Has the anti breeder/purebred and pro adoption/mutt increasing on Reddit, or am I just noticing it more?

This subreddit is much more accepting of breeders than mainstream reddit. Just stay out of r/aww and you'll be fine. Enjoy your puppy!

I've actually seen comments talking about reputable breeders being upvoted more than before, but I rarely venture into r/aww because I get too frustrated at the rescue circlejerk, or the people who want to throw a parade for amateur breeding because the pups are just so cute.

It seems to have ups and downs. I saw an Actual Advice Mallard the other day that was talking about how people should only adopt because it's saving a life. Yeah, it's a great thing to do. Not everyone has to or should do it and shouldn't feel ashamed as long as they're doing their research and choosing to support the right people.

Nope, it has, but don't let it get to you. I paid $1500 for a pure, papered, herding and show lines Border Collie pup 9 weeks ago and I couldn't be happier.

I got EXACTLY what I wanted. No surprises. I know her entire history, I've met a large portion of her living family. I've talked for hours and hours with the breeder, sent and received countless emails. I have lifetime breeder support for her.

You've made the right decision for YOU, and don't let anyone tell you otherwise. If they do, ignore them and go look at your cute puppy.

Yes, there's merits for adopting, but there's just as many for buying from a good breeder.

Snap a picture, post to r/aww with the caption "I found this cutie wandering down an alley! Who would abandon such a sweet face?", and earn massive amounts of karma. Simple.

Or tell people to go screw themselves.

People don't know about the different tiers of breeders. Specifically, they don't know about the top tier of breeder that every dog should come from. That particular market has a negligible overlap with animals in shelters. If someone is serious about getting a dog that looks and acts like the breed they want and want a buffer against genetic health defects, a top tier/responsible/reputable breeder is the only place to go. Honestly, rescue dogs are perfect for a majority of people with dogs who just want a companion--be it rescue purebred or rescue mix. But there are those who find breed particulars necessary, who are unable to manage the unpredictability of a rescue, or who just need the extra support and safety net in case something were to fail. That's where good breeders come in. Let's not forget that a lot of good breeders are involved in rescue, too, and their knowledge and experience is important to the animals they save!

The problems with the numbers of dogs in rescue isn't that bad breeders and puppy mills exist. The problem is that people are uninformed. They don't know what it takes to raise a dog, nonetheless an Akita, a Husky, an Aussie, etc. If r/aww really wanted to make a difference to rescue animals, they'd give their subscribers and visitors resources to make informed decisions about the cute animals they're promoting.

I can understand that. Sometimes I feel a bit of hesitation before mention his breed or mention a breeder when we talk about our pup at the dog park or with other dog walkers we bump into. We got our Golden a couple months ago from a breeder and while my GF would have been perfectly happy adopting any guy needing a home, I have always had Goldens growing up and knew that's what I wanted for my first dog (eventually we'll probably get another dog and we'll adopt). We talked to a number of different breeders in our area and it was clear even just from the interaction on the phone or via email who really cared and who was just in it for the money.

We drove 3 hours & back one night after work on a 'school' night to visit a breeder who had a cage full of goldens out in his barn, we could have taken the pup home in 2 weeks, but we just did not get a good vibe from the situation and so we said thank you and we'll let you know and drove the 3 hours back home. On the drive home, we got a follow up email from another breeder my gf called him up on the drive and it was a couple about our parents age, breeding for the first time and they talked for 30 minutes and we made plans to see their pups the following weekend.

This couple, was the nicest, greatest people we've met and we fell in love with a pup and have had him for just over 2 months now (he's 5 months - wow almost 3 months we've had him now) and we've keep in contact with the breeder the entire time, sending picture updates back and forth as he learned to swim and play fetch (They kept one of the female pups and their relatives took the other female). When we went to visit the puppies, we stayed there for about 3 or 4 hours, the couple took us for a hike with the mom in their woods so we could see the kind of energy these dogs have, they offered us food and drinks and recommended a place to stay for the night if we didn't want to make the drive back. When we went to pick him up, they let us stay at their house for the weekend and we puppysat the whole litter. We actually have plans to go back up this weekend and visit them again, and our boy will re-unite with his mom and 2 of his sisters. It was a great, great experience and we're better off for having met this people and listening to our gut in saying no to that first breeder. They cried when we drove off with our pup, they loved all those puppies so much.

my point is. so long as you do your homework and listen to your gut and make the right decision for yourself, you can't go wrong. Our lives are way better off for going the route we did.

Are you talking about the sharpei post on r/aww this morning by chance?

There's a lot of pro rescue/anti purebred propaganda going around lately.

No, it's always been that way. As a pedigree dog owner, you will get used to it. Especially since you're going to have one of the "in vogue" breeds. People are just busybodies who can't be bothered to relax their sphincters for more than two seconds.

I hang out with a mix of dog people in real life, and honestly nobody gives a shit where you got your dog if they're well-behaved and taken care of. I know some people who "only will ever have rescues," but they get along fine with the people who breed and show. I also know people who love a certain breed and would never dream of paying less than $2000 for a puppy. They get along fine with the rescue crowd, too. When you actually DO stuff with your dog and have common interests with people instead of sitting on your butt making reddit comments, it tends to matter a lot less.

