All mutts are not rescues
One thing I often hear when someone meets my pet dog is “What kind is he?”
“I don’t know, he’s a mutt.”
Then, a common action is: “Aww, he’s a rescue. That’s so great of you.”
I’m thankful when people support adopting shelter mutts, but just because my pet dog is a mutt does not indicate he was “rescued.” It does not indicate he was abused. It does not indicate he spent time in a shelter or was on death row. It does not even indicate he came from an accidental litter (goldendoodle, anyone?).
I got my mutt through Adopt-A-Pet of Fargo-Moorhead. So if you look at it that way, I did “rescue” him. but I like to say I adopted him. a lot more accurately, I rescued his previous owner!
Ace’s first family never turned him over to a shelter or a foster family. instead they posted his profile on Adopt-A-Pet and kept him until they found him a new home (me). This mutt has spent one night behind bars in his life, and that was when I paid to leave him at a boarding kennel.
So, in some ways I did “rescue” Ace, but I think that is giving me too much credit. I just wanted a dog. often people cling to the idea that they “rescued” their dogs, nearly playing up the drama to make themselves feel better. I don’t think we need another reason to be emotionally attached to our dogs. It isn’t always healthy for the pet dog or the human.
And of course, “rescues” are not always mutts.
Many purebred dogs have spent time at a shelter or pound. lots of come from puppy mills, accidental litters and abusive situations in one way or another. thousands of purebred dogs are euthanized annually because of behavioral problems or a lack of resources or space to keep them.
And just as I hear people make inaccurate comments about mutts, I also hear them making comments about “all these purebred” dogs and how “it’s a shame a lot more people don’t adopt from shelters.”
These people are missing a very big point. lots of of the purebred dogs we see are living with their second or third family. There are plenty of mutts that need good homes, but purebred dogs are waiting for good homes, too.