We adopted our two cats from my daughter’s friend’s aunt 12 years ago. They look Siamese, though we were told they are also half main coon.
They are sisters from the same litter and still like to play. They were playing hide and seek in the one picture here.
Almost all of our cats have come from our humane society. H also takes care of random strays on our porch. One had kittens. Most disappeared but the last one we took in. We also got one from a dumpster.
H got a Rottweiler when we first started dating. She came from a breeder but I don’t know much about them.
Older S/FIL got their pup from a foster dog parent. Shes definitely a super cute mutt
Always adoption - so many animals in need. Our new dog Nellie we found on adopt a pet. There is a section to adopt from people who are rehoming their pets for various reasons - death, illness, financial issues, new baby etc.
I’ve had 2 dogs and 4 cats. All the cats were strays/ rescues. One dog was a mixed breed and one was a pure breed.
My first dog we got from newspaper ad for puppies. It was an accidental litter born after a border collie jumped a 6.5ft wall into someone’s backyard and mated with their golden retriever who they had been planning to breed. She was a great dog. Smart–knew over 120 words. Loyal. Great hiker and backpacker. Supremely patient with small children. Herded cows, sheep and small children at school bus bus stops. A shepherd up in the San Juans Mountains offered to buy her from us after she herded all his sheep into a nice tight pack on the trail we were hiking. She also once brought us a cow and calf she found while we hiking along a stream in the Pecos Wilderness. (I should mention we didn’t especially appreciate her present since the cow was very angry and had horns…) Wonderful, wonderful pet. I still miss her.
Second dog can from a breeder, a Gordon Setter who wasn’t quite show quality. She was …not like my first dog. Good pet but prone to running off into the woods and getting lost when we went hiking. Also not especially bright. But what a good looking dog.
First cat was found as a stray roaming an industrial neighborhood by a friend of ours. Friend took him in, but decided with 4 dogs already he didn’t need another pet and gave him to my husband who in turn gave him to our 5 year old as a birthday present. Again, great pet. He was at least part, if not fully, Ragdoll. Even my husband who didn’t like cats, loved this one. Extremely empathetic, friendly and loyal. He lived to be 22 years old.
Second cat was acquired by D1 when she was in college. A co-worker at the restaurants she worked at took in a pregnant stray. The stray gave birth but then disappeared before the kitten were weaned. The co-worker was desperate to give away the kittens. D1 took one who she bottle-fed since before the kitten’s eyes were fully open. When D left to do her medical residency all the way across country, she left the cat with me. I still have her. She’s a domestic shorthair of some sort. All black (with some white hair & whiskers now since she’s 18). A real curmudgeon of cat who will live forever. Very robust in health for being as old as she is.
Third cat was adopted from the Humane Association. He was about 6-8 months and D2 picked him out. He threw himself at her when she was walking thru the cat room. He’s at least half Maine Coon Cat, with snowshoe paws, tufted ears and a very dense double coat. He follows me around like a dog. Extremely loyal and very loving. He’s a total lap cat. He’s 17.5 and has early stage kidney failure.
My daughter whom I live with has had 2 dogs and 1 cat.
D1 bought a pure bred German Shepherd puppy from a small breeder who bred a workings line of shepherds for the police and military. Her puppy lacked “task disciple” and didn’t make the cut for a police dog. She was a very intense dog who required a strong hand to manage. She developed health issues due to multiple allergies (common in shepherds) and later had multiple cancers. (unfortunately also common in shepherds).
Her second dog was another German Shepherd she bought from a small breeder of show dogs. He was a cull because he inherited a recessive gene long coat that made him ineligible to show in the US. He didn’t have the intensity and drive to please that her previous Shepherd had, but he made a fine family pet. Lazy dog by shepherd standards. They just had to euthanize yesterday due to serious health problems. He developed inflammatory bowel disease in late January, failed every treatment regime, lost 25% of his body weight in 6 weeks, and started hemorrhaging internally. He had turned 4 on Valentines Day.
D won’t get another Shepherd, although she likes the breed a lot. Too many health issues.
Her cat was a rescue that she got in Sydney (Australia) from a street cat rescue group. Domestic shorthair. Small cat who is extremely cautious of people. Pretty aloof and a great hunter. At their previous house in Pasadena, this cat would kill rats in the neighborhood that were as big as she is. No exaggeration. She is blackest cat I have ever seen–even her claws are black.
I’ve had 4 cats and got them all from the shelter.
