starplott
UKC Forum Member
Registered: Oct 2003
Location: SW Missouri
Posts: 1405 |
Re: Star
quote: [i]Originally posted
We wouldn't be here today talking about dogs if were not for backyard breeders.
True, depending how you look at it. But we started as apes too.
Guess that was an invalid point since we elected the talking monkey in office.
Back yarders of today are not close to what they were 80 years ago. There's a difference to information not being available and refusing to get educated to do better.
We have health tests to test breeding stock for genetic issues that the current back yarders care less about passing on. That extra cash on hand means more than the health, future, proper placement, and integrity of the breeds. WTF is the pupose of a Chi-weenie? A Hav a chon? A puggle?
Most of my clients started out with buying from back yarders. I can go on and on with health, structure, and temp issues. I have one client who bought a lab from a back yarder that bred 'just hunting' stock and has spent over $5k in vet bills due to severe allergies and thyroid issues. That is over $1000 a year of that dog's life. They put their son's dog down after 2 knee replacements failed (dog was 5). My sister thought she was saving money paying $350 on a lab puppy that a friend bred. After $1500 in vet bills for genetic issues, the dog was rehomed at year and a half. The pup they got from me is 9 and has yet to have extra vet bills.
I've purchased hound pups starting out before deciding forking out $300 a pup, not including airfare, was a hell of a deal over the $75-175 that was ave puppy price at the time, to get a well bred pup from somebody who was established and guaranteed pups (didn't sell to anybody with $300 either).
Breeders who are responsible don't offer pups to people on this board who have sat around and watched 2-3 pups die because going to the vet wasn't an option. They don't sell to everybody who 'wants' one. They screen potential buyers. When they don't culls get passed around, bred, and dogs end up in shelters. Good dogs do come out, don't get me wrong. Just like culls can come out of well bred dogs on occasion.
There are good/educated small scale breeders out there! Though the back yarders who think because they have two dogs they should be bred and pups will fly out of the kennel tend to out number.
The term back yard breeder is a mindset and has nothing to do with the number of dogs,in a kennel or how many litters they produce. Puppymiller mentality on a smaller scale. I know some bigtime breeders that are just short of upscale puppy mills. Got one down the road. Has a facility to die for! Will import a cull for $2500 at 2 and sell it sight unseen for $10k as a trained dog with 48 hrs to return it or you are stuck w it. A puppy from his place...$2500 starting. And yes, his dogs fly out of his kennels. He is a complete idiot and crook. But he has a high price tag, imports dogs from overseas (which must be quality), has titled dogs, has a facility that would make the Alexanders envious, and a fancy website. Doesn't make him a good breeder. If it has a title it gets bred, just as long as he has a pup avail when somebody waives $2500+ out to him.
The ONLY difference between him and a back yard breeder is the fancy facility and high price tag. He's just a fancy dog trader and upscale puppymill.
Trust me, there are no jealousy issues! He's always the talk of animal abuse complaints and his selling high priced kennel dogs has put him in the media spotlight a time or two (recently for refusing a dog shipped back to him that was a disaster, which ended up sitting at the airport until the media shamed him into going to get it).
It would be nice to have his facility though. He's such an arrogant ass he can't even keep good staff and trainers. Know several who have worked for him, even moved family cross country. They all flee as soon as they can. They all say the same about his business.
But, there is a market for puppymillers and back yarders! Guess those people refused by not qualifying through a reputable breeder or just want cheap need to get their dogs from somewhere....vets and shelters need business.
In 30 years I have rescued quite a few dogs from such 'breeders'. NEVER have I rescued one from a responsible breeder. Have taken some in short term to get back to breeder if situations changed at the request of,the breeder in cases of illness and divorce a few times. But when a breeder calls and asks me to take a dog until we can meet, I hardly call that a rescue.
Got a rescue coming tomorrow. Nice dog, even bred. People have father and son. Father is just coming into his own at 3. NOT the right fit for the breed. They got a male and a female, bred young, sold all but 1 pup, and 'lost' the bitch while pups were being weaned. Sad fact is that next year when son comes into his own, will have to take him too. Just another case of somebody selling dogs to who ever has the cash rather than caring what happens to what they breed... Nice people, but they never would have qualified for a puppy from anybody I know who breeds responsibly in the breed. Certainly not qualify for a pup of that breed from me.
Being a breeder is MUCH more than breeding two dogs because you want to or like them. I know a lot of dogs I really like, even have a couple, that I won't breed or allowed to be bred. Just because somebody has money doesn't qualify them to be able to be a good home.
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