we need help buying a dog...

I need all the advice I can get. We are lost. FH and I have very different ideas on Puppies and where to get them and how much to spend.

Where do you go? North Shore (eek), Bide-a-wee, pet store (which ones) etc.

How much to spend? I fell in love with a mutt for 899$ I thought that only pure breeds were that expensive.

Can anyone recommend breeds? Idon't need a pure breed just a good, medium sized dog. Good with kids and no howling.
TIA

ok... i have very strong opinions on this issue, so please forgive me if i sound a little crazy..., but PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE adopt a dog!!!! i mean absolutely NO offense to those who breed their dogs or those who buy purebreds... but there are SO many dogs out there who need homes and who are going to be killed if they are not placed!!!

about picking a shelter - there are city/town shelters that are obligated to take in any stray that they get. in those shelters, animals who are not adopted are destroyed - and you would be surprised at how little time each animal gets to be adopted! there is simply not enough room for all of the animals. these shelters test the temperaments of all the dogs they bring in and will only show you the adoptable ones. BUT be prepared - they will often be in terrible shape -but they just need some TLC!

if you go to a 'no-kill' shelter like north shore, they pick most of their animals from the government shelters and clean them up, etc. by adopting one of their dogs, you will open a spot for another dog to be taken from the kill shelters.

i wouldn't buy a mutt for $899, when you can get a most perfect mutt from a shelter for just the cost of immunizations and maybe a small donation...

ok, that's my pitch for shelter mutts. i'm also going to post a pic of my sophie - she was the sorriest-looking dog in the entire shelter... 11 pounds with hair missing... now she is 16 pounds and sweet as anything!

Two of my dogs are shelter dogs ... Hershey is from North Shore and Max is from the Little Shelter in Huntington ... check them out and good luck.

My sister got her dog from Little Shelter too. They have a website that shows all of the cats and dogs they have for adoption. The site is littleshelter.com i think.

Jack Russell Terrior..

Also, check out the post that says Beagles..(not that you would want one since they howl), but there was information on different shelters where there are puppies there. I will bump it for you.

I can't recommend any places to go because I'm in VA, but as far as breeds go, DH and I got a Boxer because they're very good with children - very protective of them. Bama is just the sweetest dog and we love him so much. He's going to be about 75 lbs though so don't know if that's too big for you. Females obviously don't get as big. I know they have Boxer rescue organizations here in VA so I'm sure they have them there in NY. If you decide to buy from a breeder, do your homework!!!! There are some that are shady.....

Good luck!

i agree with alexlynn.

you should check out shelters. every animal that we've ever gotten came from a shelter and they were so full of love, healthy and wonderful.

they usually make sure animals in shelters are healthy because they don't want them to harm the other animals.

a friend of mine went and paid a crazy amount for 2 cats (because the place would only sell them in pairs even tho they weren't even from the same litter!) from some pet store and when she got them home they were really sick. she had to go out and buy tons of medications and it was just heartbreaking for her. plus most places that sell the animal for tons of money will get them from puppy mills. which i dont even want to start talking abuot cause they're too sad.


sorry this was long.

animal haven, little shelter and north shore are great places to look. IF you want a particular breed, check out rescue groups(petfinders is a great place tostart). My aunt adopted a boxer from a rescue and she is a great!!!

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Posted by regi

you can try the nycacc, hempstead animal shelter and north hempstead shelter. All three are kill shelters.

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I second these - we got Larry David at the brooklyn nycacc and he's WONDERFUL. Please don't buy a dog when there are so many great dogs out there up for adoption who will lose their lives if they're not adopted.