What Can Go Wrong
Adopting an endangered dog breed requires significantly more research, preparation, and patience than bringing home a common pet. If you decide to pursue canine conservation, you must be thoroughly prepared for these potential hurdles:
- Extremely Long Waitlists: Because there are so few breeding dogs globally, you will likely wait months or even years for a healthy puppy to be born.
- Geographic Challenges: You may have to travel across the country—or even internationally—to meet a reputable preservation breeder. Ethical breeders rarely ship puppies via commercial cargo.
- Small Gene Pools: With severely limited numbers, inbreeding is a serious risk for rare breeds. You must vet breeders rigorously to ensure they perform comprehensive genetic and orthopedic health testing before mating their dogs.
- Specialized Instincts: Many of these dogs were bred for highly specific, physically demanding jobs. A Bloodhound will follow a scent blindly into traffic, and a Sussex Spaniel will bark loudly on the trail. You cannot train deeply ingrained, centuries-old instincts out of them.
When I was a kid I grew up was 15 dogs and 12 cats. Now I own one dog and a desert turtle. I love animals if I can have another dog I would but I can’t afford another dog my dog is a pitbull and she is my friend and she is a dog that helps me get through my depression and my PTSD and ADHD