Adopt a dog or go to a breeder? An honest answer

Because it is the question almost everyone asks before writing to us, and because the honest answer does not always favor us. In Colombia, adoption is the most common route: according to a 2024 study cited by El Espectador, 40% of people with a pet adopted it, and other surveys give higher figures. They do not agree with each other, but the direction is clear.

It is also true that the word “breeder” (criadero) carries a bad reputation it has thoroughly earned: in the press it appears alongside rescues of sick, overcrowded animals. We are not going to argue with that. We are going to explain how we differ, and tell you when your right option is not us.

• You want a companion and have no requirement of breed, exact size or coat type.
• You would rather have an adult. Its size and temperament are already known: that is more information than any puppy gives you.
• You don’t want to go through the puppy stage, with its nights, its nipping and its months of training.
• Your budget is tight. What you don’t spend on getting the dog you will need for keeping it.
• You want to do a concrete good. One dog fewer in a shelter is a fact, not a slogan.

Where: at your municipality’s animal welfare centers and at foundations with a physical address. Go in person. Be wary of “adoptions” on social media that ask you to pay for shipping in advance: Colombia’s Attorney General’s Office (Fiscalía) warned in 2026 about scams aimed both at people looking for a purebred puppy and at people who want to adopt.

When you need predictability and know what for:

• A dog that sheds very little, because someone at home has a mild allergy and you have already confirmed they tolerate it.
• A known adult size, because of your space or an older person at home.
• A working dog for a farm, with its parents’ herding instinct.
• A particular temperament for living with small children, having met the parents.
• Being able to see the health tests of two generations.

None of that makes a purebred dog “better” than an adopted one. It makes it more predictable, if whoever breeds it does the job well. If they do it badly, you get the worst of both worlds.

Colombia has no official registry that tells you who is who; our guide on how to tell if a dog breeder is reputable explains it. You have to check point by point.

We found no national ban in force. There are restrictions on where dogs are sold — not in the street, nor in the public market squares of Bogotá or Bucaramanga — and on where breeding kennels are located, outside the urban perimeter.

Congress has spent years trying to regulate breeding. The Senate’s Bill 002 of 2025 would prohibit the commercial transfer of puppies under four months old, require them to be handed over sterilized and create a national registry of breeders. It is a bill, and we could not confirm what stage it is at. We think it is reasonable for regulation to exist.

Because a dog cannot be returned like a sweater. December is the month of gifts and, according to the press, January is the month of abandonments: El Tiempo has reported on it.

The person who is going to live with the dog has to be the one who decided. If you want to give someone a dog, give them the decision: a conversation, a visit to a shelter, time to think it over. If they then want one of ours, we will be here.

That you start with the right question, which is not “where do I get one?” but “what kind of life can I give a dog?” Our quiz is useful even if you end up adopting: it helps you think about energy, time and space.

If the answer is a calm dog and you don’t mind the breed, go to a shelter. If it is one of the seven breeds we raise, read its page, especially the “not for you if…” list, and write to us. And if it is a breed we don’t raise, look for someone who breeds it by the same standards, with our guide on questions to ask a dog breeder in hand.