breeders; I have no idea where you got your dogs or what research you did in finding your breeder.
Has this place been reported or has someone had bad experiences with dogs from here? if so please let me know.
Baby in a Blue Teapot
Tempest in a Blue Teapot, food and everything else
"You live, you learn, you drink, and move on." ~ Rotty
lol
TLC Kennel is 1000% a puppy mill. It is listed as a K5 kennel with the PA Dept of Agriculture (http://www.agriculture.state.pa.us/agriculture/lib/agriculture/doglawfiles/kennellisting.pdf). A K5 is the largest category for commercial kennels - this means that they have a MINIMUM of 250 breeding dogs on-site at all times.
I agree. I have no problem with breeders who are breeding purebreds and for the betterment of the breed. If they are reputable I have nothing against them at all or against purebreds. I was only saying that a BYB was breeding mutts plain and simple and if she wanted a mutt she should look in a shelter because there are puppies there all the time.
Purebreds are a different story. Our next dog will probably be a purebred beagle, although we will still probably adopt from a shelter.
Ok, I was not bashing purebreeds and everyone's entitled to her own opinion. No need to be nasty; I'm glad people have good experiences with their purebreeds but I'll never get a purebreed because of the experiences I've had and seen.
Hmmm, I don't think anyone was being nasty.
My "no one was bashing purebreds" comment was directed to jjenkins and moorenoles. Not to be "nasty". They both said they "*gasp* have a purebred dog. That came off to me as if they felt they were being attacked for having a purebred.
Maybe you weren't directing that "no need to be nasty" comment at me. I've been wrong before.
Can we seriously just let this die already? Everyone is entitled to their opinion but I do feel there was a definite pure-breed=bad vibe from some of the comments above which rubbed me the wrong way too so I see where Jen and Lesli were coming from. I chose to ignore it and not even bother posting but now I feel like every time I log on this post is at the top again. We're all anti BYB and puppy mills. Period. I think Tara has all the info she needs to make an informed decision about her next dog. Let's move on.
AMEN!
Obviously Tara doesn't have the proper information if she still wants to buy a mixed breed from a breeder. And there are some opinions that are out right wrong. It is wrong to buy from pet stores, backyard breeders and puppy mills. If you BUY a yorkiepoo, or lhasapoo, or whatever, that is the practice you are supporting.
I got Guinness from a rescue where he was fostered in a home. I got a decent amount of background info on him. I knew he was good with cats, relatively calm and partly trained. He is the best thing so far to ever come into my life aside from DH, so they aren't all bad.
Also, Stacey has awesome information on truly good breeders if that is the way you want to go. I strongly encourage you to talk to her and not pick up the first cute puppy you see. That whole process of buying a dog on the Internet is disturbing. And yes, TLC is a Puppy Mill.
I also feel really bad that anyone would get rid of a dog and think that is acceptable.
ROTFL.
Or are you just opening a new can of worms??
I don't get that at all. There wasn't anything nasty and this is one of the nicest boards ever. I am troubled that people can't have a difference of opinion without it being regarded as nasty. I am sorry you feel that people can't disagree.
I agree. I think this has been a great discussion - no one getting snarky, people sharing their experiences, and probably a great example of why I like this board so much.
I don't and probably never will have pets due to allergies, but I learned something from this. I, too, (because of allergies) would have wanted a poodle mix, but I would have had no idea that people who sell them as "breeds" are most like irreputable and that I should just wait it out and find one from a shelter or rescue.
And it's amazing how much passion the ladies on this board have for this particular issue!