Would you ever purchase a dog off of Craigslist or Kijiji if it was your breed of choice?

• Say you have had this breed all of your life, and saw your breed advertised on one of these sites, would you actually buy it if you were looking for another dog? I do NOT want to get into the whole *get a puppy from a shelter thing* or get one from breed rescue. Would you, or not? Would you look as it as a sort of way to rescue this dog before it gets into the wrong hands or does end up in it's breed rescue? Would you actually keep the dog, try to re-home it or what? Since you already know about your breed of choice, you would already know what health problems exist, so if you decided to get this dog, would you be shocked if it died of DCM or something of the such within the first month you got it and decided to keep it? I NEVER give a TD when I ask a question, so if someone does it to you, it's not me who has.

• Answer:

  Ummm Well Ok so here is the story One day in May I was on Craigslist looking for one of those dog crates that is made like a coffee/end table.http://www.petclassics.com/End-Table-Crates/dog-crate-end-table.59.html I had already found one on Craiglist but I was in search of another. As I was looking at the ads I came across an ad for a 16 week old Pomeranian puppy -one of my breeds. The ad stated the dog had to be gone THAT NIGHT. I thought wow what a screening process. I decided to inquire and get more information. Long story short- the woman had owned the puppy for exactly Five days. It was her first dog, she thought she could get him fully trained while she had the week off of work and well she had to go back to work and he was not trained and she said he was too much work. Even more alarming was the person she got him from had him for ony Five days and decided he was too much work as well. So here was this 16 week old puppy who had gone from his breeder (and I use that term loosely) to two owners in a period of TEN DAYS and was about to go to his fourth home. I talked to my Husband about it and we decided we would get him and I would network him with my other people in my Dog training classes (My trainer runs Pomeranians in agility) and we would find him a great home through my network. We offered the woman far less then what she was asking and she agreed. Wow how is that for a screening process. We met her in a restaurant parking lot and the puppy became mine. I fell in love with him instantly. He was not going anywhere. I had him at the vet the next day not only to check him out, but because I thought he had a UTI. Upon requesting the records from the vet she had taken him to ( a FREE VET VISIT) it turned out she had noticed blood in his urine but declined treatment because that was not free. Well not only did he have a UTI, he has Diabetes Insipidus ($1,600 to diagnose) a disorder that causes him to drink a lot and urinate alot -even when he sleeps. This is different then "sugar diabetes". Thank got he fell into my hands, I shudder to think how many homes he would have gone to with this issue and is overabundance of energy (think Border Collie on speed) My agility instructor would have taken him in a heartbeat as she said I could not have gone out and gotten a dog with more drive and ability. So much for my plan for getting my next dog from a reputable breeder-often times you get the dog that needs you. I HAVE NEVER VISITED THE CRAIGSLIST PET SECTION SINCE!!