I was lucky with Maggie and got the best of both worlds - she is from a rescue and a pup. For me, the choice was made for a couple of different reasons - one because the kids are still fairly young and I wanted her to grow up with them (she's gonna be a big girl) and also because Oscar can't interact with other dogs very well - he's nearly blind and so tends to stare at other dogs which they then perceive as a threat - so I wanted a pup to grow up with him and understand what it is he's doing....

The rescue home was rather dubious about letting these pups go to homes with small kids as they are so big, but as soon as I said I had a rottie she had no problems at all. We didn't have a house check, again on the basis that we've kept Oz safe for 2 years, and I had to promise to spey her as soon as poss as Oscar is still intact. She was very keen to know whether I wanted her for breeding, I was very adamant with my NOOOOOOO thank you!!!!!
But this was an individual rescue - not one of the nationwide charities.

I would love to have rescue rotts - there's so many out there that need good homes. And one day I will! (just don't tell OH......I'm still not THAT popular after coming home with a puppy )

well i had both, rescues and puppies, i think it depends on you and the family or other dogs!!

I thinks its wrong to say you should only rescue and wrong to say you should only buy new pups.

We have a rescue dog here, this is Mollie

This is an old photo of Mollie, must upate with more recent ones.

I have had other rescue dogs, and thats been sometimes without knowing their history, I took on another last year an old Lab x Collie who was 15 and in rescue kennels, riddled with athritis (sp) and the kennels were so cold (he really should`nt have been in there, but the rescue we got both him and Mollie from have a no distruction policy , he died three months after we homed him through old age, it was heartbreaking, but would do what we did for him all over again.
We also had a Springer from the same rescue.
I dont mind having rescue dogs, I have found some rescues wont home to people with kids under five, but there are rescues out there that will - My daughter was only two when we had Mollie and our Springer Rosa, I never felt as if I was taking a gamble, as the rescue where we got them from were pretty insistant that we took the little one along to meet the dogs, obviously there are some dogs in rescue that are not suited to children, but you are always told or given the advice that the dog is not child safe, as they do test dogs these days to see if they are child safe if no history has been given, or if theres no history at all.
Mollie came to us with a bit of history, Rosa had none, niether did our Collie x Lab he was picked up as a stray, but with Rosa our Springer it was quite obvious she had been someones breeding machine and had only recently whelped when we got her, as she still had milk, so lord knows what happened to her pups
I try not to visit rescues these days, as I get heartbroken when I see old dogs that should`nt be there, last time I visited I was willing to take on an aging Staffie who was blind, the day after seeing him whilst waiting for a home check he died in kennels of a heart attack, I was gutted As all I wanted to do was help him out of a dreadful situation, being an old dog in kennels.
I will continue to have rescue dogs & buy puppies, I think its possible to have the best of both worlds, I have

We decided on a puppy, not that we wouldn't want a rescue dog because we do. However we are relatively inexperienced and wanted to ensure we had a dog that we could train from scratch (and train us LOL), and once we feel that we are good enough to invest the care into a rescue then we will get a rescue...if the rescue centre would let us.

I have no prob with recues and have worked at an animal shelter myself, but couldnt take in a rescue to what my point was with my dog.

I wanted a working lab from bloodlines that had proven they could and I wanted to teach my dog the work my way.
I couldnt do this with a rescue.
Was I looking for a pet I would have no probs with a rescue and can imagine myself getting one at some point.

My cat was found in a garage very young and I took her home, my rabbits were brought to me by my neighbour as they werent being looked after and taken care of by the owners and my ponies the same actually.

So I´ve got nothing against rescues but it has to be possible to what its "porpuse" is with me. If not I would give them a life no better than what they had before and I would be just as bad, wouldnt I.

And I wish ppl would think twice before they either got an animal or started breeding them. So many animals each year find their way to rescues or gets pts because of human stupidity

Years ago, I wanted a dog.. I couldnt get a rescue, cos I was away from home more than 6 hours a day.

So if the rules havent been changed since then (in Denmark) I will never get a rescue. There's no possible way for me to only be away 6 hours... Yes if I met a guy, who could support me going part time on work or not working at all

And the odds for that happening is VERY VERY slim

All mine have been rescues but the oldest was 6-8 months old when we got him and the youngest 5-6 weeks so having a rescue doesn't always mean an older dog. Two of them also had pedigrees so again not always a cross.

Next time we hope to get an older dog mainly because the long wait from getting a pup to being able to take it for a walk is a problem with our lifestyles.

Not all rescues have these rules. Ours didnt.

We looked at each "case" and decided what the dog needed. New owners must then only get the dog if they can provide what has been decided the dog needs.

All dogs are diff and not all are in either bad shape or mistreated.
They come to the shelters for all sorts of reasons: death, divorse, allergy, left behind etc.

we have 3 brought from breeder dogs and one rescue dog
i would always have rescue dogs in future

Well this is about 10 years ago, so things could have changed...

I chose a pup this time, as I hadnt had a dog before.. and I didnt want to take any chances... Temperament and things like that..