New Dog in Northern Virginia

[GoingMyWay]

This may not be the type of dog that you're thinking about.  I don't have a bench dog or anything else like that in mind.

Does anyone have any suggestions for adopting or buying a dog in the Northern Virginia area?  I checked the Fairfax County Animal Shelter this past Saturday and didn't see much.  I also checked Petland in Fairfax City, but I've heard some very bad puppy mill related stories from there (the puppies there were incredibly enticing though!).

They say adopting is the best thing - I was kind of expecting the dogs at the shelter to be jumping all over me (may be wrong mindset) so I was rather disappointed when the dogs didn't seem that interested in me.  Well I take that back - only 1 dog was interested, but it was a Staffordshire Terrier.  I guess they get a bad rap, but this dog didn't get along well with other dogs and my parents last dog also didn't like other dogs so I've more or less conditioned myself to run away any time I see another dog.

 

[rljatl]

There are also many pure breed dogs that need to be adopted.  Most breeds have rescue websites.  Pick a breed that you like and google the rescue website associated with it.  Fill out the forms and let them know you are looking.  Usually, the rescue website will have pictures and some information about the dogs.

Typically, the rescue organization will send someone out to your house to make sure your situation is appropriate for the breed and the specific dog in question.  They want the dogs to be a good fit and try not to move the dogs around too much.  It is traumatic for them to change owners. 

 

[GoingMyWay]

There are also many pure breed dogs that need to be adopted.  Most breeds have rescue websites.  Pick a breed that you like and google the rescue website associated with it.  Fill out the forms and let them know you are looking.  Usually, the rescue website will have pictures and some information about the dogs.

Typically, the rescue organization will send someone out to your house to make sure your situation is appropriate for the breed and the specific dog in question.  They want the dogs to be a good fit and try not to move the dogs around too much.  It is traumatic for them to change owners.

Thank you for your reply!

Picking a breed that you like is the hard part!  My wife's cousin has a labradoodle (I know, I know it's not a pedigree, but it is a desirable hybrid breed), he is awesome!!  Labradors seems to make wonderful dogs from my experience!  I'd like to stay away from hound dogs as their noses seem to get them into too much trouble!

I think the whole home situation evaluation is something that I didn't like.  It seems all too intrusive, understandably so, but nevertheless too intrusive.  We don't have a yard to let the dog run around in so that may be negative against us.  There is a dog park fairly close by so long as the dog liked other dogs (my parents previous coonhound had a nose for trouble and didn't like other dogs so she was a real chore to walk).

 

[DynaGlide]

Check a forever home and lost dog rescue. We have done both with great experiences.

 

[GoingMyWay]

How old was the dog that you got?

I really don't want to get too old of a dog - a lot of the dogs at the animal shelter were 6+ years old.

 

[tjbnwi]

My brother has a shelter in Holland, MI if you're willing to travel.

(Shameless plug link below.....also---(another shameless plug) if you don't have a charity for Amazon Smiles Headin' Home is listed)
http://www.headinhomerescue.org

Tom

 

[GoingMyWay]

Thanks for sharing your brother's shelter.  Michigan is a bit far for us to travel.

 

[DynaGlide]

Mine was 9 weeks and my in laws was closer to a year. Had a good experience dealing with A Forever Home for our dog.

 

[Cheese]

My wife's cousin has a labradoodle (I know, I know it's not a pedigree, but it is a desirable hybrid breed), he is awesome!!  Labradors seems to make wonderful dogs from my experience!

Don’t diss that doodle...my brother in law, his brother and his father are all huge bird hunters. Between them over the years they’ve owned 8 or 9 black labs. Nothing better according to them... until my brother in law purchased a Golden Doodle. I think my sister must have put him in a hammerlock.  [tongue]

Long story short...my brother in law has stated that his Golden Doodle is the best bird dog he’s ever worked with. Ducks, pheasants, grouse and quail. He’s become a true believer along with his brother. A pretty impressive testimonial from a bunch of guys that have been hunting birds for over 80 years  [cool]

 

[jtwood]

As has already been mentioned, picking a breed or type of dog is difficult.  One thing I have used in the past is the Animal Planet (the TV network) website:
http://www.animalplanet.com/pets/

On that page is a "Dog Breed Selector" where they ask you 10 questions about what you would like to have in a dog and what you don't want, and they suggest some breeds.  A lot of shelter dogs are mixed breed, but sometimes it can be fairly obvious what type of dog it is, if not the main breed.

