I get that sometimes dogs are genuinely rescued, eg from puppy mills, animal hoarders and neglectful owners. But that is a small amount of dogs compared to how many unwanted dogs are rehomed each year.

I was at the park recently and asked a lady what breed her strange wire-hair looking lab mix was. She said, "He's a groodle. He's a rescue dog." I asked, "What was he rescued from?" She said, "The owners didn't want him because he looks more like a golden retriever than the poodle part of him."

So what she calls a rescue, was just a rehoming of an unwanted pet. I suspect most "rescues" are not rescues at all but just the rehoming of an unwanted pet. It is misleading to call these dogs rescues because the word "rescue" denotes saving someone or something from death or harm. This is not the case with a dog rehomed simply because the owners didn't want it or had to give it up for some reason but where the owners are generally decent people.

Have you ever asked someone what they "rescued" their rescue dog from?

Dogs can’t cry. 900 days in the shelter, returned instantly. Must be an only pet.

Nothing new to see here. Just no-kill shelters spreading their propaganda and shaming the poor dopes who were sold a lie that they could save the dog, and when they realize that not only could they not save the dog but that they were likely in danger, they did the responsible thing.

I really wish we could find a way to shame these shelters for being so irresponsible. Article should read “no kill shelter gets some poor fool to take a warehoused dangerous dog, returned after 24 hours”

A woman, who wished to remain anonymous out of fear of retribution from the shelter, told WRAL that she noticed red flags about the dog days before the attack.

She said that the shelter staff made sure her own child would not come in contact with the dog, as she and the staff noticed that the dog was hyperactive. She told WRAL that it was clear to her, even with her minimal observation, that the dog would not be good with kids. 

"It seemed like the staff didn't know anything about the dogs and was trying to get them adopted as quickly as possible," she said. "I think that they need to have more precautions in place."

You’re trying to tell me there wasn’t a photo of this dog where it wasn’t foaming at the mouth?

After reading this all I gathered is that the dog was an instant nightmare, and the family who adopted it chose not to deal with that shit long-term.

But naturally, the nutters at the rescue are upset with the family for deciding "too quickly" that they didn't want to be bothered.

Came upon this sub the other day and found it very cathartic (husband and I are“not dog people”). Just for “fun” after reading some posts about shelters, I went to our local humane society page to see how many dogs listed were bully breeds.

You guys weren’t kidding! The ENTIRE FIRST PAGE was all pit mixes!

With descriptions like, “While he enjoys being active and playing, [dog name] does have a strong instinct to guard high-value items like food and toys, so he's best suited for an adult-only or older teen household. He can also be reactive towards other dogs when behind a barrier, but with the right training and management, he might be able to co-exist peacefully with other dogs or even [other pets] in the home.”

In other words, a neurotic maniac. This is extra terrifying to me as a relatively recent new mom. Get these animals out of our civilization!

Coming to a home near you-Troubled canines and unprepared new owners who think their new pooch will be just like the one (not well trained) in the movie. Adoptee orgs. love this. I’m listening to my neighbors annoying, untrained, barking, rescued inbred Papillon rat breed right now. Neighbor has no comprehension or interest on how to correct it. Someone got rid of it and now it’s my problem and new normal. Most adopters have no idea what they are getting into.

Backyard breeders force RSPCA to euthanise deformed puppies amid cost of living desexing concerns - ABC News https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-06-22/act-rspca-desexing-problem-in-canberra/105446390

Desexing - what we call neutering here in Australia.

Dog "lovers" cause immense suffering by allowing situations where dogs inbreed, either by accident or deliberately, as in the case of backyard breeders. Puppies are born deformed or diseased and the RSPCA has to euthanise them.

The article cites our cost of living crisis as a reason people don't desex their dogs. I don't entirely buy this excuse as even when long before this there were dodgy backyard breeders and other bogans who never bothered to desex their dogs!

*Seagroves said they were in a small room waiting to meet a young Staffordshire Bull Terrier named Bagel. However she said as soon as Bagel came in, the dog attacked, lunging for her daughter.

