How far would your travel?

[GSDSunshine]

I was looking online at German Shepherds online for adoption. My mother will be looking at getting one soon, so I look around and keep a list of prospects for her when the right time comes.

There are a few females (which she wants) that are good with cats and other dogs (which she needs) at the same rescue that I adopted Dakota from. When I mentioned this to Scott (bf), he thought I was crazy. In order for her to adopt one of their dogs, you must drive to Montgomery, AL to meet the dog (which is reasonable). A trip for me driving from Tally, only takes about 3- 3 1/2 hours. For my mother the trip would take about 9 hours one way.

Due to the fact that she needs a dog that has been extensively well tested with cats, getting a girl from a rescue would give her more peace of mind than a shelter, where they don't know as much about a dog.

How far would you travel to adopt a dog? And would you travel further for a dog from a breeder? If so explain your reasoning.

[LaRen616]

I would travel a couple states away for a breeder. If nothing in my area has exactly what I am looking for then I would travel to a breeder out of state that has everything that I want.

[GSDSunshine]

I guess my question is more for rescues. A lot of people seem to be willing to travel a good distance to get a dog from a breeder, but not a dog in rescue, or in a shelter.

[heatherr]

I think a lot of rescues will do transports.

Is there a way that you could look at the dog, since a 3.5 hours drive is totally reasonable, and then see if transport can be arranged to closer to where you mom lives if it a good match?

When I was looking at rescue dogs, if I saw one that was 9 hours away but sounded *PERFECT* I would make the drive. I would try to look for one that was about 5 hours away (10 hours round trip).

I have a friend in South Carolina who was also looking for me, knew what I wanted, etc. If one sounded perfect, she was going to go check him out, call me while there, maybe see if we could skype, and if I decided to go for it, try to arrange transport to at least the MD/DE area.

I lucked out and my pup was in a foster home that was 1.5 miles from mine!

[Castlemaid]

Originally Posted by GSDSunshine

I guess my question is more for rescues. A lot of people seem to be willing to travel a good distance to get a dog from a breeder, but not a dog in rescue, or in a shelter.

To adopt a dog, I would look locally - maybe an hour's drive or so. My previous dogs have been adopted from local shelters - they DID need to be good with cats, and they were. But when looking for a pup from a breeder, I drove 12 hours to Vancouver to pick my puppy up at the Airport (still good with cats!).

My reasoning is that there are tons of dogs, of all sizes, breeds, and mixes thereof in any shelter or many rescues all around. I was looking for a companion - again, a bazillion nice dogs can fit the bill, never worried about not being able to find something in a reasonable distance. Now, if I wanted specifically a GSD, I would be open to driving farther out to find one.

[BlackPuppy]

I'm comfortable driving 9 hours a day, so that's about 630 miles. I've driven farther, though, 10 hours each way to pick up Balto from the Newark NJ airport. There was a heat alert in Chicago, so no dogs could fly in cargo. I drove through the night going home and pulled over for a nap in West Virginia.

Remember, some places won't adopt out of state.

[Mary Jane]

We drove up 6h and back 6h to adopt Wolf and that was after I flew up to meet him. We went to such lengths because he seemed like an ideal match for us and vice versa. I know that there are wonderful dogs almost everywhere, but we were sure about him. Five years later, it's still true.

MJ

[Lilie]

I drove to a different state (aprox 650 miles round trip) to adopt my doxie. She was not in a shelter, but was in a bad place and about to be released to the pound.

[Chicagocanine]

I went to another state to get Bianca, but it was only about 100 miles or less. Her previous owner flew with her from Michigan to Milwaukee to meet me so we were able to meet not too far. Her previous owner worked for an airline so it worked out well. Before that we tried to meet a few times, different places but it kept falling through so finally we figured that plan out.

[JKlatsky]

The way I see it, the dog is going to live with you for a long time.

I wouldn't unnecessarily make the trip but if through phone interviews, pictures, video...everything seems good I would make the trip and make my final commitment upon arrival and the actual meeting. This goes for breeder or rescue. If you can't spend the weekend going to meet the dog that will spend the next 10+ years with you...I'm not sure that you've really thought out the whole dog thing. At least that's how I see it.

And yes I suppose if you really trusted the breeder/rescue you could just have the dog shipped...but that's not really me.