I have been well blessed with my two cross-breeds hope the best for you.

http://www.englishbulldogpuppyblog.com/english-bulldog-puppy/is-it-time-to-get-a-pet-insurance-for-your-english-bulldog

It will be worth your time.

However, Linus was not in the greatest health when we picked him up from the shelter and we did have to spend several hundred dollars on medication and follow up vet examinations.

The Carson Shelter is part of LA County Animal Care and unfortunately many of the dogs in these overpopulated shelters are not in the greatest condition.

My other two dogs are Labrador Retrievers. One is training to be a guide dog and the other is a career changed guide dog. If you’re interested in adopting a career changed guide dog you need to apply to the school. The school I volunteer with is called Guide Dogs of America and last I heard there’s a five year waiting list. I’m pretty sure that’s not in your time frame. I have heard that if you’re willing to take a dog with health issues then the wait can be significantly shorter.

Good luck with your search for a dog.

I wrote an article about this recently here:

http://www.dontfeedthealligators.com/blog/the-cost-of-unconditional-love

One that may really surprise you, given their reputation for speed, is the greyhound. Sure, they are capable of bursts of tremendous speed–but otherwise they are LAZY. People who own them call them “the world’s fastest area rug” or “the 40mph couch potato”.

Basset hounds are usually low-energy also. They love to go for walks, but at home they spend a lot of time just lying around on the furniture being cuddly.

that spay neuter contract you sign with a reputable breeder means that you will not be showing the dog.

As much as I like my dogs, from a health perspective think of it this way. How many inbreed healthy people do you know?

also you have some stuff in one time costs that are ongoing… Bedding and toys need to be replaced regularly.

the pugs gave you nightmares?

Shelters make people jump through a lot of hoops because they want to make sure the dog is going to a great home.. otherwise it will end up right back at the shelter, or worse :(

To add to the long list of why BYBs are so bad, it’s because they will sell their pups to any random person who walks in off the street. They do little to nothing to screen their buyers, which is absolutely key in making sure a dog ends up in a good FOREVER home.

Please cut shelters and foster groups some slack. They are dealing with an extremely overcrowded population and trying their best to reverse the problem. It is the BYB’s “quick sales” that are creating this chaos. Please have patience – the right pup will come along :)

Then the vet treatments…Blue developed mites rather badly, and needed multiple treatments. We had signed up for a savings plan through our vet, which has saved us about $1200 over the last year alone. He was kind of destructive when he was a baby, and ate a few nice pairs of shoes (my fault for leaving them out). The costs have leveled off now, and I wouldn’t trade him for the world (most of the time! His nickname is Bluecifer for a reason). I wish I had anticipated higher costs for him, however.

Have fun making your choice!

There is currently no middle ground, the only breeders who are actively trying to breed healthy dogs are also show people. BYBers simply don’t care enough to research pedigrees, health records and pay for expensive health testing. Either rescue or decide on a breed and find a great breeder, BYBers are the main reason for pet overpopulation. Puppymills don’t produce enough to account for the numbers, indiscriminate people looking to make a few bucks off of breeding Fido are. Good breeders will always be there for you and will take back a dog at any point, for any reason. I’m friends with a few who have gotten dogs back at 5 years old when the owners had a baby and decided the dog was too much work!

I adopted my third boston a few months ago from the local shelter. He had been there several months yet all they could say about his health was, seems healthy. That very first night at home I knew he had serious breathing problems, he had a $1400 surgery just after christmas. The minute I adopted him I knew I had to care for him for better or worse. Would you be OK with this situation?

Backyard breeders do NOT prove the health of the dogs they breed. Like I said, reputable breeders do a lot of testing before they breed a dog and look at the dogs lineage to make sure good health is there – Hips and elbows are X-rayed. The parents and grandparents should all have undergone testing to make sure there are no genetic problems. They keep our breeds healthy whereas backyard breeders destroy the breed overtime because they have no idea WHAT they are truly breeding.

A Dog Owner makes a good point when he says, “[backyard breeders] are breeding dogs you can find all over the place fighting for their lives in shelters.” If dogs that meet our criteria are fighting for their lives in animal shelters they should make it an easy. I’m not asking for much. My library has a system where if they don’t have a book, they’ll go in their network and get a book for you. This can be the same thing. Animal shelter A calls up animal shelter B and says, “We have this great family applying and they are looking for a dog with traits A, B, and C. Our records show you have listed Fido, Rex, and Sandy which seem to match. Let me digitally send you their application. They’d like to come by sometime in the next hour to the next two days to see the dogs. What times do you have available for an appointment?” If anyone wants to save dogs lives, put that system in place.

Another Dog Owner also said, “Also, if you don’t ‘have the time’ to forge relationships with shelter people and rescues and spend time looking for the right dog for you, you don’t have time for a dog. Period.”

That’s like someone saying that if you don’t have the time to apply to 1500 colleges, you don’t have the time for college. Period. Applying for college is an onerous process and I don’t know anyone that would apply to 1500 of them. However, I know a lot of people that cherish the experience of going to college. I don’t know anyone that says they look forward to 1500 applications for animal shelters, but I know lots of people who cherish the experience of caring for a dog.

Backyard breeders don’t care. They just put two dogs together and they are the ones that destroy the breed. It’s not about a trophy dog, it’s about a HEALTHY dog. They do it to earn money whereas reputable breeders are first and foremost looking to get the HEALTHIEST dogs and preserving the breed.

Please, please, please do NOT support backyard breeders. This doesn’t mean they own a puppy mill. This doesn’t mean they aren’t nice people. A backyard breeder just doesn’t do the research before they breed.

What you risk financially in buying from a backyard breeder, since that is the purpose here, is buying a dog with a great deal of genetic problems and diseases you won’t know about because the breeder didn’t spend the hundreds and even thousands of dollars for genetic and health certifications. I have twice seen puppies purchased from these types of breeders die in the next few days after purchase. These breeders give no guarantee, so you’re out the original purchase price, the vet costs, the medicine, and the disposal of the body. Yes, this is the extreme, but it is a monetary consideration. You can end up paying more in vet care when buying from a backyard breeder than from a reputable breeder.

Also, if you don’t “have the time” to forge relationships with shelter people and rescues and spend time looking for the right dog for you, you don’t have time for a dog. Period. Especially a puppy, that will have to be housebroken, trained, fed, walked, played with, taken for vaccinations, etc. Consider a less time consuming pet, like a fish.