Of course I would let you have a puppy! But the rescue I work for wouldn't but they won't let me have one either so don't feel bad. My fence isn't tall enough...... poor Thor stuck with the evil 4 foot fence owner...how has he ever survived?

LOL, my dogs have only climbed my 6 foot fence, they leave the four foot perimeter fence alone....

 Quote: Betty Waldron

they leave the four foot perimeter fence alone....

Because it is evil!

Don't let your bad experiences with rescues discourage you from going to a good breeder for a pup!!!

Many rescues have absolutely ridiculous criteria, and border on being animal hoarders, IMO.

I also live in an apartment (always have), with an 11 year old GSD/Lab X and a 9 month old Mal pup.

You won't have any difficulty since it's obvious that you regularly exercise and train your current dog....waaayyy more so than the average family with a fenced yard that just throws the dog outside to entertain itself.

Rescue groups all must have the same mentatlity. We have 2 German Shepherds and 2 cats...have had this combination for 40+ years. When we went to a cat rescue about 4 years ago I was thoroughly and INTRUSIVELY questioned. Then I was turned down for a cat because of the 2 German Shepherds. The local animal shelter was more than glad to let us adopt a cat.

About 6 months after that experience we got a call asking if we wanted to adopt a cat as the rescue was overloaded. Go figure.

Alright, these responses make me feel a little bit better. This is the first time I'll be going to a breeder "on my own" for a pup. Two of my dogs growing up were both from breeders however we always followed the "perfect dog home" model with a high fenced back yard, etc....however looking back now I would NEVER get a puppy from one of those breeders.

It's just being rejected so many times for things I couldn't even imagine being a problem I'm nervous. I was about to take home a puppy from a foster home (as it, he was in my arms snuggling, I was putting on his new collar) when I was told I can't take him because I put down I was a student....and students can't adopt because they don't have time for puppies....which just made me furious and hurt...

I'm still trying to figure out what I want. I know what I want in a dog, but I'm not sure yet how to look for blueprint of those traits in a puppy. I want a "social" dog, and while I know a lot of that is how your socialize them I know there's a genetic element as well. I'm not talking the dog that makes friends with everyone but a dog that won't mind being in public. I travel a lot, my dog comes with me. I plan on raising a puppy similar to how I raised Ryuk to have a dog that I can bring everywhere who ignores people but doesn't dislike them. I'd like a bold puppy (not sure if that's the right term for it), I like the puppy that will climb on everything, try everything out, fall off and immediately jump up and try it again. I grew up with a fearful dog, she was fearful when she was a puppy as well....I loved her (still do, she's 9 now) but hated the fearfulness.

btw, I have a few breeders I'm looking at (only contacted one of them so far)...however if you know someone I should be looking at please PM me! I'm currently in Western Mass, I can only go as far as I can drive (since Ryuk has to come with me) but provided I stay within a 20 hour drive I think I'll be okay....

I don't think it's fair to paint all rescues with the same brush. Sure there are some rotten ones out there, but there are rotten breeders, too.

We don't know what has shaped a rescues policies, and they don't know us from Adam in many cases. Yup, some some resuces have policies that are stupid and overwhelming. But it's their animal, their choice (even though they may be shooting themselves in the foot...)

Many other rescues take in animals, get them vet care, provide shelter socialization and training an find great homes for them. And deal with all sorts of people (why I wouldn't do well in rescue...) I've heard some horror stories about rescue applicants, too!

Mara, I KNOW there are good rescues out there and I'm hoping my little rant doesn't generalize all of them....but I had extremely bad luck with many in this area. Some of them I'd still recommend to people, however it's still frustrating...


And I know no matter how many rescue horror stories there, the applicant ones are always worse.....XD

At this point I'm not looking for a rescue (that was my first dog)....I'm looking specifically for a puppy to "learn with" for schutzhund, possibly mondioring later if we end up in an area that has a club I like


not sure if they're as strict as they were about 6 months ago but the GSD rescue requires fences. When my housemate talked to them then (and when I did a few years ago) this was a completely non-negotionable thing...