Need Help, Please........

We are looking to get our 6 year old daughter her first dog. I am
looking for a mid- to - large size dog. The wife's biggest concern is
health. The fewer the known problems with a breed the better. We have
been told by several different people that we may want to look into a
mutt cos they are known to have the least amount of health problems.
Is there any truth to this. We are not all that big on having to have
a purebred dog, a mutt would be fine. Any help, advice, or suggestions
you could offer would be appreciated. TIA

Jon

go to petfinder.org and type in your particulars, and see what rescue dogs
turn up that you might like. a resuce dog is thoroughly checked over for
health, has all its shots, has been neutered, usually housebroken. a
slightly older dog than a puppy is much easier to deal with...in your shoes,
I would go for a medium size dog that is good (patient) with children, and
alway be sure to teach my child how to approach and treat her new doggie!
good luck to all!

"Jon" wrote in message
om...
| We are looking to get our 6 year old daughter her first dog. I am
| looking for a mid- to - large size dog. The wife's biggest concern is
| health. The fewer the known problems with a breed the better. We have
| been told by several different people that we may want to look into a
| mutt cos they are known to have the least amount of health problems.
| Is there any truth to this. We are not all that big on having to have
| a purebred dog, a mutt would be fine. Any help, advice, or suggestions
| you could offer would be appreciated. TIA
|
| Jon

On Mon, 21 Jul 2003 03:31:11 GMT crosem whittled these words:
go to petfinder.org and type in your particulars, and see what rescue dogs
turn up that you might like. a resuce dog is thoroughly checked over for
health,

While I agree 100% that an adult rescue dog is a good alernative it is
misleading to say the dog is "thoroughly" checked over for health. In
most cases the dog is checked for nothing more than lack of obvious
problems. If the dog is slowly going lame from luxated patella, or hip
dysplasia, or going blind from PRA it is unlikely to be noticed or
diagnosed unless the disease has progressed quite far.

Among the entire
populaton of dogs there are going to be a number, maybe ten percent or so,
who currently have detectable disease that won't be revealed in the kind
of vet exams given to rescue dogs.
A *puppy*, even
from a good breeder, will likewise be limited in the amount of informaiton
available on developing health problems that aren't yet obvious. Our
diagnostic tools haven't quite developed to the point of being able to
identifing many problems when the dog is quite young - or at least not in
a cost effective manner.

A puppy, regardless of source, doesn't give much assurance as to whether
there is or is not a problem. Problems are much more detectable in the
adult. The rescues will be able to screen out the most obvious affected
dogs. An adult from a knowledgable skilled breeder, however, will often
(but not always) have been tested for the most common problems even if
they aren't yet noticeable in an ordinary vet exam. For MOST families the
rescue dog is a reasonable bet even if it might have health problems. One
reason for this is that it isn't easy to find the kind of breeder who
breeds to avoid health problems. Your average pet owner isn't likely to
want to invest the time and energy into finding a good breeder. If a
person doesn't care to make that time/energy investment then a
shelter/rescue dog is as good a bet as any other.


has all its shots, has been neutered, usually housebroken. a
slightly older dog than a puppy is much easier to deal with...in your shoes,
I would go for a medium size dog that is good (patient) with children, and
alway be sure to teach my child how to approach and treat her new doggie!
good luck to all!

Yup I agree.

Diane Blackman

With some pure bred pets you can find out about the family health
history. Keep in mind you get what you pay for the most part. If
health issues are a big concern find a breeder that has the health
history of the parents, grandparents and so on. A mixed breed is more
unlikely to not have a documented health history. A pure bred with a
documented health history will more then likely cost more, it is not
cheap to document and maintain health history records.

http://www.petfinder.org/
http://www.mtnvalley.net/education_c...lubs_frame.htm

http://www.petrescue.com/


Good luck

http://Bichon.ca/


On 20 Jul 2003 19:39:26 -0700, (Jon) wrote:

We are looking to get our 6 year old daughter her first dog. I am
looking for a mid- to - large size dog. The wife's biggest concern is
health. The fewer the known problems with a breed the better. We have
been told by several different people that we may want to look into a
mutt cos they are known to have the least amount of health problems.
Is there any truth to this. We are not all that big on having to have
a purebred dog, a mutt would be fine. Any help, advice, or suggestions
you could offer would be appreciated. TIA

Jon

Nehmo Sergheyev wrote:

Jon
We are looking to get our 6 year old daughter her first dog. I am
looking for a mid- to - large size dog. The wife's biggest concern is
health. The fewer the known problems with a breed the better. We have
been told by several different people that we may want to look into a
mutt cos they are known to have the least amount of health problems.
Is there any truth to this. We are not all that big on having to have
a purebred dog, a mutt would be fine. Any help, advice, or suggestions
you could offer would be appreciated. TIA

Nehmo
What city are you in? If you're near Kansas City, call me 913 371 6386
or 816 668 8581, and I'll hook you up.
By all means, use this opportunity to save a dog. There are lots of good
dogs at your local pound that are going to be killed tomorrow!

--
*******************
* Nehmo Sergheyev *
*******************

I second that. ;-)

Shelter "rescues", be they mutt or purebred, are some of the finest dogs
on earth! We rescued our border collie from the pound in April. She is
training well and one of the sweetest, most loving dogs I've ever had
(besides Willow, my corgie/sheltie cross) G

I'd just take your daughter to the shelter, get the history on the dogs
that are there and let her pick one. The one that licks her face is
perfect. G

'sides, if you rescue an adult instead of a puppy, (even tho' puppies
are so cute, they DO grow up), you should have less of a housebreaking
issue. I only rescue adult dogs now.

Just my 2 cents.....

K.
--
^,,^ Cats-haven Hobby Farm ^,,^ ^,,^

Breast Implants are the Stupidest idea ever. If I wanted to fondle
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