Have you ever?

[WarrantsWifey]

Bought a puppy off the side of the road?

My husband and I were stationed at Fort Rucker, AL six years ago and I swear there is a season where just every turn you take puppies are for sale on the side of the road. We just moved into our own place together and settled in, so we avoided stopping and looking at ANY puppies. We were both UNINFORMED at the moment of BYB or really much of going about getting a dog. Well needless to say, one day my hubby caved, we stopped, there were pitt puppies "with papers" for sale for 300 dollars. *eyes roll* Anywho and there was this one Black Lab left out of it's litter. I gave my hubby the doe eyes and 35 dollars later, we had our first dog. Two days later she came down with parvo and we spent an astronomical amount of money to save her life, and sadly she was the only one out of her litter to survive. She has been the best dog EVER, minus the recent outburst on the Blue Heeler, and I couldn't imagine going a day without her. LUCKILY, she has really good health. We do however spoil her and protect her hips now so we reduce chances of hip problems as she ages. As she gets older, I get sad thinking of the day she won't be with us.

I know nobody suggest buying a dog off the side of the road, but I was wondering. Am I the only one???

Have you gotten a pup off the side of the road? What was your experience?

[Whiteshepherds]

Yep, when I was around 19 I got a male pup from the roadside. He was free and what's not to love about cute and free when you're a teenager? He lived a very long life and was amazingly healthy with a great temperament...and he was cute up until the day he died.

[lhczth]

Nope, never, though we rescued a tiny kitten once that was sitting on the side of the road.

[Lucy Dog]

I don't think i've ever even seen puppies being sold on the side of the road before.

If I ever do, I definitely wouldn't take one home.

[FG167]

This Fall my friend and I (and our two dogs) drove from MI to CO - somewhere along that route - I honestly do not remember where we were, there was someone selling Labs in a gas station parking lot. They had a whole litter around 8 weeks and then several other puppies that looked to be closer to 12-16 weeks. The let them out to run around the truck parked on the side of the parking lot - I found it extremely appalling.

[Liesje]

Nope, I've never seen puppies for sale like that and wouldn't go near them. They could carry diseases like parvo which I don't want to track home to my own dogs and dog training clubs. Also I would never support that type of breeding by giving them my money.

[LaRen616]

I would not buy a puppy on the side of a road.

If the puppy/puppies were free I would take as many as I could. I would rather have them and care for them until I can find them good homes then let some weirdo/bum/gangbanger/dog fighter/murder get them.

Everyone wants a free puppy and that is what's scary.

[FG167]

Originally Posted by Liesje

They could carry diseases like parvo which I don't want to track home to my own dogs and dog training clubs.

That was my main concern so we gave them a WIDE berth - and they were very interested in us too...

[Liesje]

Yeah my main commitment is to my current dogs and my friends, which means not bringing in animals that put my dogs or my friends' dogs at risk. The last thing I want is to be asked not to come back to my dog clubs/training because I had a parvo dog in my home. My current dogs are vaccinated but unless I bleached every square inch of everything and everyone there's no way I could guarantee no risk to any future dogs I would like to get or any young puppies/dogs belonging to friends I train with. As much as I'd like to help the puppies on the road my number one commitment is my current pets. I had a bad experience bringing in a short term foster/transport dog that ended up having a parasite that's very hard to get rid of so I've limited my "rescue" efforts to doing transports where the dogs only ever "touch" me or my kennel van. I can sanitize my clothing and van kennel easily enough. Likewise, I realize that being in so many dog clubs/training classes I need to be more careful so when I visit my breeder-friend I avoid the very young puppies, or I bring a complete change of clothing (including shoes) that is kept sterile and bagged. I personally am not a germ freak but I don't want my dogs getting sick or neonatal puppies getting sick because of something I could have prevented.

[Larien]

I would absolutely never do this. I've never seen such a thing around here, but I'm not really in that type of area.