by guybo » Tue Dec 07, 2010 5:02 pm
There is a basic difference between dogs and birds. It's not a fair comparison. Moreally it's the same- rehoming any animal in a bad situation is the right thing to do for the animal regardless of the sepcies.
But a dog, as long as it isn't viscous, can normally be rehabilitated from a bad situation and made into a perfectly fine pet. Many dogs are judged to be valuable based on breed as well and mutts are often discarded. So rehoming a dog usually means not only saving the dog's life (sometimes literally- from a kill shelter) but also you get a great animal even if the stigma of "mutt" is attached.
Birds don't go to kill shelters. Birds aren't labeled mutts (although less desirable species of bird may have stigmas of their own and bird "upgrades" do happen). Birds do go to ignorant and non-attentive owners and they live miserable and short lives. Yes, the ignoratn owner may kill the animal by mistake but usually it's a miserable wasting away and feather plucking, not a kill shelter that gets a bird. But either way, it's not a straight analogy to the plight of a dog who will suffer immediate death (within a couple weeks) and that's not reversible- unlike the situation of a bird which can go to a nice home and be saved.
Also, a bird sometimes can't be made into a nice pet. Once a bird gets to a certain point, the amount of work that has to be put in, most people won't do. Plus when a bird gets cagey, wild, untame and bites, and is old to boot- there isn't much that can be done for most people. An older dog can be rehabbed, the older bird takes a LOT more work and will only go so far.
So back to breeder vs rehome. Almost any dog can be successfully rehomed, but a bird has to be realtively young for most people. A breeder bird (from a good breeder anyway) will come already tame and ready to develop a close relationship right away. A dog from a [good] breeder usually is for show/status not for temperament. IMHO rehoming a young bird is much more personally fulfilling, but I will never begrudge someone getting a bird from a breeder. I have 4 birds- 2 from a breeder, 2 rehomed and they are all great companions and all different. With dogs, I applaud anyone who's saved a dog from a bad sitaution and those with status dogs I try not to judge as long as they take good care of the animal. I've only ever had dogs from other homes (though not always from bad a situations).