"We were screaming for help while the staff stood in shock," Seagroves said. "They did not handle this in the correct manner nor should that dog have been up for adoption."*

My partner and I usually make a few charity donations at the end of the year, between $200-$1000 each. I was researching some of the charities we were considering donating to, which included a women’s domestic violence shelter that’s been in existence for a long time. In the past I’ve donated supplies to this shelter. Now, I have learned, they also have an animal shelter! WTF? The entire purpose of this shelter is to help humans suffering from domestic violence and you are taking away funds and programming and space for dogs?! As if there aren’t already way more animal shelters in the city than there are domestic violence shelters?

I’m disgusted.

I saw a post today from a somewhat local animal shelter on Facebook advertising a pitbull mix. In the photo the dog is sitting in the corner and is looking at the floor, presumably for its next meal. Of course the caption is describing how sad & lonely he is but how sweet, loving and gentle this dog really is, how they can’t believe he hasn’t been adopted. Hundreds of comments and shares later about saving this “poor sweet baby” the dog still is at the shelter. They even waved it’s adoption fee. Reasons being: the adopters who came to see him didn’t work out. Sure enough, I happen to look and my intuition was correct. No children, no other animals at all, has anxiety, gets “spooked”, and is also “overstimulated” with new people. So in other words, aggressive and dangerous. The shelter has a program where people can come and walk dogs, and he’s not even available for this because of his “overstimulation”.

In my view the shelter is just trying as hard as they can to guilt people into subjecting themselves into a situation with an aggressive dog. Because he’s “sad” and deserves a chance. My first thought is, shouldn’t this be against some kind of rule? Human safety? But silly me, I forgot humans value dogs and their unpredictable “emotion” over human beings. I’ve seen posts like this far too often. Now, I understand the argument in euthanasia for animals of all kind. It’s uncomfortable and is naturally sad for most people. But instead of safety, peace, and comfort for everyone involved (including the aggressive animal) we want to release it into the world to put humans and animals alike in danger as if we don’t have enough murderous dogs running the streets. If an animal cannot contain itself around a small child, it’s completely unsuitable to be in public or anyone’s home. Period. This is just a rant, but god I am thankful for this group. You all make me feel less insane.

Of course everyone knows that the only ethical way to get a dog is to adopt one that someone else didn't want. And if there aren't enough of those in your neighborhood or even your entire country, well, there's an entire world full of suffering dogs to be helped. Ever been to Mexico? Have you seen all those sad lonely dogs, mistreated by those heartless locals, just waiting for a loving and kind American to save them from their hard lives and give them their forever-homes? ¹

So you take a dog that used to roam freely across the urban jungle, fighting and foraging and fucking like any animal does, give it a bath and some shots, and fly it over so that some cute couple in a one-bedroom apartment can feel good about themselves. Then you're shocked when this dog pisses and shits all over your home, barks incessantly, can't be left alone without ripping apart your furniture, wants to fight other dogs, and might even attack small children. You've taken a feral animal and put it into a 700 square foot prison - what the fuck did you think was going to happen?

Yes, life is hard for street dogs. Life is also hard for wild animals: the fate of many is to be ripped to shreds and eaten the first time they fall ill. They're invariably riddled with parasites. Sometimes their population grows until they overwhelm their food sources and then collapses as starvation takes its toll. This is nature, and we can all agree that the less we mess with it, the better. Wild animals don't need saving, and neither do street dogs. It may not have had a 15-year life to look forward to, but I guarantee that dog was far happier on the streets than it is in your tiny house, being chastised for the normal behaviours that served it perfectly well until the moment it was abducted and sent on a terrifying journey halfway across the world.

The sheer shameless waste of it is disgusting. Actual people risk their lives trekking thousands of miles across Central America on foot to escape these places, but we're going to take their mangy dogs and put them on airplanes so Josh and Emily can feel good about themselves. Most of the people in these places will live their entire lives dreaming about the idea of getting on a plane, but let's give their trash-eating urban wildlife medical care and a first-class ticket to the cargo hold of an Airbus.

