Pound Dogs

>>2234487
It's a bit easier to train them from puppies, but saying that you form a more intimate bond with them because they are puppies is just an excuse. Older dogs will still love the crap out of you.

My family has done a good mix of adopting and getting puppies and knowing other people's dogs in similar circumstances I can say that the only place where non puppies fail is in socialization. So much of socialization is done in the first few months of a puppy's life and it is really really hard to train an adult dog to not kill cats if it didn't have to learn that behavior till it was two.
Other than that, adopted dogs are great. I wouldn't ever adopt a dog that had preexisting/possible socialization issues if I needed it to NOT have them though. (IE: wouldn't get an older dog if I had small animals or a young kid)

>>2234492
That part is very true. I have a dog that was adopted when he was about 8 months but he was very much neglected and just left in a cage/"kennel" all day. He wasn't socialized at all. He loves his family and the other family dogs but has severe anxiety issues around other animals and people he doesn't know.

no

because i am good at training dogs

>>2234491
I think I phrased that wrong, what I meant by intimate was that you have a better relationship (usually) because you KNOW your dog. You know it's habits, it's weaknesses, it quirks, etc. I also understand that a lot of people don't understand more subtle body language cues from dogs and why a lot of attacks seem 'unprovoked', or they didn't pick up on the dog having a high prey drive when it went chasing after the family cat and they thought it was funny or something. These types of things are what scare me when adopting because I'm going in blind and don't know the dogs history.

I know dogs are very loving and loyal by nature, but not knowing what they might react to, if I don't know them at all, is scary.

>>2234487

From what I understand, that ice bucket challenge dog was a dog they got from their friend who bred it. Still stupid though.

I think for a real pansy, their best option is to get a retired breeder (if they want something more mellow) or a failed show dog. That way, most or all of the really important socialization and training is out of the way, you know their history, and you know they were in good hands (assuming you obtained from an actual decent breeder).

I know dogs, I never had an issue with dogs that were adoptable. Of course, I don't press my luck, test my boundaries early on, or do stupid shit with my animals. My biggest problems came from the dogs that were deemed unadoptable; ones that would attack you even if you were feeding it, ones that didn't allow any kind of touch, that sort of shit. You would be able to tell those dogs apart from the happy go lucky pets unless you were a moron. If you're too green to try adopting a dog or you're not experienced enough, then don't. But if you're fucking up puppies left and right, you might be better off with an already well trained adult dog. The only thing that is worse than a retarded owner is a scared owner.

I've never been scared by a dog I adopted, fostered or worked with(even the vicious ones because I am careful and take precautions), but I was sure scared of them when I was young. I was bit badly by a yorkie cross when I was told he loved to be pet, so it was jarring as a kid.

>>2234491
It's only easier to train from puppies if 1) you have the patience to do it and 2) you are actually competent in training. Most people don't even posses one. Not that a shelter dog is necessarily easier; some shelter dogs need a lot of patience and training too. It depends on how much you know about dogs to pick out one that fits you, and your own understanding of what you can realistically handle.

>>2234509
if you would get a dog from a pound you wouldn't go in completely blind. At the very least the people in the pound would have gotten to know the dog a little bit, and could probably tell you if it had high prey drive or something. And in cases were the dog was surrendered by it's previous owner, they would have asked that owner for a couple key "characteristics" so they could find the right match for the dog.
And with addequate knowledge and patience, you can "fix" a lot of a dog's bad behaviours.

>>2234487
all our dogs have been from the pound/animal shelter/ other rescue

if you let someone else raise and/or train your dog it's a real risk
you can get all kinds of behaviors that are undesirable to you personally
and that risk is doubled because you just don't know what might trigger a dog, so by the time you learn the dog needs re-training damage could already be done

we had a dog once for almost a year without incident before we realized he was terrified of people with newspapers
pick up a stick and he didn't care, pick up a newspaper and he bolted
no harm came from it, but after having a dog a whole year we still had no idea what triggered him
great dog though

the risk is real, if you arn't prepared to re-train a dog, or are too worried about what kind of dog you might get; get a puppy

>>2234744
The pound near me doesn't do any of that unfortunately, just the most basic tests before they try to rush them out the door...

>>2234781
>if you're not prepared to train a dog, get a puppy

literally retarded

>>2235416
RE-train idiot. It's harder to do because it takes more time, more dedication, desensitizing, and figuring out the dogs triggers. And after all that, the dog could just be too stuck in its ways.

It's harder than with a puppy that is still looking to a parental figure to teach it about the world.

>>2235423
>idiot

if that were true the majority of surrendered dogs in shelters wouldn't be under 3 years old

btw, puppies also develop fears and triggers

>>2235423
It's not difficult at all really, unless you went out and picked up the most neurotic dog constantly running in circles or the dog that growls and lunges at you. The problem is, people get an adult dog and think the training is done and they don't need to do any work, so even the smallest amount of work seems like a huge drag when you weren't expecting it. People will put up with a lot more with puppies because it's sort of expected but also they are much cuter. If you put the amount of work into an adult dog that you'd put into a puppy, you'd still have an extremely well trained dog just the same.

Puppies go through forgetful stages, puppies go through fear stages, puppies go through rough rowdy phases. Any of these phases can make or break the dog. There's a lot to go into puppies, socialization is just a piece of it.