Now I see why people go to backyard breeders

[Laurie]

I could see if it was us just having a problem with one rescue group but its been the majority of the ones I’ve contacted. We have been looking to adopt an american pitbull terrier so I’ve been working with three local groups. One of them never contacted me besides the “oh how great I’ll see what I can do” email, one tried to pressure me into dogs I wasn’t comfortable with and now this latest one. I just can’t deal with the frustration of trying to work with these people. I’ve gotten more stressed with this then I do at work and I’ve had to work with my partner who has the black cloud hovering over him.

[Skigod377]

I hear ya. APBT are very common in the shelters and puppies come in all the time. I know you have already been patient, but maybe check the paper… they, depending on where you are, usually have puppies in there, too. The shelter would probably be best. You can also ask if you can put a “pup wanted” add up there, and maybe someone bringing in a pup would call you. You can do the same thing on Craigslist. There are lots of puppies listed there in my area. I dont know about yours. I hope you dont give up. Maybe the foundation route just isnt for you since they cant seem to get back to you in a timely manner. 🙁

Yes, alot of the same problems exist in the foundations because alot of them are run the same way.

[siberakh1]

Geez, I see APBT around here all the time and many of them are great (just not a dog for me). I’m in NY though (north of Albany). A bit of a drive unfortunately, but there are lots of shelters around here and they don’t seem to be as problematic as what you’ve been experiencing (though I’m sure a few of them are around here).

Put feelers out with friends and coworkers. Maybe one of them will know if someone might have a friend or neighbor with puppies, or expecting them. Word of mouth never hurts! 🙂

The cockers (and 1 sheltie) we’ve have mostly been word of mouth or one we got from a breeder:
1) Muffin (mom’s name idea… NOT mine!) – “breeder” aka. puppy mill, though my parents didn’t know until they got there … mom and dad felt bad and took him to get him out of that situation, he was too young. That ‘breeder’ has since passed away, so no more puppy mill *good*. He was only 5 or 6 weeks old and too tiny. Bottle fed him when we got him. A little ‘mental’, but he was good with us and we kept him in line (he was a little nippy, but we didn’t take him for walks… we have a decent yard so he got his exercise running around with us enough there). Died from kidney failure at a decent age.
2) Soot – got him from a good breeder (my mom wants a cockapoo from her next). We paid a good amount, but he’s fantastic. Very smart for a cocker spaniel, a bit stubborn, spooks at weird sounds (like plastic bags…. black cockers have a tendency to be a little spooky for some strange reason), and sneaky… he is the silent pirhana that will grab your unattended food, even if it means you only turned your head for a moment. It will disappear. He’s a little less daring in his old age.
3) Casey (sheltie) – got him from a college friend whose family could no longer keep him due to moving, and he was older… wasn’t intentional keeping him, but my mom felt sorry and those big brown eyes sealed it, even if he was peculiar and quirky. He had abuse from his first 2 owners before my friend got him. Put him down about 2-3 years ago due to severe medical issues (it was time).
4) Lucky- not well bred, but still a cocker. Rescued by word of mouth from a friend of my mom’s friend Betty. The family couldn’t keep him anymore due to adopting a little girl with severe dog allergies and the grandfather didn’t really care for dogs (gave food & water, but no attention… and this dog is an attention SPONGE). He and Soot get along wonderfully! Just cost us a vet visit for an initial checkup, since we had his records and history. If left totally alone (no people or Soot), he cries something horribly. Beyond that… he’s the perfect little love bug. No nipping, loves everything, quiet for a cocker spaniel, but will let us know if someone is coming in the yard or house.

[Maria]

Have you found a dog yet, purpledoggy?

[Laurie]

We did but she was very frightened of small children. I told the rescue that I need a dog that is good with kids and they told me this one was but after taking her to the playground a few times and having her try to run for the hills when the kids got hyper I became concerned. She also started peeing infront of Alyssa’s bedroom door. I called the recuse back and told them how uncomfortable I was with her so they are going to take her back and want to try and keep working with us. I told them I’m going to take a break from dog searching for awhile. Its just too stressful and I think I’m going to need to get a puppy in order to have the right temperment and socialization in the dog I’m looking for. The dog we had adopted was 2 years old.

[Tina]

I feel for you, I would love to adopt a pit pup when Gage is older, but we dont have them in shelters here much either, husky mixes are what fill the SPCA here, have you checked Petfinder instead of going through a rescue?
the first few are pit pups in MD
http://www.petfinder.com/search/search.cgi?pet.Animal=Dog&pet.Breed=Pit+Bull+Terrier&pet.Age=baby&pet.Size=&pet.Sex=&location=21001

there are more if you look under AmStaff, many shelters will list them as AmStaffs so people will not shy away because of the pitbull label:
http://www.petfinder.com/search/search.cgi?animal=Dog&breed=American%20Staffordshire%20Terrier&preview=1&exact=1

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