My husband and I went to the pets shop on Saturday and I always have a look at the notice board by the exit while my husband carts the stuff into the car.
Well this week what I read made me really upset. There wre eight notices for dogs for sale, not from litters, owners who had just had enough. All were six months or under, one was just 12 weeks old and unfortunately six of them were Labradors :(
All stated in capitals GENUINE REASON FOR SALE I was well and truly horrified.
One of the notices said 'yellow lab, nearly seven months', I couldn't help but wonder if it could have been one of Ralph's brothers.
Poor Dogs unwanted already. :(

Lisa

Hi Lisa, OMG thats just so sad :( have seen a few notices like these around too :( :(

It is a sad fact that most labs are rehomed between 6 and 18 months, because by then they are big enough to be doing damage and are going through that teenage phase that most new owners either never hear about or think wont happen to them!

I saw one a few weeks ago .....16 week old SBT for sale .reason for sale Pup not clean in the house!!!!!!!!!!!!!

he's just a baby isn't he ?......some people :(

We were very fortunate to come by an 9 week old springer just before Christmas, previous owners couldn't cope, despite some early problems, going to the toilet in the house, and not being born trained, she's turned out to be a very loving, willing to please, clean in the house and a delightful friend for our first springer :)

Just what do people think puppies are if not little babies :(

Yes it is rather inconvenient that they are not born house and obedience trained from the day you bring them home. It is so unfair that you are actually expected to teach them where they can go to the toilet and what they can't chew. Heaven forbid that anyone should be expected to spend time with a pup! Clearly that would be too much to ask. :-(   When I got my first collie I was told by lots of people that I didn't need to bother training him until he was 6 months old and I just ignored them and started doing the basics a couple of weeks after he had arrived, if I had listened to them imagine the nightmare of a 6 month untrained BC!! A lot of BC's end up in rescue at around the age of 6 months for the same reasons as the labs....Too boistrous!! I even know of some that were handed in as "untrainable".  I think it is incredible that people can take on an energetic working breed such as this and then not realise that they are going to be boistrous, or that they require a lot of time and effort. Unfortunately Labs and BC's seem to be growing in popularity so this will continue to happen :-(

I think if you check with the breed rescues of any breed you will find that the most common age people suddenly need shot of their dog for good reasons is during adolescence, usually 6 months to 2 years but on average at 7 to 14 months. 

They are now past the cutre stage and not yet at teh sensible adult stsage that many owners will have remebered from dogs they or family had in the past. :(

Sadly in this instant buy a dog world we are living in and the pet supermarkets that provide on the spot pups that this is happening all the time.Just today we had brought in to us(rescue) a 12 week old choc lab puppy bought from blackpool pet world the family had her just three days :( she came in together with new bed lead,collar,toys food new blankets needless to say we will find her a very good home and the man was anxous to make sure she came here rather than in the paper.
I found amongst her papers a receipt for £495  so money/price is not a deterrant either for rash buying.
This year this is the 5th pups we have had in the same way.
That isnt counting the 5month  6 month 8 month old ones . Our little snactuary  has had over 100 labs so far this year and we are only in may !
I have waited 5 years for my pups that I have recently got waited and hoped and planned and they are well loved.
Maybe if people were not able to just walk in a place and buy an instant pup a lot of heartache would be saved,its amazing how people ring up sometimes late at night "oh we have just decided to get a dog" luckily I can usually try to talk to them and change their mind or point them in the right direction,but sometimes its soul destroying

We got our dog at 6 months from another family, i really would have enjoyed the puppy stage but i felt we were the lucky ones missing out on the toileting bit. He had a few problems but now he is great coming up 11 months. I couldn't understand how someone could have a dog for 6 months and then let him go, especially this one he is right little character.

The springers I've trained as sniffer dogs I've got from people who couldn't cope with them around the six to ten month mark.  They've had a better life being rehomed with me than leaving them in the situation I took them from.  If you can't cope then far better they go on to someone who can appreciate them and give them the time they need.

Edited just to say that one in particular was a little maniac that REALLY wasn't suited to a pet home.  Even a full days working and exercising was never enough for him.  It's important to get the right dog for the right situation and sometimes it just doesn't work out.

there was an 8wk old cocker spaniel for sale in my local paper today for sale due to allergy!  I can't believe that people would spend so much money on a dog (they're selling it for £350) and not do any research especially if someone in the house has an allergy.  they can't have had it for more than 2 weeks.

But where were the breeders of these dogs to take responsibility? :(

Unless the puppy owners tell them, they won't know ... :(

Yep judging by some of the posts on this board it would seem that many don't think to conatact the breeder, and I know with at leat one recent post the breeder was anxious to be contacted 10 years later!

Colliemad, I think the reason that collies are so popular is because they are so cheap from the farms.  £40 and you got yourself a working strain boisterous BC, I help out at training classes for puppies and when I see a BC or a cross come in you just know that the people wont have a clue.  Personally I love them and have two from working strain that I adore.  Although I read Our Dogs this week and the BC is on the breeds that for the first quarter of this has reduced in registrations from last year by quite a big percentage.  Interesting!

Claire

It is just so, so, sad

I have 2 working strain collies that were cheap from working farms but as they are unregistered they are in fact classed as working sheepdogs. I also have an ISDS BC pup who is 13 weeks old. I wouldn't have anything else but a working bred collie, I don't like the show bred dogs that all appear to be little clones of each other with no variety :-( JMO  I am curious though whether it is KC registrations of BC's that have reduced or are they including the ISDS dogs too? I very much doubt it. If you buy an ISDS pup, unless it is registered with the KC by the breeder (mine wasn't) if it went to a pet home it would probably never appear on the breed register. Mine will be KC registered as he is intended for agility as is one of his litter sisters, the other 4 pups went to be pets. My first dog is very strong, not in a dominant trying to take over kind of a way but he has a very strong character nevertheless and he is an independent thinker and in fact these traits are what I like the most about him (as well as his stunning good looks and wonderful temperament;-) ). To somebody else he would be a nightmare, to me he is perfect.

No I don't think Our Dogs will have included the ISDS registered BC's either Colliemad.I own 2 wussies and 3 BC's but mine are KC reg, couldnt say they are clones of each other though as the lines differ quite dramatically ;)

Our English Springer came to us at age four, pure bred, registered, obedience and gun trained.  According to our Vet she was well bred and he did not want to spay her as she would have been a good dog to have puppies from.  We did spay her though.  She was a rescue dog, covered in her own excrement from being kept in a cage too small, and extremely thin.  The owner was about to take her to the dump and shoot her as he no longer had time to hunt her.   We've often wondered how on earth a highly trained and well bred dog like her got into that situation.  What is wrong with some people?