Re: Dog breeding
With so many unwanted dogs in dog sanctuaries what are your veiws on breeding dogs ?
So many people want breed puppies .
The dog breeding industry is huge dogs are even imported from Romania and other east European countries .
Although I understand the desire and delights of a puppy I feel this is wrong .
A lot of the dogs in sanctuaries/rescues are there because many people get a dog not realise the work and commitment that goes into owning a dog . Owning a dog is like taking on a small child and having it with you for up to 16 years.
By all means take on a dog from a sanctuary/rescue if you do not want a specify breed and are aware that a rescue dog may have acquired behaviours that need to be trained out.
There are still some good breeders around if you know where to look those who breed to make sure people can obtain a healthy dog with a good temperament of the breed of their choice. They breed rarely and prospective owners can expect to wait for some time for a puppy.
I go back to the days of the wealthy 'hobby breeders with kennels'. One such Kennel was founded by the Rank family , the millers of 'Rank Hovis McDougall' fame, another brother was J Arthur Rank (Joseph), the famous film magnet. Their kennels were legendary.
The first kennel in which I worked were owned by a millionairess, she never married and her dogs were everything to her . She had a staff of 5, the kennels were very expensive to run, no expense was spared on the dogs and they were treated better than the staff. Certainly the dogs didn't make any money for the owners and money was of no consequence for these pioneers who help to breed dogs true to type and set the standard .Without them, there would be fewer of the lovely breeds we have now.
I also worked for a wealthy woman who founded her kennel of Miniature Schnauzer with a bitch obtained from Mrs Milsom of the Quarrydene kennels, one of the first people to breed Minis in this county, one of her dogs 'Ch Quarrydene Gretchen was the first Mini ever to become a champion in 1939 . The woman did much to further the breed breeding only from the best examples of the breed that conformed to the breed standard.
Again the kennel cost a small fortune to run, we bred only the occasional litter and had a waiting list of prospective owners from around the world.
Our dogs were sold on the condition that they never went to a third party , if for any reason a dog was no longer wanted it had to be returned to us and we would buy it back.
I only remember one coming back, the owner was moving abroad.
Anyone looking to buy a puppy of a specific breed would be well advise to look up the breed club on the internet, contact the secretary and ask for a list of approved breeders who have signed up to the breeders code of conduct. The will have carried out the necessary health tests and only breed occasionaly from dogs with good temperaments. There are no guarantees you will find the perfect breeder but at least it avoids puppy farms.