Quote:
Originally Posted by spike021
Anybody ever adopt rather than just buying from a breeder?
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I've only ever bought one dog directly as a puppy from a breeder. It was a cocker spaniel for a girlfriend's college graduation present.
Well, that's not exactly true, our first Newfoundland was from a breeder but she was two years old, and had won a couple of minor shows but not enough to be bred. She was an absolute sweetheart though.
Most my other dogs (I've probably had 20 in my lifetime) came either from friends that had litters usually from a fence jumping father, or I adopted an adult dog from someone that had to give them up because of a family situation not involving the dog. I'd say about 50% were mixed breeds.
As long as you observe them, hang out with them a bit, you can usually tell pretty quick what type of dog you have, particularly with adult dogs.
I've only had one failure. It was similar to @
Tcoat where the female dog could not be alone with a human male. No idea why but she was the sweetest short-haired collie mix as long as there were women around, but anytime I was alone with her, it was like she was literally plotting my death. She would growl, bare her teeth and stalk me. As soon as MomHawk entered the scene it completely stopped, and she would even cuddle up with me.
She lasted a weekend because I couldn't deal with it, and we had 3 young sons at the time so it concerned me.