All my cats (7 over the years) have been from the SPCA or rescue groups. I’m an “adopt don’t shop” proponent, but won’t judge anyone who chooses otherwise, especially for dogs. I have friends who’ve decided to go to breeders, or driven hundreds of miles out of their way, because 90% of the dogs available in the local shelters are pit bulls or difficult to handle German Shepherds, huskies, etc, and they were not interested in those types of dogs.
This post will come across as snobbish but will be explained. We are a German Shepherd family - specifically, working line GSD’s from German or Czech parents. We had two German import dogs and our most recent GSD was born to an imported dam. A poorly bred GSD can be a liability waiting to happen and the majority of them wind up in shelters due to temperament/health issues.
Here in America, any purebred GSD registered with the AKC can be bred and the puppies be given full registration papers. It doesn’t work like that in Germany. Over there, the GSDs need to be temperament tested, obtain a performance title, pass an endurance test and a breed survey, and have their hips/elbows certified in order to be registered and allowed to breed in their organization, the SV. Not that it is a full guarantee but you can be fairly confident that a puppy from German-bred parents who belong to the SV will be sound and have a fairly predictable temperament based upon the parents’ pedigrees. There obviously will always be exceptions to the rule, though.
Since we dabbled in the sport of Schutzhund, we needed dogs with stable temperaments, strong nerves and clear heads.
The other type of GSDs you will find in shelters are from these working lines that are just “too much dog” for the novice owner. They are exceptionally smart and extremely curious and need to be kept busy or given a “job” to do. They are not for the owner who expects a couch potato or who is unwilling to fully exercise the dog physically and mentally for a few hours on a daily basis.
We sadly had to euthanize our one GSD this past Sunday. She lived to be 13 which is “old” for GSDs. She only had one sick visit her whole life which was for an ear infection when she was 2. Same for our previous GSD until he passed away at 8 from a hemangiosarcoma (common in the breed).
I have had mixed-breed dogs from the shelter who made exceptional companions when I was younger; however, once I had kids and married a husband who needed to travel a lot for work I wanted a GSD. Now I don’t think I could own another type of dog.
All of our cats have been from the shelter. I try to rescue adults who have been strays or whose owners have passed away and they were given to the shelter.
I forgot the dogs…
Our cocker spaniel (Thumper) was a stray our neighbor picked up. Problem was…the neighbor lived with a roommate who had a cat. So the pooch came to live with us “temporarily”…but never left. He was a great pet. Likely was purebred according to our vet. We had him until he was about 16 years old. He was so darn sweet.
Second pooch was actually my mother’s Lhasa apso. Also was a stray but her vet said pure bred also. He came to live with us when he was almost 18, not long before my mother died. He lived to be almost 21! Another very sweet dog.
What a beauty!
Was this a Covid-era adoption?
We got our Covid kitten from the Humane Society almost four years ago and we weren’t allowed to see the kittens in person—also had to adopt from a website “introduction”.
My niece is a vet in Germany. She loves GSDs and can likely second what you said. Not snobbish at all! Also, US GSDs are more prone to hip issues because they have been bred to have that distinctive “triangular” shape. European dogs are more “boxy” and have fewer hip issues.
Our cats are all from shelters or literally dumpsters! Best cats ever. 
Our beloved dog was from a local hobbyist breeder. He was a sweetheart but unfortunately broke our hearts when his time to cross the rainbow bridge came.
I got my current dog from an organization that rescues dogs who either are in dire need of medical care or about to be euthanized. She was rescued a few hours before being euthanized. She comes from a long line of Ensenada/Rosarito area street dogs. She was listed on Petfinder as a Catahoula Leopard mix. DNA testing shows that was technically true, but more precisely a one of a kind mix of 20+ breeds – none more than ~15%. The pictures are intentionally vague or old (before color change), for privacy. The beach one was from earlier this week.
My previous dog was also a rescue – a German Shepherd / Shar Pei mix that lived to 17. She looked like a shepherd with softer features and/or coyote. The shar pei side came out in her obsession with guarding property, including a complex threat assessment system. More than 15 of those years were in good health, including 10 mile type hikes.
Various cats over the years: SPCA, Animal Control (our city agency) , and family members who rescued strays and couldn’t keep them. (“Can you keep him until I can find a good home?” Yeah right.)
