When should you decide NOT to rescue?
If you have your heart set on either of these things, then rescue is probably not for you.
Breed - You are only willing to take a particular breed or mix. Rescue may have what you are looking for, but there can be huge waiting lists for certain breeds (try golden retriever, or *sigh* Shetland sheepdogs).
Puppy - If having a puppy is important to you, it's going to be hard to find one under 1 year (and even harder to find one under 6 months) at Rescue. Most rescues have a policy to not send out dogs that are younger than 6 months. Many rescue dogs were previously owned, and therefore are also no longer puppies. In the state of California, you can bring a puppy home as early as 8 weeks.
A few more things to consider:
Time - If your rescue dog has special needs, you will need to dedicate extra time and attention to it. That means that having a full time job and a rescue dog may not be possible. Many rescue organizations will talk to you at length about your life style. If you can't provide a lot of time, and / or cannot provide more information regarding who will be spending a majority of time with the dog, it will make the interview and selection process difficult. Just to note, if you don't have a lot of time to spend with your new dog, rescue or not, you should seriously think about if this is the right time to adopt a dog.
Special Needs - Sometimes, a rescue can be difficult for a first time dog owner, particularly if the rescue dog has special needs. Socialization can be difficult if the dog was abused, and a lively family may be too much action for a dog looking to acclimate slowly.
In our case, we knew we definitely wanted a Shetland Sheepdog, and I was fairly certain I wanted a puppy. I looked into some local rescue groups, but there were so few of this particular dog breed available, and the waiting lists were huge. But we're so happy. We LOVE Leela. Although, if I do end up taking in a second dog, I'd be interested in looking into rescue.
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