# Good looking rescue dogs



## wolfy dog (Aug 1, 2012)

Western Oregon shelters are importing GSDs from CA on a regular bases and many of them are very good looking, nicely built too with good temperament. How is that possible?


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## DutchKarin (Nov 23, 2013)

We got a female that was a stray in northern CA and she is a beautiful working line (we believe) shepherd. I so curious as to where she was bred. She has a few nasty scars on her face and some anxiety that I believe is nurture based as her temperament is sweet and full of heart. Surprising really.


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## Magwart (Jul 8, 2012)

Lol, Wolfy. Where, exactly, do you think rescue dogs come from? 

California has a lot of good breeders, and some of the customers of those good breeders make puppies of their own "just for fun" or to "make their money back" on the cost of a good dog. They don't screen buyers and sell in the newspaper or on CL or Hoobly, and when things don't work out with buyers, the dogs end up in shelters--only you don't get the benefit of the pedigree. 

I see gorgeous almost certainly working line dogs in my area All.the.Time. Why? Because there are a bunch of local breeders of such dogs who sell with full registration to anybody who can pay the cost of a puppy, and people who can barely afford to buy the "good" dog want to "make their cost back" by selling litters at the first opportunity. An owner of Czech imports is selling her pups in the paper for $600...so her buyers will be breeding Czech-line dogs in no time, and I'll be seeing drivey sable dogs in animal shelters as soon as people decide the cute pup is an adolescent that too much dog. 

Here's another example -- a beautifully bred dog with an impeccable pedigree, magnificent temperament, and rock solid gentics was sold to an owner in my state by his out-of-state breeder 9 years ago -- an ethical, good breeder, with some terrific dogs in her lines. The senior female dog landed in a shelter as a "old lady," but she'd been bred many times before that by a long succession of different owners. The last owner just didn't want her any more. She's changed hands many times over the years. Once we had her and posted her registered name on our FB page, people started posting that they had her grand-pups -- her genetics are thus in the backwater BYB gene pool here, and they're very fine genetics. Who knows what they were bred to, but at least her part of the equation brings good stuff, so at least some of the pups will likely carry on what's good in her. We got very lucky that the last owner told the shelter manager her registered name -- without that we'd have never known, or been able to help get her back to her original breeder. She'd have just been another senior dog with a remarkably good temperament and gorgeous structure, where we wondered where she came from. 

It's a myth that all rescues are crappy genetics. Some absolutely are the recipients of bad genetics. Some are quite good though. We mostly see dogs as adults, so at least a lot of what adopters see is the "real dog" -- their adult temperament, structure, drive, etc.


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## Persinette (Jan 31, 2015)

Magwart said:


> Lol, Wolfy. Where, exactly, do you think rescue dogs come from?
> 
> California has a lot of good breeders, and some of the customers of those good breeders make puppies of their own "just for fun" or to "make their money back" on the cost of a good dog. They don't screen buyers and sell in the newspaper or on CL or Hoobly, and when things don't work out with buyers, the dogs end up in shelters--only you don't get the benefit of the pedigree.
> 
> ...


That is so sad  What a disservice to a sweet old girl. I can't understand people abandoning gentle souled old dogs who just need a home to spend the rest of their days.


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## JeanKBBMMMAAN (May 11, 2005)

All of that plus the number of dogs who stay with their original owner for their entire lifetime is not that high. https://www.dosomething.org/facts/11-facts-about-animal-homelessness Only 1 out of every 10 dogs born will find a permanent home. (and of course they don't mean from birth as in a breeder keeps all the puppies ever - adoption from a shelter and purchasing the dog from someone from puppyhood is what is meant - I've seen that discussed)


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## RebelGSD (Mar 20, 2008)

California and Texas shelters seem to be overflowing with nice GSDs :-(


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## llombardo (Dec 11, 2011)

