RESCUE

Once you get started on your search, you'll quickly realise how hard it is to find the right dog.  You will come across rescues that fully assess their dogs, and those that just stick them in a kennel and your guess is as good as mine as to whether the dog is suitable or not.  Some have strict adoption criteria, some are little more than shops where you pick a dog "off the shelf".  I always say that the easier it is to get a dog from a rescue, the worse the rescue is.

Expect to answer lots of questions and fill in a questionnaire.  Expect to be homechecked or supply references.  Expect to fill in a complicated and binding adoption agreement that forces you to return the dog to them if there is a problem.  Particularly expect to be told what isn't suitable for you.

You can find rescues in the Yellow Pages under "Animal Welfare".  Smaller, independent centres may have posters in your local vet or pet store, or have a Website.

General
By far the commonest reason a dog is given up is because it is young, overly-boisterous and untrained.  Nobody gives up the nice ones!  Understand that dogs are different in different homes and environments.  However good or nice a dog seems, you have a responsibility to teach it how to behave in YOUR home.  Previously the dog might have slept in a bedroom, or jumped on the furniture.  It doesn't understand at first that you don't want that behaviour.  Be tolerant.
No dog comes along that fits your ideal exactly.  We do get some ridiculous requests for dogs.  You need to put in a great deal of time and effort to get the dog that you want.  Don't get a dog of any sort if you can't give a commitment to train the dog.

Options:

1. Breed Rescue Clubs
   If you are interested in a specific breed, this is the place to go.  Most Breeds has a rescue club, you can fidn them online or call the Kennel Club on 0870 6066750 to find out the contact number.  Do ask questions.  Some of these clubs are brilliant, some of them never see the dogs at all.  They register them via a phone call and put the next person who wants a dog onto that contact.  Some do send out volunteers to assess the dogs, but not all of them.  Just be sure exactly what you are being offered.  Do ask about what backup there is if the dog doesn't work out.  The majority of breed clubs don't have premises, they are a network of dedicated volunteers coordinating owners and dogs.  You are often asked to collect a dog from the original owner.  They usually don't want it back again.
   You do not get the pedigree papers of dogs from these clubs.

2. Private Adverts
   If I had a penny for every call I get about a privately bought dog that turned out to be a lunatic, I could stop doing the lottery!  Don't be fooled into thinking that a no person is horrible enough to sell you a dog without mentioning the fact that it is going to bite you/the neighbour/the kids/every dog it sees, because it happens every day.  A very elderly couple recently sold a young Terrier to a couple with a 2 year old son.  They claimed to be going into residential care and couldn't keep the dog.  They cried so much, that although the dog was free, the new owners felt so badly they gave them £20.  Within an hour of taking it home, it bit the husband badly on the hand and he went to hospital.  When the elderly owners were called to tell them they said "f*** off and don't bring it back here, it's mental".  All this despite meeting the couple's child!
   So be careful!  There are of course good reasons why dogs sometimes have to be rehomed.  The knack is in spotting them.  Make sure if you view a dog in its home, you do these simple tests: ask the owner to groom the dog, take its toys and chews away and give it basic commands.  If they have kids, ask them to get their children to repeat the tests.  Take the dog for a walk (very important!).  This will tell you all the basic things you need to know.

3. General Rescue
   There are lots of rescue organisations out there.  Look in the Yellow Pages, the dog magazines, local papers and the vets.  Some are "walk-in shops"; pick a dog and take it home. Some will put you through the mill before you even see a dog.  Make sure that you have questions to ask them: what are their adoption rules? What happens to a dog that proves unsuitable? Are the dogs neutered or microchipped?  What is the donation?

4. Breeders
   Good breeders take their dogs back at any point in their life.  So breeders sometimes have older dogs needing a good home.  Be careful of taking on a dog retired from breeding: sometimes these dogs have never been out of a kennel and are badly socialised and develop behaviour problems.  So even if you see an advert just for puppies of a breed you would like an older dog from, contact the breeder anyway.  They might have a suitable dog, or a contact within their breed that can help you.

BUYING

Puppy farmed dogs are sold in all sorts of places:  kennels selling multiple breeds, puppy superstores, individuals advertising they will deliver, someone with one litter and no mother selling them "for a friend".

Remember you are seeing the best end of farming, the ones that make it to the shop, lots don't and the parents are still in those hell holes.

Do not buy pedigree puppies if you cannot see at least the mother and get details of how to view the father.  Do not buy puppies registered with anything other than the Kennel Club, any other registration is worthless.

Do NOT fall for rubbish about how a "sick friend" asked them to help out or how a "good breeder" wanted help selling.  It is against Kennel Club rules for any third party to sell your puppies, so no good breeder would do it.

Make sure you know which hereditary diseases your breed has and what exactly you should be shown to prove both parents were tested and that the results were good enough.  Do NOT buy from people who tell you their line is "free from hereditary disease and we've never had a problem" or "they're only pets, that's just for showing".  This is NOT true.  A dog does not have to have had or passed any health test to be shown, it is something done by genuine and conscientious breeders to give their stock the best chance of a  healthy and long life.

Expect to sign a puppy sales contract and for a breeder to tell you they will take the dog back at any point if you cannot keep it.  Some breeders put endorsements on their KC registrations to stop you registering puppies if you bred any.  This is something done to safeguard their breeding and the future of healthy dogs.  It can be lifted by agreement if your dog is good enough and healthy enough to be bred from when old enough.