I live in Southern California and most of the shelters are online, so you can look at pics of the dogs and get some info after you have decided on the type of dog you want.  Probably have the same thing in Northern Virginia.  I got my last two dogs this way.

Steve

 

[sancho57]

Just got a little mini schnauzer chiauau mix. She was 5mos when we got her. The previous owner didn’t take very good care of her they said they had her for 2mos. She was skinny very hungry lloks lke they didn’t feed her very well, shaggy, no shots not fixed. Well the day we got Allie, she got a new bed, food my girls asked pet smart what is the best food for her and she got it plus plenty of toys .

Now for snacks my daughter went back to pet smart and dropped a lot of money on snacks and toys.

3 days later she was at the vet getting dewormed shots etc, Allies getting fixed and some more shots and chipped this Thursday. She hit the lottery when we got her. She has been some work and is some work trying to get her trained up. But slowly she is coming around. She’ll be up to speed in another month or so.

She is a sweety.

 

[Tinker]

Just got a little mini schnauzer chiauau mix. She was 5mos when we got her. The previous owner didn’t take very good care of her they said they had her for 2mos. She was skinny very hungry lloks lke they didn’t feed her very well, shaggy, no shots not fixed. Well the day we got Allie, she got a new bed, food my girls asked pet smart what is the best food for her and she got it plus plenty of toys .

Now for snacks my daughter went back to pet smart and dropped a lot of money on snacks and toys.

3 days later she was at the vet getting dewormed shots etc, Allies getting fixed and some more shots and chipped this Thursday. She hit the lottery when we got her. She has been some work and is some work trying to get her trained up. But slowly she is coming around. She’ll be up to speed in another month or so.

She is a sweety.

 

[Tinker]

Oops! Hit the wrong button.
Jobby, I hope the original OP read your post. He would learn a whole lot if he is thinking at the same time he reads. Your whole approach is so healthy. I think you might be the type who can get along with any dog and keep him/her happy and healthy.
Bravo
Tinker

 

[sospan]

I rescued one of these in the UK - it is a Boerboel, a South African Mastiff.  As breed they are very loyal, intelligent and excellent with kids. The one I got was never socialised or even walked and his previous owner never bothered to really train him so he came with lots of issues. However, 18 months down the line he is an absolutely fantastic dog far better than all the other large dog breeds I have had over the years.

There is a breed rescue in the US. They will make a good addition to the house and of course the ideal guardian for all that expensive Festool kit  [big grin]

[attachimg=1]

 

[fatroman]

We've used both of these rescue services in NoVA and I'd recommend them highly:
https://lostdogrescue.org/
https://www.homewardtrails.org/

There's also the shelter in Alexandria -https://alexandriaanimals.org/ - While I've not adopted through them, they have been very helpful.

 

[jrb9]

You could try Petfinder

 

[GoingMyWay]

Don’t diss that doodle...my brother in law, his brother and his father are all huge bird hunters. Between them over the years they’ve owned 8 or 9 black labs. Nothing better according to them... until my brother in law purchased a Golden Doodle. I think my sister must have put him in a hammerlock.  [tongue]

Long story short...my brother in law has stated that his Golden Doodle is the best bird dog he’s ever worked with. Ducks, pheasants, grouse and quail. He’s become a true believer along with his brother. A pretty impressive testimonial from a bunch of guys that have been hunting birds for over 80 years  [cool]

Golden doodles and labradoodles are very similar - hard to tell them apart even.  I just recently learned about the double doodle - the best of both worlds!

As has already been mentioned, picking a breed or type of dog is difficult.  One thing I have used in the past is the Animal Planet (the TV network) website:
http://www.animalplanet.com/pets/

On that page is a "Dog Breed Selector" where they ask you 10 questions about what you would like to have in a dog and what you don't want, and they suggest some breeds.  A lot of shelter dogs are mixed breed, but sometimes it can be fairly obvious what type of dog it is, if not the main breed.