Midnite is one of those dogs(But from Chicago)It drove me nuts for a while not knowing where he came from. Every now and then when I'm cuddling with him or just observing him I wonder about it. He is a solid dog, everything a GSD is suppose to be. All I know is that he was given up because they didn't trust him with kids and he was nipping at them, which was not disclosed when I got him. The scary part is that it took me a week to get him out of the shelter because the communication between the desk, kennel, and sick room just wasn't there. They kept on insisting he wasn't on the floor after I had physically had him in a room to check him out(fell in love with his temperament immediately). I could not stop thinking about him. He was about 8-9 months and already there for a couple months. They had no room for him and then he got kennel cough. His time was almost up and I can't tell you how happy I am with him. The day I brought him home I had 4 young kids at home. He walked in and followed my nephew everywhere. After watching that I called the shelter to see if they had any other info, that is when I found out his history with kids, which he has never displayed in my home. He adores kids and I'm willing to bet that there was a little boy my nephews age in his previous home. I really wish the previous owner gave more info or more info was required when they dropped him off at the shelter and never looked back.


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## shepherdmom (Dec 24, 2011)

wolfy dog said:


> Western Oregon shelters are importing GSDs from CA on a regular bases and many of them are very good looking, nicely built too with good temperament. How is that possible?


In Northern Nevada we often get GSD's and other dogs from California. 

I've got a WGSL with papers who came out of the California shelters.


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## Nikitta (Nov 10, 2011)

What is the matter with people? Just because a dog gets old doesn't mean they are dispensable. When I have an animal, I NEVER give them up. My very first dog I got when I moved away from home was an Irish Setter. I had to fight tooth and nail to keep that dog. He died of old age in my house. I had a horse that ended up with a bony spur on one of his legs. He was fine and in no pain just walking around but riding him caused him pain. People thought I was nuts to keep a horse that I couldn't ride but he gave me 22 years of wonderful memories and I wasn't going to get rid of him. ( I have never owned a place, I have always paid board for my horses.) He lived to be 32 years old. I don't give up my pets EVER.


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## Lilie (Feb 3, 2010)

llombardo said:


> I really wish the previous owner gave more info or more info was required when they dropped him off at the shelter and never looked back.


I think it would be common place for folks to turn in dogs and say they were strays to avoid being judged by the employees at the shelter.


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## Susan_GSD_mom (Jan 7, 2014)

Lilie said:


> I think it would be common place for folks to turn in dogs and say they were strays to avoid being judged by the employees at the shelter.


Just to give them SORT OF the benefit of the doubt, I think most county shelters run under the rules that an owner turn-in is PTS quickly. A dog turned in as a stray has a certain number of days to be claimed, or chosen by an adopter--a better chance than an owner turn-in. One of the rescues I adopted a few years ago was picked up as a stray and was actually in a county shelter a month before he was pulled by a rescue group. They, obviously, must not be as busy as the urban shelters! He was a wonderful boy, btw, and the only ASL GSD I have had.

Susan


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## Lilie (Feb 3, 2010)

Susan_GSD_mom said:


> Just to give them SORT OF the benefit of the doubt, I think most county shelters run under the rules that an owner turn-in is PTS quickly.
> Susan


That would makes sense as well.


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## Magwart (Jul 8, 2012)

Susan_GSD_mom said:


> Just to give them SORT OF the benefit of the doubt, I think most county shelters run under the rules that an owner turn-in is PTS quickly.
> Susan


This is true of some shelters. In others where we pull regularly, they hold those dogs to notify rescue. We've also worked to educate many shelters to call the breeder (of any breed) if they know who it is, to see if they will come and handle rehoming. Most shelters tell me this hardly ever works...which says a lot about the local breeders I guess. 

To be totally cynical about it, I think some people don't give the dog's registered name only because they don't want the breeder to find out what they did. Seriously.


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## newlie (Feb 12, 2013)

Nikitta said:


> What is the matter with people? Just because a dog gets old doesn't mean they are dispensable. When I have an animal, I NEVER give them up. My very first dog I got when I moved away from home was an Irish Setter. I had to fight tooth and nail to keep that dog. He died of old age in my house. I had a horse that ended up with a bony spur on one of his legs. He was fine and in no pain just walking around but riding him caused him pain. People thought I was nuts to keep a horse that I couldn't ride but he gave me 22 years of wonderful memories and I wasn't going to get rid of him. ( I have never owned a place, I have always paid board for my horses.) He lived to be 32 years old. I don't give up my pets EVER.


