Where do I start? Difficult subject

We all have 20-20 hindsight. I would have probably not given them a piece of my mind either because I would have been so dumbfounded. I personally don't think you did anything wrong; it's difficult to tell eople like it is when they catch you off gaurd.

Sounds to me like you did the right thing. If you would have said what was on your mind they would have probably took offense and gotten nasty with you. From the sound of things they probably wanted an intact dog in hopes to breed and make money of them. Well I hope for the better of the dog and them that they never found one if they cant afford one.

You can't teach people who don't want to learn. They don't sound like they had their minds open for new ideas. So I don't think it would have made a difference if you would've spoken your mind, unfortunately. I can imagine how troubling that experience was for you. Hopefully it will dawn on them that acquiring a dog isn't going to solve whatever problems they are facing right now. [&o]

I wholeheartedly agree with everything said above. That said, with the posts in the 'dog saved your life' thread about the emotional bond with dogs... it may be those that are down on their luck who need the most the lessons that a dog can teach.

If they weren't planning to spay or neuter, you wouldn't have wanted to help them get a dog anyway, even if you did know someone getting rid of one.

  I also agree with what everyone else said. From their reactions to your remark about all the dogs in shelters it doesn't sound like they were going to listen to anything you would have said about caring for a dog properly.  It's so hard to know what to do in situations like this. I think you did the right thing. Don't spend any more time worrying about it.

The bottom line IMO is that since they cannot aford it they shouldnt have one... I agree that they may benefit from the bond, but what if it got sick?  Even a shelter dog (speaking no kill here) would be better off at the shelter than with someone who cannot provide the care it needs.

I used to work at a Pet Supermarket down in Florida, and a lot of people like that came into our store looking for dogs.

And I always tried my best to inform them while still being polite and mature about it. I have learned that there are ways to get things across to people without them taking offense. You just have to be very calm, and empathetic.

I always used my own dog as an example. "There are hundreds of dogs and puppies at the pound down the street. I got my dog from a pound. Best $70 I ever spent in my life. She's the best dog I've ever had and I think it's worth it."

I also mentioned to them that if they looked in the paper, they'd find mixed and purebred puppies that were going for anywhere between$250-1000+ and that the pound was way cheaper. I educated them about what puppy mills are too. A LOT of people are still unaware of the suffering that goes on, and if you tell them about these awful places, it can turn them around.

I managed to change a lot of peoples' minds, because they would often come back with the pound puppy/dog they just got. So, it is possible to get people to see, because with lots of practice, I've been able to do it. You just have to as calm and polite and you can possibly be, even though inside you may want to slap the sense into them LMFAO...

It's true though that you can't convince everyone lmao...