where do pups come from? responsible breeders?

orlao

Hawthorn wrote: »

My fear (and this is probably ignorance talking) What happens to these dogs if nobody buys them?

It's really hard but you have to IMHO walk away and report them! Not just the RSPCA but also the council. Everytime somebody buys a pup from a "bad" breeder (and I include people who have a couple of litters from their pet) that is an incentive to breed another litter. You can be lucky and get a dog with minimal problems....both my JRTs are from this type of set up.....my older girl was an ex breeding dog owned by someone who was actually already banned for life from keeping animals.I took her because she was about to knocked on the head, quite literally, as she was in such bad condition and the RSPCa were around. The younger dog was given to me when I had a row with the same people about a filly they left to die rather than pay a knackerman to put out of her misery two days earlier and then had a pop about the pups dying one by one in the next door shed! So I was told that if I was that bothered to take her....and I did but she was only 5 weeks old, with a double hernia and as it turned out I later discovered, no hip sockets worth talking about...NOT TO BE RECOMMENDED.

I was very lucky, neither of them have been unhealthy( once the younger one had her hernia repair and her hips are not a problem as she is a heavily muscled small dog which helps hold her hips in place IYSWIM) but these people bred 10+ litters a year of all types and sold them all through small ads in local papers...and there was never a shortage of buyers. The pups had never been indoors or handled, the terriers were all from working stock so probably not suitable from inexperienced owners and none of them were properly fed, wormed or defleaed. The stud GSD that was mated with the bigger brood girls was lethal, his temprament stank.....I wouldn't have had any of his offspring in the house, the few I met as they grew older were very iffy in all ways, including health.

When I started looking for a rottie breeder, I was very cynical, I must have turned down 10 pups in the year I was looking mainly because I wasn't happy with what I was told by the breeders. I was open to the idea of a slightly older pup ( up to year old) but because of my admittedly unusual requirements it was going to be very difficult to have an older dog and at that time there very few pups in rescue and very long waiting lists.

There are good breeders out there, who breed for the love of the breed but they are hard to find when there is the belief that KC registration is a stamp of quality....word of mouth through rescues, breed clubs and other dog owners is what worked for me but that means you have to ask the questions and be prepared to wait. Good breeders will check you out, the one I got my dog from spoke to my vet because I was too far away for her to visit me, demanded ID ( driving licence! and utility bill) and took a copy of them and endorsed his pedigree so that his stock couldn't be registered without her permission. She has also stayed in touch, provides lifelong support and also takes any of her dogs back if their original owners can't keep them. To me, that is the minimum that a GOOD breeder needs to do......

My next dog will be a rescue even though I don't regret getting a pedigree dog through a breeder......at the time that was the best option for a large dog to blend into a lifestyle that included elderly cats, small dogs, chickens, horses, sheep and cattle.........