Welcome back to part two of how what makes a breeder responsible. Let's dive straight into it.
1. The next thing I would mention is quantity of dogs being bred, and number of litters a female is expected to have. Some organisations will have in their code of ethics, a limit on how old a dog (male or female) has to be before it’s bred, and how many litters they have. Now, everyone’s capabilities are different. Some people work full time and take annual leave in order to raise a litter. Some people work from home and can raise litters around their work, so it’s not out of the question that while two breeding girls is enough for some breeders, others may be able to handle a couple more. Where the red flags emerge is if all of these dogs are being bred back to back, year in year out. As an average, 3 litters is about enough for most. This of course depends on whether you have a Dalmatian who can have 14, 15 even 18 puppies in litter, or a Dachshund who might have just the two. The demands of a litter of fifteen is so much, that I would seriously consider whether a second litter is needed.
In any case, if a female is to be bred I would at the very least expect that she’s fit, healthy and sound prior to pregnancy and given substantial breaks between whelping. If a breeder is routinely using the same dam/stud combination as well, I would be questioning the motivation. Generally a responsible breeder would keep repeat matings minimal (provided the first was a success) as they don’t bring new genetic material to the program.
2. Another thing to mention is pricing. With Covid came Covid puppies and boy, did unscrupulous people capitalise on this. Prices of services did go up, don’t get me wrong. But some of the prices I was seeing and hearing about were not justified.
Something that has existed pre-Covid though, and still continues to this day is colour pricing. This is where “greeders” as I’d like to call them for this reason alone, charge extra for “rarer” or more exotic looking colours. Merle dogs are a huge magnet for these breeders, which is extremely concerning considering the health concerns that are associated with the merle gene when it’s doubled up (for those not familiar, the merle pattern exists over the top of colour so a black dog will have “blue” patches with black spots and a brown dog would have lighter brown patches with darker brown spots). This is so extreme now, that dogs who traditionally don’t have the merle pattern in their breed *cough* French Bulldogs have had it bred in, and people are paying up to $10,000 or more to own one of these dogs.
3. Matching puppies to families is a really important point to raise. Nobody knows their dogs better than a responsible breeder and nothing raises red flags quicker than someone who lets Joe Blow walk in with a wad of cash and take his pick of the litter. A responsible breeder will usually have a waiting list, and will have chatted with potential buyers enough to know what they want and need in a puppy. Then, once the puppies are growing and showing their personalities they can be appropriately matched. Sometimes more than one puppy may suit a family, and so you could end up with a choice between a few.
I also think it’s important to quash the idea of sitting in a pile of puppies and picking the one that runs over to you. It’s a romantic idea, but if you’re wanting a placid and laid back pup – you may have just picked the most independent, busy and boisterous puppy, or similarly you pick the one puppy that doesn’t show any interest and just sleeps because you want the sleepy one – maybe that is the busy puppy just caught in a moment of brief respite. My point is, you cannot possibly know what the personality is likely to be in such a small time frame. The breeder on the other hand, has spent the last 7-8 weeks getting to know them and can tell you exactly what’s going on.
4. The last important thing is that the breeder truly sees the breeding dogs and puppies as an extension of their family and treat them as such. This doesn’t mean they have to sleep on their bed, but the dogs shouldn’t be left in kennel runs all day, every day. There are many people who breed dogs as a business, which is fine to a point; but when it gets so big that you need a staff just to provide basic care, I question the true motives. If you’re breeding dogs to be family companions and much loved pets, they themselves should be living that life.
As an example, the breeder my last dog came from comes from a family where all the dogs live in the house. They are out several times a week training, visiting beaches or parks, and competing in various dog sports. Not all the dogs go out together, but they all get a chance to have that time. I can’t imagine a more idyllic life for a dog.
So there it is, really barely scraping the surface, but several points that I believe should help someone who’s unsure of what a responsible breeder is, to identify whether or not a breeder IS responsible. There are a lot of nuances to these points, and nothing I’ve said is cut and dry, as every potential situation can’t be explained but it is a good general guide, I believe. The best thing to do is build a relationship with a breeder, don't be scared to ask questions and if you get a feeling that something is "off", trust that feeling and do more research.
S.
Comments