This is a phrase I hear all the time, usually after a sad infomercial featuring dogs behind bars with sad faces looking horrible. Truth be told, those infomercials make me cry. And although I don't normally like to use my blog as an opportunity to stand on my soapbox and preach (oh wait I do that all the time) and I know there are lots of opinions on this subject matter and I am sure I will get a lot of negative feed back but here it goes.
I am a breeder. There I said it. Do I think you should buy your dogs from a breeder. Yes if you want a purebred dog absolutely, but from the right breeder. Now before you start typing your rebuttal let me finish my thought here. I recently started breeding my Newfoundlands. A breed which I fell in love with back in college when I was studying to become a veterinary technologist. I only just recently finally purchased my dogs a little over a year ago and fell in love all over again. What is it about the breed that I love? Everything from the lovable nature, working attitude, family dedication, to their ability to always find me after they have had a drink to wipe their slobber all over my pants. YEP I LOVE THIS BREED. I researched the breed, talked to breeders and eventually settled on a rescue organization to adopt one from, even met the dog and knew he was the one I wanted to adopt. The only problem was they rejected my application. I know right? I was a little floored about the decision too. How could that be? I was not only a vet tech, dog groomer and canine behaviourist with a dog facility, but I clearly knew my stuff about the breed and could provide a lovely home for him. But they rejected me due to the fact that I have children under the age of 5. And the dog is big and could accidentally knock over the children. (if only they met my children! They live with 10 dogs all different sizes and I guarantee the Jack Russell knocks them down way more than the large dogs!...but I digress)
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| Mariah working with the kids |
Now some of you will say I add to the problem of the huge number of dogs being euthanized every year, and all for the profit of dog breeding, cause you wouldn't do it if you didn't make money right? ( I hear this phrase an awful lot too!)
So here is my point of view and although it is the point of view from a "breeder" I think I bring to the table another perspective. I am also a vet tech. And in my career as a technician I have been the person on the other side of the needle, pushing the plunger to end a life. Hundreds of lives. I have been the person to hold the life of a beautiful creature in my arms and watch helplessly as the last flicker of energy leaves that body. I have been the one to cry, to yell, to scream at the top of lungs in anger and frustration. I have been the one to ask why? time and time again. And although it never got any easier, the question still remains. How do all these wonderful dogs end up here and why do I have to kill them?
Are dog breeders the cause of this over population of canines? I guess some are. But, I think we should be targeting the right culprits. Just saying don't buy from breeders is a blanket statement and doesn't really help in my opinion. There are wonderful breeds of dogs out there that have been around for hundreds of years and although they may not serve the same purposes as they did when they were originally created, they still hold a piece of history within themselves that I believe should be maintained. Just watch a working breed in action and you will see the shear brilliance and beauty that is remarkable and amazing. Take Jake for example. The Australian Shepard who just recently came to stay with us here at Beyond Obedience. His work ethic is unparalleled to any other and the joy of working can be seen on his face as he performs. But this is just one example there are too many to list for sure. SO for my side of the story...
I can only speak for myself and a lot of my breeder friends who are fantastic people. Because these are the people who truly love their breed. Their dedication to the breed and their dogs is outstanding. You see most of us breeders, do take painstaking care in finding the right homes for our dogs. My first litter I think the puppies where almost 5 months old by the time they finally went to their new homes. I turned down many. And at the end of the experience I spent way more money than I made. I know that is hard to believe but sometimes we do thing for the love of it , not because it makes us money. The other part I think I should mention is that for good breeders out there, our commitment to our dogs is for the life of the dogs. The dogs are to come back to us if there is ever a problem whether it is health or financial have to move to an apartment, you name it, no questions asked the dogs can always come back. Our dogs are micro chipped and registered to us if they are ever lost, and the owner can not be found. I know of a breeder who has been out of breeding for over a year and just recently got a call from a dog owner in another province. This breeder is already making arrangement to fly this now adult dog back because the owner can no longer take care of the dog.( all expenses being paid for by the ex-breeder) Another friend of mine, a husky breeder, flew to a city to rescue one of her dogs from a home which was currently having a domestic dispute. We love our dogs. We love the breed. Many of the good breeders donate money or are part of rescue foundations for the breed they love. Registered breeders take care in monitoring genetic health issues and registering their pedigrees to maintain good lines. We are not out their just willie nillie putting unknown dogs together and hoping for the best. There is care and forethought in all decisions. And it is this that you are paying for. When you spend hundreds of dollars for a dog from a breeder you are paying for this dedication. You are paying for the monitoring and registering, you are paying for the care and consideration that goes into each and every dog and most likely you are paying for the love and commitment to not only the breed but the puppy which you are taking home.