We have labs. They are a little goofy and shed like crazy but they are so loving with our kids (and now grandkids). I got our first one from a backyard breeder, but the last few have been from a local reputable breeder who shows and hunts her dogs. The breeder sells the puppies on a limited registration (meaning we are not allowed to breed the dog). She is very picky about the homes her puppies go to.
Agree with others, nothing snobbish in your post, @Vertigo75. Interesting to hear about the differences in German-bred dogs.
You hit upon the biggest problem here, too many back yard breeders, coupled with owners lacking the knowledge/skills to handle such intelligent, intense dogs. There’s a reason GSDs make excellent police and military dogs! My friends that I mentioned above were aware enough to realize they would not be a good match for those breeds, and chose more appropriate companions, whether shelter mutts or specific breeds that matched their lifestyle.
We’re a cat household. Have always gotten our cats from a local no kill cat shelter. We currently have a 16 yr old cat and a 6 yr old. Here’s a pic of the 6 yr old…she’s not the smartest tool in the shed, but she’s an awesome family member.
Probably best cat we’ve ever had was this male orange tabby cat. He was chunky, super smart, and totally awesome. He died about a year ago. My older daughter taught him how to talk using those talking pet buttons you can program…he could put 2 and 3-word sentences together. Always told us when he was mad that we wouldn’t give him treats. 
And ever since he was a kitten, he would stick his back leg out like this sometimes. LOL.
I got my last two cats at a local shelter. My husband was really reluctant to get another cat after the previous one died at the age of 20; he really disliked having a catbox in the house. We compromised by building a kitty cabana outside a back window to hold the catbox. It’s a structure a lot like a rabbit hutch. The cats enter through a cat door and there is an exterior door to give access to clean the catbox. We brought the kittens home and moved the catbox a little closer to the cat door each day till we eventually put the catbox on the other side of the cat door in the kitty cabana. They have been using it consistently for 11 years now.
A little while later we added a cat walk to a catio on the far end of the kitty cabana so they can go outside whenever they like.
I lost one of them to cancer in October and the surviving sister is bereft (as am I.) I’d love to get another cat but I don’t know how to tell if the current cat would tolerate it. I don’t want commit in case they don’t get along.
Pembrook Welsh Corgis have double coats. You can brush them all you want and you’re only brushing the top coat. The undercoat will still shed and shed A LOT.
We got our first, Einstein, from a pet shop in California. My daughter was in the shop and fell in love with it. He was a great dog and lived 14 years. Our second is from a breeder in California we got in contact with thru the AKC marketplace web page. I thought she was a bit sketchy, but Abby will turn 15 shortly and still going strong. Our third Corgi was also from a breeder thru the AKC webpage. This one was in New Hampshire and also seemed a bit sketchy. Winston is now 6 years old.
Prior to getting the Corgis, we had cats. The cats and the Corgis overlapped about 10 years, so it was a busy household. All the cats were rescues. The first was an adult and the other two we had we got as kittens. We lost our last cat about 2.5 years ago at 19 years of age.
First two border collies, from backyard breeders had temperament issues (but weren’t very well socialized since we both worked full time). Both lived to be 15.
Next border collie was given to us by my husband’s coworker who saw a photo of us and the dogs on his desk and said “I have a dog I’m going to give you.” 
. I swore I’d never have another border collie but he turned out to be the best dog in the world. He was meant to compete in herding trials but was a herding dud, so he became ours for a too short 12 years.
When we lost him, my daughter cried for days and wanted to get another puppy. So this time I found a reputable breeder and got our current 6 year old female border collie. She had a grey Merle dad and tri color mom. She is charcoal and white with weird patches of white, and one strange tuft of red on her back near her tail. A usually non-talkative neighbor noticed the red tuft and asked “what’s up with that?” 
She’s a very good girl other than her markings, but was a total demon her first year.
When I was working in Albuquerque for a few months on my own except for the dog, I felt sorry for her looking sad all day while I worked, so I went the shelter to get her a companion that I thought was part border collie. He ended up being Aussie, Great Pyrenees, and Coonhound! He’s a barker but is the sweetest boy who sometimes gets a bit too wound up. He’s 5.
So we’ve had border collies for over 30 years.
We also had one rescue cat that lived to be 18.
Demon
Best dog in the world
Grown up demon who’s a good girl now
Sweet Aussie Mutt
Cranky departed cat
I dream that my next two cats will be female littermates Sphinx cats named Issa and Sia. 
I will most definitely end up with black or tabby shelter cats. Three is an optimal number as far as I can tell. They will be named Flow, Issa, and Sia.
