Breeding - a Paradigm Shift...
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Breeding - a Paradigm Shift...
Submitted by Amy O on April 20, 2010 - 9:39pmJust today I received this as part of a "dog board" I belong to. I thought it was very interesting reading with much thought behind it!
BREEDING -- A PARADIGM SHIFT
It is not uncommon to read articles about the mediocre quality of
many show dogs today, the lack of mentors, the short duration of time
people stay involved with showing and breeding dogs and so on. We
are also reminded of the glory days of the large hobby kennels and
the great dogs they produced. Why has this change occurred?
At the same time, we lament the growth of commercial breeders and pet
shops. What is the cause of this problem?
Certainly time and money are factors, but I believe that there has
also been another paradigm shift that has brought us to where we are
today.
Perhaps these problems will always be with us, but perhaps part of
the problem is closer to home than we think.
Webster's Dictionary defines breeding as: breed-ing (n): "The
improvement or development of breeds of livestock, as by selective
mating and hybridization."
By definition then, a breeder would be someone who carries out this
task. Instead, it seems that breeders have become phobic about
breeding.
Today we define responsible breeders as those who:
* Breed only outstanding dogs with health clearances;
* Spend tremendous amounts of time handling and socializing
puppies; and
* Place puppies in responsible homes and provide support
throughout the dog's life.
These are all worthy goals for us as breeders, but along with these
good things, we have also created some other unwritten rules for the
responsible breeder, defined as those who:
* Turn away most inquiries as unsuitable (rather than educating
people); and
* Get a gold star for phrases such as "I have had only one
litter in the past ten years."
Our fear of being viewed as a "puppy mill" has reached such a fevered
pitch that we now apologize for breeding litters. We have become
like a strict religious sect that doesn't believe in having children,
yet doesn't understand why they are dying out.
By severely monitoring each other and how many litters we may have,
we prevent ourselves from gaining experience by producing enough
litters to understand where we are going and what we are doing. We
also end up driving people to get puppies from puppy mills because we
don't deem them good enough to get a puppy from us (and treat them
rudely and disrespectfully), or because there simply aren't any
puppies available from responsible breeders.
I am certainly not advocating irresponsible breeding or mass
production of dogs, but when truly responsible breeders fulfill all
of the good criteria listed above and do them well, do they need to
justify producing litters?
Perhaps if breeders bred dogs we might see the return of the truly
great dog. And just perhaps, if we were kind and took time to
educate people in preparation for ownership of one of our well-bred
puppies, there wouldn't be so many people buying puppies at the pet
store. Written by Joni Johnson
Wow
Great post E...
MyToyBulldogs
http://www.mytoybulldogs.com
Nice to see some honest writing
Some of it stings, but it's the truth.
Good Post Elizabeth
n/m
Deanna
Re: Breeding - a Paradigm Shift...
As a relatively new bulldogger person, some of these points hit home. My first bulldog was not well bred, had health issues and died before he was two years old. I never considered him to be potential show material and did not venture down that road. I spent alot more time researching my second bulldog. One of the things I was struck by is how difficult it is to obtain a quality dog. When I found someone willing to sell to me it was such a relief. I have taken steps to improve my bulldog education such as religiously reading the forums here, joining the closest bulldog dog club and attending shows. Everywhere I take my dog there is always someone who stops and wants to more about him, inquiring about health problems they have heard about and am I going to breed him, etc. I noticed the bulldog is now #12 on the AKC registry. I can't imagine my life without a bulldog now. I can understand how a breeder would be protective of their litter and how suspicious people should be, but I also suspect there are alot of folks out there like me. Thankfully I now have a very healthy and happy bulldog (& owner). I appreciate the breeder taking a chance on me!
Agreed...
Interesting topic, thank you Elizabeth for sharing another angle on it. I have done rescue for the BCA and defintely feel quality before quanitiy. I agree, it is a lot of work and one should never breed more than they can care for, in all aspects.
Thank you for sharing
Warm Regards,
Sabrina
Lakeshore Bulldogs
www.flickr.com/photos/lakeshorebulldogs
consider this
The gist of this article has been around for a while now. It does have some excellent points. I think the days of chastising folks for having more than one litter a year are over, unless one person is trying to be mean to another or if it is obviouls that one person is going overboard in puppy production (ie, the quality of life of the dogs is a serious issue)..
That being said, and as one who has had way more puppies this year than I anticipated or even wanted, I am still not one who advocates breeding more than you can handle, or more importantly, what your dogs can handle. I am a "stay at home" dog mom and the puppies take up an incredible amount of my spare time. I cannot even imagine how people who work manage litters. The training and socializing alone is a major time committment. Plus I do not have human children.
If you have more litters than what is practical, how do you give quality care to the dogs, unless you have staff on hand? And what private breeders have a staff? (and I don't mean forcing kids to do the work).
Then you have the issue of quality homes. Yes, some breeders are "snobbish" towards any and all buyers, but bottom line, many people are just not good dog owners and should be discouraged from owning a dog at all cost.
I am sitting with puppies still for sale, the market is just not strong right now. I am lucky, I have room for 4 and 5 month old puppies, but does everyone? And what happens to those older puppies when new ones come along?
Sell to the first buyer just to get rid of them? Not a good option.
If the paradigm shift is in the context of not chastizing people for having too many puppies, and this shift encourages people to breed more, just hope that each breeder seriously considers his or her own capacaty for humane and quality treatment of several litters all at once.
It's not as easy as saying "its ok" to breed more, there is a supply and demand problem. The large show kennels of the old days are by and large gone, most breeders are in private homes. It is very difficult, either by space restrictions or local government restrictions, to breed more than most people already do.
e
Well put...
Very interesting, thank you for sharing.
Warm Regards,
Sabrina
Lakeshore Bulldogs
www.flickr.com/photos/lakeshorebulldogs
Very well said!!!
I couldnt agree more.
You know if there wasnt a demand there wouldnt be puppy mills!
Again there shouldnt be mass indicriminate breeding, breeding should be a concerted effort to improve the breed. But for people to think or talk badly of someone who has several nice bitches that are bred or are to be bred is buying into the line that we have all bought into these last few years, that breeding is an evil necessity and we shouldnt do it unless it is absolutely necessary.
We as breeders who are trying to produce healty, good tempered, and confirmationally correct dogs should stand up and be proud of what we produce.
Ward