“I rescued him.” How many times has a dog owner said these words to you? These days people feel very confident that the only way they should obtain a dog is to rescue one. A person who is concerned with maintaining the moral high ground would never buy a pup from a breeder, because the word “breeder” is synonymous with puppy mill, right? We know to adopt and never to shop.

And how many times have you heard a person explain away their dog’s behavior issues with the phrase “He was abused by a previous owner.” They often have a story at the ready about how the dog hates men because their abuser was male, or how he is afraid of, say, flip flops because his abuser wore flip flops. How often do you think that is completely speculative? Is it very likely that a person brought the dog into the shelter and said “I am surrendering this dog after abusing him while wearing flip flops”?

These are just assumptions made by people, because they fit a preferable narrative. It feels downright heroic to think you rescued a dog from abuse, whereas it’s panic inducing to think that the dog is simply untrained and it’s your responsibility to change that. But really, which of the two scenarios is more likely to be true?

While rescuing is certainly admirable and valid, I chose not to do so for the reasons listed above, and also because I have young children. I wanted to have the very best chance at predicting the dog’s health and behavior. I wanted to have a first-hand view of the dog’s early experiences and be able to address any behavior issues as they arose.