I live in Southern California and most of the shelters are online, so you can look at pics of the dogs and get some info after you have decided on the type of dog you want.  Probably have the same thing in Northern Virginia.  I got my last two dogs this way.

Steve

That's a cool breed finder.  It recommendedhttp://animal.discovery.com/breed-selector/dog-breeds/non-sporting/keeshond.html.  I've never even heard of that breed before.

Just got a little mini schnauzer chiauau mix. She was 5mos when we got her. The previous owner didn’t take very good care of her they said they had her for 2mos. She was skinny very hungry lloks lke they didn’t feed her very well, shaggy, no shots not fixed. Well the day we got Allie, she got a new bed, food my girls asked pet smart what is the best food for her and she got it plus plenty of toys .

Now for snacks my daughter went back to pet smart and dropped a lot of money on snacks and toys.

3 days later she was at the vet getting dewormed shots etc, Allies getting fixed and some more shots and chipped this Thursday. She hit the lottery when we got her. She has been some work and is some work trying to get her trained up. But slowly she is coming around. She’ll be up to speed in another month or so.

She is a sweety.

Sounds like a great find!

I rescued one of these in the UK - it is a Boerboel, a South African Mastiff.  As breed they are very loyal, intelligent and excellent with kids. The one I got was never socialised or even walked and his previous owner never bothered to really train him so he came with lots of issues. However, 18 months down the line he is an absolutely fantastic dog far better than all the other large dog breeds I have had over the years.

There is a breed rescue in the US. They will make a good addition to the house and of course the ideal guardian for all that expensive Festool kit  [big grin]

[attachimg=1]

Wow that's a big dog!

We've used both of these rescue services in NoVA and I'd recommend them highly:
https://lostdogrescue.org/
https://www.homewardtrails.org/

There's also the shelter in Alexandria -https://alexandriaanimals.org/ - While I've not adopted through them, they have been very helpful.

Thanks for those links, Lost Dog Rescue seems good.

 

[sancho57]

Oops! Hit the wrong button.
Jobby, I hope the original OP read your post. He would learn a whole lot if he is thinking at the same time he reads. Your whole approach is so healthy. I think you might be the type who can get along with any dog and keep him/her happy and healthy.
Bravo
Tinker

Once I get a doggie they are not a pet, they become part of the family. Im still in mourning for one we lost over 2 years ago.
I treat them like my kids, after all they arent much different got to give them expectations and train them to do what they want. This one is a little stubborn but she'll be ok in a month or so

 

[Sparktrician]

We've used both of these rescue services in NoVA and I'd recommend them highly:
https://lostdogrescue.org/
https://www.homewardtrails.org/

There's also the shelter in Alexandria -https://alexandriaanimals.org/ - While I've not adopted through them, they have been very helpful.

I'd also add Virginia German Shepherd Rescue (http://VGSR.org).  I was a volunteer there for many years and adopted four dogs, all of which were just wonderful.  Lab Rescue (https://lab-rescue.org) is another really great organization in the NoVa area.  There's just something about rescued dogs - they just seem to know that they've been given a second chance and never fail to show their appreciation in one way or another. 

 

[Llap Goch]

[attachimg=1]

My two rescue Rotties, Evie on the left and Archie on the right on the banks of the Rhine. We have always had Rottweilers, but they are the first rescue dogs we have ever had in our family and are two absolute darlings. They travel all over Europe with us in our motorhome and we have never had any problems wild camping. [laughing]

Evie was dumped on Christmas Eve in 2013 as she was just about to give birth to a litter of Heinz 57 pups, all of who died. She was nursed, after an extremely difficult cesarian operation, by a wonderful woman called Ann Evans who runs a Rottie rescue centre in Oswestry, UK.
http://www.rottweilersinneed.co.uk/

Archie's owner died when he was 6 months old and Ann took him in and gave me first dibs as I always wanted another boy after my Simou died.

Love my rescue Rotts.