whoamulewhoa

Thanks for your thoughtful replies! Couple of follow-ups:

Buy paying someone exorbitant prices for dogs the consumer turns the lives of the dogs into a commodity which results in a profit focused transaction.

How do you square these concerns with the new "retail rescue" industry? Many rescues now charge more than good breeders do. My sister was combing the surrounding states for a dog to rescue last year; some highly reputable groups wanted six or eight hundred dollars for dogs. Their reasoning was that it supports the cost of caring for the dogs before they're placed, which of course is why breeders charge what they do. Some national rescue groups are sitting on assets in the millions. My local private shelter back home (not a no-kill) trucks highly marketable toy mixes from LA while killing local dogs for "homelessness". Whatever they don't sell quickly gets moved to local rescue groups. They're taking in hundreds of thousands a year both in dog sales and donations, paying some very comfy salaries, etc. and are extremely hostile toward our local no-kill group. Most of the dogs killed in shelters here these days have been sold more than once, and returned due to lack of follow-up care and resources. Rehomed dogs are definitely a commodity these days, and "retail rescue" is a big industry.

I'm a libertarian about pet ownership (and profit) and believe everyone has the right to choose what pet is right for their family. I don't believe all breeders are profit motivated, nor all re-homers, and as long as the dogs' and owners' outcomes are happy ones, I don't care who makes money doing what. Realistically speaking, I don't know any hobby breeders making a full time paycheck out of selling dogs, but there are certainly plenty of livelihoods being made selling "random source" dogs. Given your concern about commoditization of dogs' lives, I'm curious how that meshes where profitable rescues pass non-profit breeders on the income issue.

Your statistic that 300,000 dogs are imported per year may not be as accurate as you think.

Not my statistic, the CDC's. You are correct that often these are thinly-veiled retail sales of dogs marketed with a "rescue" label, especially where it comes to Chihuahuas and Chihuahua mixes imported from Mexico. Welcome to the "retail rescue" industry.

we usually establish relationships with rescue groups in the country where we ship. These rescue groups (because they are located in the same country as the new owner) are most actively involved in aftercare.

One of my biggest beefs with the local private shelter is how they utilize other rescue groups' resources for imported dogs that take longer than a week or two to sell. You said before that you don't feel that your rescued dogs take homes from local rescued dogs, but it sounds like the follow-up care does use local resources, and one of the main reasons dogs still die in shelters here is lack of adequate support. I do recognize that often you're placing dogs in countries that have already effectively zeroed their kill rate, so this may not really be an issue.

Again, thanks for your thoughtful answers. As I'm sure you can tell, these are all issues I have complicated feelings about.

Here in the U.S., we still kill a lot of dogs for homelessness, though according to the No-Kill community that's more an issue of shelter mismanagement than numerical overpopulation. Since you see the choice to take one of your dogs as not conflicting with the choice to home a needy local dog, do you feel the same about the choice to purchase from a reputable breeder?

Many people in the dog world are uncomfortable what you do; the CDC estimates around 300,000 dogs imported annually from overseas. Import laws were recently changed for stricter quarantine because we have seen rabies, distemper, and parasites coming in with some of them. I am guessing you avoid some of the USDA stuff by taking donations only?

With the high return rate in U.S. shelters, I'm concerned a lot of newbie dog owners bite off more than they can chew, and lack adequate support after purchase. But I'm pro-choice in terms of pet ownership, I agree with you that people choose different pets for different reasons, and I'm fond of indigenous sighthounds, so... can you tell us what your pre-shipping medical protocols are, and your stateside quarantine policy? What's your follow-up care like? Do you actively participate in the rehab and training of these dogs, once they're here? In what ways do you monitor long-term success? Do you offer lifetime rehoming support?