Did you know that dogs, if left to their own devices, will produce two litters of ~5 puppies per year? What do you think keeps their population in check? Only starvation, disease, and predation / culling. You can pull a thousand dogs off the streets and a thousand more will replace them. You may think that, with your adoption, there's now one fewer stray dog on the streets, but that's not how this works. The population will rise to whatever level the ecosystem can sustain. You are not helping.

Not only are you not helping, you're actually creating suffering. If stupid rich Americans are willing to pay thousands of dollars for mangy mutts, and I'm an enterprising sort in a poor country, do I drive around pulling dogs off the streets and cleaning them up? Or do I start a puppy mill? That's right, you dumbshit: in your quest to avoid supporting those evil "backyard breeders," you're creating puppy mills in the developing world. "But their website says...!" Uh huh. Spoken like someone who has no idea what poverty is.

¹ The next person who says forever-home is getting choked to death.

I want to start this by saying I am referring to the people who take their dogs to animal shelters or return them the proper way. I am not talking about people who cruelly dump animals and participate in animal abuse.

I keep seeing all over social media people convincing others to adopt and “rescue” dogs and then people being absolutely hounded and bashed for surrendering their dogs to shelters.

If we actually look at what what one of the roots of this issue is, I strongly believe it’s because dog ownership is sugarcoated and glamorised when in reality it’s awful and more work than it’s worth. People, in my opinion, take dogs back to the shelter due to the reality of these overbearing animals and it slaps them in the face once they rescue a dog. It’s not the rainbows and smiles it’s portrayed as on social media and I think it’s perfectly normal for people to absolutely hate owning dogs and want to return them.

The reality of dog ownership in my opinion needs to be spoken about more: they’re smelly, messy, overbearing, expensive, deprive you of sleep, can be aggressive, hard to train, destroy your home and belongings, defecate in your home, get jealous of your spouse/children, steal food, the list goes on. It is FAR from glamorous and in my opinion, the cons of owning these animals outweigh the pros by a large margin. In fact, there are no pros. Much easier pets can provide companionship.

I can’t stand people who shame others for not wanting to sign up to this, or changing their mind when the reality hits them after being brainwashed by social media to think this is a good way to live your life, draining all your resources on quite frankly, a filthy and annoying animal.

People who surrender dogs to shelters or return them and change their mind are portrayed as villains all over social media when in reality I think they’re the sane people.

Edit to say: of course, it would’ve been wise not to get a dog in the first place. But a lot of people only realise the reality of these animals once they live with one. I can’t shame them for coming to their senses.

When I was a teenager, I remember coming across a small online essay titled "How Could You?" or something like that. I'm not sure if the essay still exists or if it's been lost to the ages. The general gist of it was that a man bought a dog, lived happily with it for some number of years, then got married and had kids and no longer had as much time or resources available for the dog. Ultimately, the dog was taken to a shelter and put down.

The whole thing is portrayed as a heartbreaking tragedy, where you're supposed to feel sorry for the poor dog being cruelly abandoned by its faithless owner for no good reason. This is, of course, not how it works in real life. What most likely happened, given the sequence of events, is that the man was a raging dog nutter, so he got a dog which he worshipped and never bothered to train because "dogs will be dogs." Then, when he had a family, he suddenly realized how obnoxious the dog was (or maybe his wife did), and was forced to get rid of it. The fact that the dog was put down is particularly suspicious, because I'm pretty sure animal shelters will do just about anything to avoid putting down a healthy and relatively-young dog. So, the mere fact that it was ever on the table suggests that the dog was not just annoying, but dangerous. Probably bit the man's child, or maybe the child's friend, or something like that.

Like I said, I came across this essay years ago, and I don't know when it was written or if it can even still be located. I wonder, though, how influential it was, and whether it was one of the causes of the current dog culture, or only a symptom.

