At what point is a rescue no longer a rescue?

I asked someone the other day why she referred to her dogs as: the Jack Russell, the Ridgeback cross, and the rescue. Why “rescue”, as if it’s a breed. It’s also a cross. Her reply: rescues tend to have special needs, they’re different to the others no matter what they’re crossed with because of their backgrounds, most of them are poorly treated and malnourished—I guess that’s the situation where I live. She said she’ll always refer to him as her rescue.
 
I disagree. Genetics and environment are equally important; a dog who is naturally predisposed to a certain behavioural trait but is never exposed to the environment in which it is expressed will never show the associated behaviours. You get just as many neurotic dogs from breeders as you do solid dogs from shelters. There may be more dogs surrendered to rescue because they have neuroses that the owners can’t cope with, but those neuroses aren’t created by the shelter. Conversely, you have many dogs who come out of a shelter, having spent years in less than ideal conditions, and have only relatively minor issues that can be resolved with a little commitment and training.

In the UK and USA, the majority of dogs are surrendered because of behavioural issues. They’re certainly not all abused or neglected dogs, simply dogs who were predisposed to certain traits through their genetics, which their environment triggered, that made them unsuitable for the home they landed in.

This is why ethical breeding is so important. With ethical breeding, where breeders keep temperament as high a priority as health, there would be far, far fewer surrenders in the first place.
 
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Can’t agree with you more—especially about ethical breeding. Just relating what one person told me, about why she calls that dog her “rescue” dog. And I’m guessing that it’s used often by people I come across on dog walks to explain certain behaviors (nervous, not happy meeting other dogs, etc).
 
I had the great pleasure of meeting a man out with his daughter with his rescue Slovakian Rough Coated Pointer. They were very proud to tell me he was a rescue and I was very interested to learn about this breed that was completely new to me. He was absolutely stunning and every inch a Pointer :eek: Very interesting :) xx
 
I had the great pleasure of meeting a man out with his daughter with his rescue Slovakian Rough Coated Pointer. They were very proud to tell me he was a rescue and I was very interested to learn about this breed that was completely new to me. He was absolutely stunning and every inch a Pointer :eek: Very interesting :) xx
Great looking dogs but definitely not for the faint hearted!!:pull:
 
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