What prompts a litter surrender?

[tricollie4me]

My 5-month-old tri collie pup, Bijou, was among a litter of sables. I think that there were at least five pups in the litter. The rescue organization that I adopted her from told me that they received the pups from the owners at about 7+ weeks or so, and my pup was the last one to be adopted out when she was about 16 weeks of age.

When I emailed the rescue organization to let them know that I'd had Bijou spayed and that I'd be sending verification (they require it for their records), I also asked what she knew about the parents of my pup. In response, I was told the parents were purebred collies and the litter was an intentional one, though there were no papers on any of the collies.

What I wish I knew now was, why did an *intentional litter* end up in a rescue organization? Hadn't the folks who bred their collies planned on the pups, wanted them, expected to find homes for them?

If I hadn't adopted Bijou when I did, the rescue org. was just about ready to send her on to a collie foster home. (Had I not been ready to adopt Bijou on the spot, I'm not sure that sending her to a collie foster home would have been such a bad idea, considering the rescue organization was basically an outdoor barn (we live where the winters get bitter cold, snowy, etc.) with kennels/cages -- albeit run by a woman who did give "puppy shots" and did her best to find good homes.)

Does this sound more typical than I realized? I thought rescues basically received the dogs nobody wanted, or breeds that were somehow out of favor (for whatever reason) or took in an overflow from the "regular" shelters, etc., when the pup population was high.

What have been your experiences? This has been a whole new world for me.

[Adopt_One]

Shelters and rescues get all kinds of dogs for all kinds of reasons. In my opinion, it is never the dog's fault - it's the owner's fault. There are different kinds of rescues - purebreed and mixed breed rescues - who take dogs for several reasons. Often they are contacted by people who want to surrender their dogs for whatever reason (not enough time, moving, etc.). This is more common for purebreed rescues, and is seen as a "safe" way for people to dump their dogs. Purebreed rescues will also pull from shelters when dogs of their breed are dumped there. Often they have limited room (if it's a popular breed like lab or husky) and can only house so many in foster homes. I think that in this case, the people had the litter without realizing the work that would go into taking care of the puppies. They probably didn't do any research, and when it got to be too much work for them, they decided to dump the puppies. Welcome to the world of the backyard breeder. I have seen several purebreed rescues with purebreed puppies - often it's a "couldn't find homes and I'm tired of taking care of them" situation, or else the puppies have some kind of medical disorder that they can't afford to take care of. Very sad.

I'm so glad you adopted and helped save a life! Congrats! Any pictures?

[clara4457]

I agree with Adopt_one. Many BBB don't realize at first how much work and expense is involved with breeding dogs and if the dogs didn't have AKC papers, the price they could sell them would be pretty low. Think about it - you take a litter of pups to the vet for puppy shots and you could be looking at several $200 vet visits and if they aren't papered - you might only get $50-$100 per pup. Definitely not a money making proposition in most cases.

There are so many different reasons why people surrender animals to shelters and rescues. According to the National Council on Pet Population Study and Policy, here are the top 10 reasons dogs are surrendered:

1. Moving

2. Landlord issues

3. Cost of pet maintenance

4. No time for pet

5. Inadequate facilities

6. Too many pets in home

7. Pet illness (es)

8. Personal problems

9. Biting

10. No homes for littermates

[tricollie4me]

It just seems such a shame, and so unnecessary, to have *intentionally* bred two dogs only to leave the resulting litter for someone else to responsibly adopt out -- but then of course, that's the problem, isn't it...

We're just grateful for the chance to raise this little rough collie of ours, she's perfect for us.



Thanks for your insights.

[Ginger's Mom]

Aww tricolllie4me, she is adorable. I can't believe she wasn't snatched up before 16 weeks. Well, lucky for her she got into a home that is going to take good care of her. She really is cute

[ramanth]

I concur with the others.

Your collie puppy is so adorable. Congrats and welcome to Pet Talk.