This is probably going to be a little bit of a rant so I'll warn everybody in advance. I'll be honest, I don't have much patience with people who turn dogs into shelters. Now, we all know that there are circumstances where a dog ends up in a shelter and it's really nobody's fault. Maybe an older person who dies suddenly and has no family to make any kind of arrangements for the dog. This rant is not directed at them.

The fact of the matter is that there are lots of people who can't commit to anything. Not their spouse, not their children, not their parents, not their friends not their jobs. Nothing. Some of them can seem like the nicest people, charming, intelligent, fun to be around and they will be your best buddy as long as it's smooth sailing and you don't need anything from them that will require any effort on their part. Narcissistic, self absorbed, immature, selfish individuals who have never grown beyond the childish idea that everything is always about them. ****, some of them walk away from their own children, so why should it surprise us that they walk away from their pets?

These people may not look like monsters, but they can do some monstrous things and never look back.

And no, I am not ranting because I am bitter about something that was done to me. I have been blessed my whole life with a close family and good friends and we have walked together through many a fire. I believe in commitment. If someone doesn't, I have no use for them.


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## WateryTart (Sep 25, 2013)

Magwart said:


> Lol, Wolfy. Where, exactly, do you think rescue dogs come from?
> 
> California has a lot of good breeders, and some of the customers of those good breeders make puppies of their own "just for fun" or to "make their money back" on the cost of a good dog. They don't screen buyers and sell in the newspaper or on CL or Hoobly, and when things don't work out with buyers, the dogs end up in shelters--only you don't get the benefit of the pedigree.
> 
> ...


That's so different from here!

I do occasionally check Petfinder because I'm curious, and I thought of this thread when I saw a stunning working line boy who was maybe a year and a half old? It was sometime earlier this week. I noticed him because that seriously NEVER happens. 

In my area, IF I could find purebred GSD puppies in rescue, they would almost certainly be the recipient of bad genetics. Overall, people around here are pretty careful with dogs and most have rescue mutts. People acquiring dogs from good breeders are generally not breeding those dogs without the supervision of the dog's original breeder. So unless a random GSD puppy I saw around town was from one of a handful of breeders probably well known to this forum, I would bet money on it being a BYB or mill puppy, and I would bet money on it having bad genetics.

So I can understand the OP's surprise. I was pretty shocked to see that beautiful dog listed in rescue, because even with a breed-specific rescue, you just do not see dogs that look that well bred in rescue around here.


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## Jessiewessie99 (Mar 6, 2009)

I was just looking at two local GSD rescue's near me, a lot of the dogs based on their descriptions and looks, they seemed to be dogs from good genetics. I can see it be surprising to many folks, but finding a good looking GSD in a shelter or rescue is not all the uncommon, and yes here in California it is common. So to say tht you're getting a dog from crappy genetics/lines is indeed a myth. because you'd be surprised what turns up in shelters and rescues. Its sad though, because a lot of the time, the people just don't wanna deal with 'all that dog' and didn't research the breed.

When I am talking to people who are interested in a specific breed I always tell them do some breed research and go to breed specific rescues and talk to them.


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## charger (Jan 29, 2008)

Nikitta said:


> What is the matter with people? Just because a dog gets old doesn't mean they are dispensable. When I have an animal, I NEVER give them up. My very first dog I got when I moved away from home was an Irish Setter. I had to fight tooth and nail to keep that dog. He died of old age in my house. I had a horse that ended up with a bony spur on one of his legs. He was fine and in no pain just walking around but riding him caused him pain. People thought I was nuts to keep a horse that I couldn't ride but he gave me 22 years of wonderful memories and I wasn't going to get rid of him. ( I have never owned a place, I have always paid board for my horses.) He lived to be 32 years old. I don't give up my pets EVER.


I wish more people were like you.  It breaks my heart seeing animals of any age ,especially old ones being dumped like they were nothing.


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