Jo P. Thanks, I understand that. I just feel that unless I have raised the dog myself from a pup, I can never be totally 100% sure of it's history or how it's been socialised etc. As I have young children, it is not a risk I am prepared to take, no matter how small.

Lots of rescues, including the better known responsible ones, will not let those with children under a certain age have any dog, and those with older children wil be limited aswell. That is for a reason.

I agree,but would say if your after a particular breed,go through their own breed rescue,not an all breed rescue,they simply don't have the knowlege about different breeds.

__________________




Rooney Rumpus DNA Tested L2/HC Clear

Ellies Babe Genetically L2/HC Clear

ruardeanstaffords

Fully understand, as I said your kids must be your priority. And I have seen the other side of rescue too - where people will lie through their back teeth about a dog just so you will take it when in reality the best thing for the dog and everyone else involved would be for them to do right by it and have it PTS. With regard to child age limits at rescues I would guess in our compensation culture world all rescues are very careful as to placement of older dogs. I think some rescues do place puppies with families with young children so that the kids can be fully involved in the training of the pup and also being trained themselves!!

__________________


Yum Yum Yum

I think there's good and bad and you take a risk with anything you buy whether it be a dog out of rescue or a pup from a breeder.
I have two rescue dogs here who are 'solid' ones a Stafford x the other an American Bulldog my Staffie x came from a terrible background The AB on the other hand was gifted to rescue because his owners could no longer cope with him anymore yet since being here I haven't had a problem with him he was just a typical young AB dog.
I've witnessed both sides to rehoming dogs out of rescue and buying a pup from a breeder a pup who at 10 months old decided to launch an attack on our daughter, she was extremely lucky as he launched himself at her head as she went to pick up some food that she had dropped on the floor, wounds on her face were superficial the most serious injury she had unfortunatly during the attack her earlobe was torn it lasted seconds had it been any longer before we could pull him off during which also my husband got badly bitten she could have possibly been scarred for life..all over food.
The mistake we made was spoiling him I wholeheartedly admit but you never expect a dog that you purchased as a pup to bite the hands that feed it, there were other serious issues too with him mostly all aggression related, we later found out through other people in the breed that his Sire was banned from the showring for biting and attacking the judges, when calling his breeder to let them know what had happened and to see if they wanted him back they turned round and said "His mother is like that with our own kids, and anyway don't bother us because were in Blackpool"...So there we had it two dogs thrown together with aggression problems only we didn't find out all this until after my daughter and husband were bitten.

__________________
www.cynomania.com

There is significantly less risk if you buy a pup from a breeder taking all the correct precautions (e.g, seeing the parents, seeing how they interact with children, strangers and other animals, having lengthy discussions with the breeder, reasearching lines etc) Than if you get an older dog, sometimes of unknown breeding, and where people could have lied about it's history.

I would never take for granted that a dog I had had, whether from a pup or not, would never bite my children, or anyone else for that matter. Any dog can bite given the right circumstances. BUT, having had it from a pup an dproperly socialised and reared it, I can significantly reduce the risk, making it almost obselete.

I cannot get a dog through breed rescue as I have young children and other dogs.

I don't really believe we took our pup for granted regarding him never biting from a very early age we picked up on the fact he had issues ones we painstakingly tried to deal with to no avail, it wasn't like our daughter was ever left alone with him, she wasn't, the attack took place before our very eyes.
I'd never owned a dog from his particular line before (but have been with the breed for a very long time) all the research before purchasing came back okay and the feedback on that line was good so we went ahead and brought him home it was only after a little digging after the incident that we found out what we did through a few of the club secretaries (yes, we should have made contact beforehand) but speaking to people who owned both lines there didn't seem to be a problem with 'those' lines.
After the attack (as we kicked up a right rigamarole within the circle at the time) the incident was mentioned in a breed meeting the breeder of that particular line was investigated and no as a result no longer breeds because serious faults were found within it, again mostly all down to aggression.
Obviously I cannot mention names but it is amazing what you find out when you create such a big storm in a very small circle.

__________________
www.cynomania.com