The dark side of dog breeding

I think the average person believes that with the exception of puppy mills, dog breeders are loving and nurturing caretakers of these animals who only want what’s best for them. At least that was my impression, not having been associated with the breeding industry. I’ll do a future post on good dog breeders, but there have been several circumstances that prompted me to first discuss what’s wrong with the breeding industry.

I do know several breeders whose primary concern is for their dogs’ welfare and they are very successful, having a reputation as ethical, moral and caring breeders. But as the Bible says, you can’t serve both God and Mammon – essentially, you really can’t be ethical, moral and do what’s right if your master is money, riches, and power.

1- Culling litters – The breeder we bought Elvis from told us the story of a Spinoni that weighed only 8 ounces at birth. As she told us, “most breeders would have thrown him in the trash” (literally). This newborn was too weak to even nurse, but the breeder didn’t give up on him and with assistance from the vet, fed him through a dropper until he was strong enough to nurse on his own. Eventually he gained his strength and, as he was the runt of the litter, given to a wealthy individual. After a couple of years the pup had grown to average size, and now lives a life of luxury and is taken to the park on a daily basis. The point is, many newborns are never given a chance at life, as there are breeders who destroy those deemed not worth their time and money.
2- Dog dumping – a local breeder was seen dumping one of her puppies off in the parking lot of an animal shelter. She was reported and when investigated by the police, admitted to being in the parking lot at the time of the dumping, but denied that the puppy was hers. Even though she is the only breeder in the area and the dumped dog was a purebred of the type she breeds, she was not charged or fined for the dumping and to the best of my knowledge, end of story.
3- Backyard breeders – Not all “backyard breeders” are bad, and we got Sophie from acquaintances who would be classified as backyard breeders; however Sophie does have hip dysplasia and her brother was unable to keep any food down, and was euthanized soon after we got Sophie.
However a lady in our humane society related an incident that occurred at a rabies clinic the society was participating in. A “backyard breeder” of Labs approached and confronted her because of the “please spay and neuter” sticker on her car. He told her that he had a right to breed dogs all he wanted and nobody was going to tell him he couldn’t. She explained that there are a number of Labs euthanized every year at the animal shelter, whereupon he demanded to know exactly how many that was. The animal shelter is currently collecting that information.
4- Inoculations – The breeder that we purchased our Spinoni from does it right: she gave us copies of their shot records and required in the contract that we complete the entire series of shots.
However a co-worker purchased a puppy from a breeder and was informed that he had all his shots, but the breeder became indignant when asked for cpoies of the shot records. If a breeder cannot or will not provide records of their shots, or at least the name of the vet that gave them, they are undoubtedly hiding something or lying. These breeders certainly don’t have the puppy’s welfare in mind and cannot be trusted.

Tags: animal shelters, dog breeders, humane society, purchasing a dog