Oh look, this happened again. Forgive me if I call BS on this. Aren’t these things supposed to be registered? You’re telling me he was just tied up and this note was just sitting there? I also hate how AHS refuses to state the real problem which is that these idiot shelters all refuse to BE dogs when they’re not fit to be pets and engage in indefinite warehousing, which is why the option to just drop the dog off at the shelter is no longer possible.

All of this is infuriating, and not because of “oh poor pupperz” but because people are losing their homes left and right in our state due to unforeseen housing costs skyrocketing, but humans without homes? Who gives a damn. It’s all about these ugly, inbred creatures. We’ve lost our humanity to these worthless pets. This isn’t news.

So, here's another post from a social media site I call NextDog. Shelters are full once again in our county, and everyone is posting, pleading for someone to adopt these dogs (ahem...pitbulls). Here's one of the recent posts, and my question is why it needs to be someone's only dog. Because it will tear the other dog apart???? AND, of course, all of the comments are 'Oh, my heart is breaking..' Yet, last week when someone got attacked there were hardly any comments. Why? Because dog nuts don't care about anyone but dogs.
‼️Adopt, Foster or Rescue needed for (OldDog).‼️
(Old Dog) will be euthanized next week if she is not pulled from XX County Animal Center by Wed., Aug. 14. She is 9 yrs old, needs to be your only dog, and is heartworm positive.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cpwq40vjw8lo

Thousands of dogs are brought into the UK each year, many of which are being sold to owners via websites and social media posts without any significant matching process or assessment.

The BBC has spoken to numerous owners who have faced serious difficulties with dogs delivered to their door from countries such as Romania, Ukraine and North Macedonia, including infectious diseases and aggressive behaviour.

Britons have started handing in XL bullies to be put down, MPs told https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/oct/18/britons-have-started-handing-in-xl-bullies-to-be-put-down-mps-told

Because people can't control or don't want to properly train their animals, or at least put a muzzle on them, they're beginning to hand them over to rescue centres and vets, sometimes asking for their animals to be euthanised.

I don't like them, I don't believe this type should have been created - and yes, sorry to any dog lovers lurking on here, they are a man-made killing machine, not a natural breed - but this situation is sickening.

People are now going to have to face the grim task of putting otherwise healthy animals to death, all because some arsehole somewhere wanted to see what would happen if they bred yet another dog capable of killing. And then some other arseholes thought that owning one of these would be a good idea.

Just bonkers from beginning to end. What was the point?

a "dog rescuer" who "foster cares" homeless peoples dogs while they recover from illnesses.

I used to say I found this type of thing amazing but when many people value dogs over humans, not surprising.

https://www.awlqld.com.au/adopt/animals/dog/121640/

Looking at my local shelter listings for some Pissfingers to giggle at and came across this cracker. It's interesting how the shelter tries to surgarcoat the fact that this huskie has major behavioural issues. However, they do have some propriety in suggesting only someone experienced with dogs take him rather than try to foist him off onto some unsuspecting family so that's something.

I found a place where I can vent without being shamed. I thank you for creating this safe space for people who value humans over dogs. Just a little background. I had two dogs for 8 years, I was child free but then I had a surprise pregnancy. I loved my kid dearly but I had postpartum depression and I was riddled with anxiety after his birth. Doing basic tasks was a chore, I couldn’t get even out of bed but I had to take care of my child so I did. My dogs were fine until the unthinkable (in my stupid head back then) happened. My well mannered “sweet” laid back dog bit my kid in the face. She left a puncture wound on his lip . Went to the ER and left with antibiotics. I’m like wtf ?! What do I do now. I immediately thought rehoming her. But they were a pair so I didn’t want to separate them. Well the other one tried to bite my son. Right in my presence while he was trying to pet her. Then I thought ok this is it. They have to go. I was met with support from my parents. But my friends of course shamed me. I did what a responsible human being would. I looked for a rescue. It was a no kill shelter specifically for their breed. I picked up the phone and I called...

This is where my vent/rant begins....