Hah, if there's another dog forum on the internet that is more pro-purebred than r/dogs, I haven't seen it. Some people who post here have made anti-breeder/purebred comments, but they get shouted down and downvoted to oblivion.

They say it's saving a life and all that and I agree. I adopted my guys. But it's not your responsibility to try to save all the dogs that other people dumped at a shelter because they weren't competent enough to train it or didn't think about the financial aspect of owning an animal. Some people want a specific breed with a temperament they know. I am actually going to be getting my next dog from a breeder because I want a Doberman and have wanted one for over 7 years. And they're prone to many things health-wise so yeah, not going to take chances. I will still rescue some dogs though. :/ Don't let other peoples' opinions put a damper on a happy time for you. One of my guys is part Shiba. He's awesome. :))

There is nothing wrong with buying a dog from a breeder as long as it's a good breeder with healthy dogs and ethical breeding practices. Adopting a dog is a wonderful thing but it just isn't for everyone, that's something a lot of people on this website are too uneducated to understand. Go ahead and have fun with your pup, people on subreddits like r/aww don't know what they're talking about.

I have a mutt I found on the streets and a fancy purebred with a long line of show dogs, they're both good pets and all that matters is that I gave them a loving home and we're all happy. At the time that my family was looking for a Golden Retriever the only one we could find in the shelters was child aggressive. A lot of the other dogs there had special needs, their breeds didn't match with our lifestyle, or they had behavioural issues that my family couldn't handle because it was our first dog. So we just got my Golden from a breeder, he's super friendly, intelligent, easy to train, has been a breeze to own. I know we made the right choice, I'm not going to feel bad because we couldn't save a dog that wouldn't be a good match with at the shelter, I chose a dog that we could handle and give a good home to.

This subreddit is generally great when it comes to that but yes I have seen a lot of breeder/purebred hate on Reddit overall.

Just the other day I got into a huge argument with a guy who basically lumps all breeders together - it really didn't matter to him if the breeder adores their dogs, has contracts in place in which you have to return the dog to the breeder should you no longer want it, health tests extensively before breeding etc. or if the breeder is a puppy mill whose dogs are being eaten by maggots on one side of their body from laying down in a kennel so much (actual example he gave me). To him they were all the same.

And it didn't matter how much I tried to explain that lumping all breeders together like that is not only unfair but also completely wrong because it is not the dogs from responsible breeders who you see in shelters in the vast majority of cases... it all fell on deaf ears. The guy just wanted dog breeding stopped altogether.

You should also checkout r/shiba by the way, I'm sure they would love to see pictures of your puppy there :)

Well, there are breed preferences, such as mine.. I prefer giant breeds. However a lot of people mistake breed preference for someone buying that breed from a puppy mill. Some people immediately associate a breed preference with buying a dog.. not true.

There are plenty...plenty of breed-specific rescues.. such as the two Shiba rescues I found within 3 seconds of searching.. to include dogs from 1-7years old. My rescue has all the giant breeds.. and there's probabyl a rescue for almost every common dog breed.

One thing people will tell you is that if you're newer to owning a dog, that you might fare better with a slightly older (2+ years maybe) rescue because 1. avoid most puppy stages 2. get a dog already trained/learning in a breed-specific household and being raised by someone who knows that breed.

Even though I am a giant breed type of owner.. if one day I want another Dobie, and I cannot find a good one in a rescue within a days travel, I may have to buy one. Then it's up to me to do my due diligence to ensure I am not supporting a shitty breeder running a puppy mill.

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What annoys me the most is people think that the only reason to get a purebred dog is for looks. Are you kidding me?

This is why I don't read comments on r/aww, I just look at cute pictures. I feel most of the pet discussion subs are rather accepting of reputable breeders. While all of my dogs are rescue mutts, I plan on getting a purebred puppy down the line when we have a kiddo and need a more predictable animal in our lives (plus we now have 3 dogs, 4 cats, chickens, and eventually will have goats, that's a lot of animals to find a mixed breed that will be able to happily coexist with them all, though we probably won't get a new dog til one of our current dogs passes away, which is hopefully a long long way off!).

I love my mutts, but the two I adopted as adults were a whole lot of work when I got them. I got them at a time in my life when I knew I could devote time and energy to a dog with 'issues'. I know I won't always have that space in my life to spend days and days (and weeks and months) showing a dog it's ok to walk past a sewer drain or that I'm not going to try and beat it when it has an accident in the house. We lucked out with the puppy, he's like the best dog ever and just soaks up training like it's nothing, but we fully realize how lucky we are with him and how unlikely it would be to get as lucky a second time. I actually intend to get him genetically tested to see what breeds are in him when it comes time to consider what breeds to look into, he's just the calmest, smartest, most awesome puppy I've ever met (though I might be just a tad biased).

The last time I attempted to have a discussion in r/aww, people there down voted me like crazy, when I said that the "Lab" puppy they were kvelling about, was actually a Golden Retriever.

Given that I served on the board of directors for this for a number of years, I had thought that maybe i knew something about the breed, but apparently nope, r/aww knows more.

I feel like the opposite is happening personally.