Phoning a rescue for a puppy - bad?

After originally posting on this forum saying we were looking for a westie, we have now decided we want to get a puppy. I am considering phoning various rescues to see if they have any puppies in, but i don't want to feel bad, because i know the rescues so desperately need to rehome their older dogs. should i feel guilty by not wanting an older dog?

You should be able to choose what you want but I think it not very likely a westie pup would come up very often unless it was unsold from a puppy farm.

There are people who can't cope with puppies and only want older dogs.

Have you contacted the WHW breed clubs to see if they have anything in their rescue.

Personally i dont think anyone should feel guilty about the choices they make in getting a new dog so long as the choice is made responsibly.

Many resuces have pups in and at the end of the day you are still giving a home to a dog that needs it. Dogs blog had some collie x lurchers the other day and many tears have pups in. They do go quick though so good luck in your hunt for a pup x

You should not feel guilty in any way for wanting to give a dog a home be it a dog or bitch, crossbreed or pedigree, from a breeder or a rescue.

And no rescue should make you feel uncomfortable for wanting to home a pup, the wait may be longer for a young puppy but younger dogs under the age of 12 - 18 months I am sure are available sadly in rescue. And a home is a home.

Best of luck.

I have contacted the westie rescue places, but i think we want to get another cocker spaniel now.

Not at all, don't feel guilty, it's worth phoning around, i help with a breed specific rescue and we get young pups in, even had 2 litters in/whelping females over the last year or so, that was a lot of puppies. Rescue's don't often advertise their puppies so worth phoning xx Good luck xx

Its the way you word it , I know folks in rescue who get calls all the time from people wanting pups and it drives them mad , but tell them why you want a pup and the reasons you feel a pup would be better for your family ...
We rescued a 9 week old pup with no problems what so ever..

I applaud your decision to try and get a pup from a rescue, it doesn't seem to occur to some people to do that

don't feel guilty. Just as you prefer a pup, there will be someone else who specifically wants an older dog. Everybody's requirements are different.

I had Yiannis from Birmingham Dogs' Home when he was 3 months old. I asked about them having any GSD pups in when I was collecting a couple of dogs for a local rescue from there. They had got 2 GSD pups that they hadn't advertised and that weren't in the main kennel blocks so the public knew nothing about them.

There was a choice of Yiannis who was the gobby, naughty one of the two or another one who behaved impeccably. I originally was gong to take on the 2 of them but I felt that although I could take on 2 dogs, if I took on 2 pups I wouldn't be able to devote as much individual time to each of them that I thought a pup deserved. So I picked the naughty one!

I did feel guilty for atime but only until a few days later when I found out the other pup had been rehomed also.

So make your choice according to your needs. Then phone round and have a look at what's available.

Have you looked at the Many Tears website? They often have puppies rescued from puppy farms, both Cockers and Westies.