They shamed me soooooo much. I told them my story and instead of being sympathetic for my kid they were like “you’re abandoning your first baby, what about them???! What about some classes with a trainer???”

My response “will the trainer reassure me that they won’t bite ever again?? They’re animals they will bite again , and I won’t forgive myself if my child loses an eye or gets disfigured”

Them “well you won’t forgive yourself for letting your dogs go... call back every week to see if we have space ... “

Every week I called, every week I got berated. But I kept calling. In the meantime I kept my dogs in the kitchen and honestly I felt bad for them. They needed a child free couple. And we Weren’t a good fit anymore.

Finally my husband got a call, they had a spot open. He dropped them off, he was met with hate and anger from the rescue owner, until he gave them a nice donation (husband till this day feels bad about giving them up). Then it was all smiles and they let him say goodbye.

I did cry but I felt relieved. No longer I had to watch my kid like a hawk when the dogs were let out. No more cleaning and bathing and washing. Any little time we had went to them. We couldn’t afford a dog hotel when we went out of town and people didn’t want to take care of them. My sister (dog nutter) would take them on occasion so I can take time off.

I would check the rescue to see if they were adopted and recently I saw they were! To an older couple. I looked and of course they shamed us. “These pair was abandoned by the only people they ever knew , ripped from their home”.... I’m like mkay... did you guys mentioned she bit my kid???... nope. “They prefer an environment with no kids as they want all the attention to themselves “...

Well I saw the couple has grandkids, and I wrote them a letter telling them the reason why I had to rehome them. The real reason. Not because I wanted to dump my dogs and be done with them. They bit my kid and you guys should be careful. Although they are a small breed, they still could cause some damage.

Thanks for reading my rant and husband and I agreed NO dogs ever again. My son recently asked for one. We both said NO at the same time. I’m like “when you’re older you can volunteer at a shelter if you like, but no, you cannot have a dog because we are gonna be the ones taking care of it.”

And with this... FUCK rescues and FUCK people who shame others about rehoming dogs. You rather see them in a crate all day???

Btw- friend who shamed me, keeps her dog in a kennel most of the day because he’s bad. But won’t get rid of him because “it’s her first furbaby”.... what bullshit that is

This is a story I discovered on X and it's from one of those ''we worship dogs'' accounts. They discovered a stray dog in a derelict building and described it as an abandoned ''once beloved pet'' but the dog has a visible large circular ear tag on one ear, which means it is a stray dog that was captured, sterilized and dumped back on the streets by either animal control services or a private animal welfare organization. The dog looks horrible, an emaciated zombie afflicted with every malady you can think of, and they discovered that it has some rare and highly disease. They placed the dog with some dog nutter pensioner who quickly ran out of money to take care of it and even he'd offloaded the gargantuan task to some dog boarding house. Now they're worried the dog will end up in a public dog shelter where it will most likely be killed. So many dog nutter insanities in a single story. In this whole story, euthanasia is seen as the worst outcome. Fleecing pensioners and their romanticized trap, neuter, release (PETA derisively calls the last part abandon) approach are seen as noble things.

It’s almost as if there are consequences to lying to the public and using flowery language to describe the dog’s bad behavior. This is the same shelter that had the sob story about the abandoned dog with the stupid note that I posted about a week or so ago.

Not that the shelter will take any accountability and reflect over their bad actions. Instead, they’ll just blame the poor idiots who thought they were doing the right thing by taking a violent dog in and then realized the dangers associated with said choice and backed out.

These shelters are truly immoral in every sense of the word.

So I hear a lot of dog owners saying that they "rescued" these dogs from the pound or a shelter. And hearing that just seems nonsensical. Did you really rescue a dog or did you pay right into the system that breeds these animals en masse in horrible conditions.

When you out and buy anything, you are voting with your dollar. That sends a message to that industry, and by extension the economy, that you are willing and able to buy this thing. It shows that there is demand for this product. A lot of dog owners want to feel good about how they rescued a poor animal from a horrible life, but your money went to that industry that creates this horrible life from animals.