Sooooo... here is where I believe the difference lies...
WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY are people spending top dollar for MIXED BREED DOGS???????
yep I am shouting! Back in my day these were results of neglecting getting your dog neutered in time and the puppies were "free to good home" and the dogs were fixed the second they could be fixed as pet owners did not want to go through that again. Now a days people are putting cutsie names to it and charging upwards of a thousand freaking dollars for them. Chweenies???? are you freaking kidding me? Puggles, Chorkies, Morkies????and lets not forget the doodles. Please STOP!!!!! STOP STOP STOP.
Did you know that "labradoodles " were created to give a "hypo allergenic" dog for those suffering from allergies but don't like "poodles" . But here is the thing. First of all these dogs are not shed free. If they have hair, they shed. True they shed significantly less but it is the dander of the dog that cause allergies and all dogs have dander. And ironically (and this is just my own observation from working in the boarding/daycare business) lots of these dogs suffer from ...you guessed it, ALLERGIES. So although we produced a dog that is suppose to be easier on our human allergy suffers, these dogs end up suffering themselves. Seasonal allergies or food allergies, lots of doodles I know are on some sort of antihistamine. Don't get me wrong. I have had the opportunitiy to work with many doodles and I do love them dearly. So I am not hating on the doodles or any other mixed breed for that matter. I am just questioning the accountability of the "breeders " of these dogs. You see, I have had the opportunity to work in genetics for a while in my technician career. I worked closely with leading scientists and doctors that have dedicated their lives to trying to study and understand genetics. If there is one thing I learned from it was this : genetics is a crazy game, it is not as simple as if I take one thing with good and bad qualities and mate it with another that has both good and bad qualities I will most likely get a litter of only good qualities. It takes generations ( at least 20 ) to create a breed and start to see some predictability in your lines and even then genetics will throw you a curve ball. Hence why registered breeders are continuely keeping track of their pedigrees!
I recently emailed a "breeder" of small dog mixes to question her "breeds" (her website had lots of adorable puppy pictures with hearts and clouds in the background...ahhh cute right?). I wanted to find out more information about her "breeds". She sent me back information about how the puppies births are all documented with baby pictures and such (which you get in an adorable baby photo album when you buy one of her dogs) along with some other cute things like the blanket he/ she was born on and that sort of thing. Of course her puppies were cute and adorable ( as most puppies are ) but when I asked about her health issues, she indicated that her puppies were healthy and that sometimes the get a slight skin redness which goes away and also some have slight heart murmurs.... (Ummm Excuse me ? WTF??) but the dogs with the heart murmurs still live to be quite old with no problems. Oh ok well that is well worth the $500.00 she was charging. This is a problem. I wish people could see this. Ok the puppies are cute but a mixed breed is just that a mixed breed. And let me say it is a MYTH that mixed breeds have less health issues. If you breed a pug with a health problem to a beagle with a health problem you are going to get puggles with ...you guessed it: HEALTH PROBLEMS. And there is no one documenting this. There is nothing holding these people accountable. They are not paying for registrations or health testing or even genetic testing. They are just MAKING MONEY ON THESE DOGS.
We spend all this time hating on puppy mills but just because these people aren't mass producing these dogs to the same extent as puppy mills does not make their contribution to the over population of dogs any less of a concern.
In my years of having to euthanize dogs, very rarely was I euthanizing a purebred registered dog. That is my experience. That is not to say it doesn't happen, just in my experience it wasn't the norm. However now as I am increasing my behaviour studies there are far more "mix " breed dogs out there with not only health but behaviour issues, and they are going un-documented, and they are becoming a increasing concern. These are the dogs ended up in shelters and these are the dogs that are be re-homed again and again. Stop the madness. Don't buy from BACKYARD BREEDERS. If you want a mixed breed dog, adopt one from a shelter, chance are you will be paying far less and giving a well deserved pet a new start on life. So I will say it agin: Adopt when you can, spay and neuter your pets and if you are having behaviour problems with your dog, seek professional help, before surrendering your pet to the shelter. Lets do our part in keeping our beloved dogs out of the shelters and in our homes and hearts.
Tracy Franken
Vet Tech
Pet Groomer
Dog Behaviourist
Breeder of Newfoundlands.
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