Other articles with keyword "DOGGIEPING" since 12/29/04
Posted on 03/15/2006 6:53:07 PM PST by sissyjane
Puppy withdrawn from auction amid breeder’s concerns
By Ruth Ann Replogle Lifestyles Editor
Some people are not sitting pretty with Abounding Grace Biblical Counseling Ministries’ original plan to auction a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel puppy during its annual Sitting Pretty fund-raiser.
Pet lovers and dog breeders expressed concerns following a News & Eagle article about the fund-raiser in Wednesday’s paper.
Abounding Grace biblical counselor Julie Davis and Sitting Pretty organizer Judy Vickers received many calls Wednesday and Thursday from people who considered it unethical to auction a puppy. News & Eagle readers outraged by the situation also posted comments online, citing health concerns about the breed.
“We respect their opinion,” Davis said. And, although both women disagree with the reasoning, they said they believe the controversy isn’t worth the flak and decided Thursday to withdraw the 10-week-old female Cavalier King Charles Spaniel named Jessica from Saturday’s fund-raiser.
“Due to some concerns, Abounding Grace Biblical Counseling Ministries has decided not to auction the puppy,” Davis said.
Allegedly the uproar over the puppy’s welfare began with Oklahoma City breeder Renee Bruns. Bruns said she believes it is unethical to put a puppy for auction and told the News & Eagle a responsible breeder never would do so. Bruns is a member of American Cavalier King Charles Spaniel Club of Central Oklahoma and registers her dogs with AKC (American Kennel Club) and Cavalier King Charles Spaniel Club USA.
Vickers, who owns Jessica, the puppy in the middle of the dispute, said she is angered and saddened by Bruns’ accusations. Jessica is registered through ACA (American Canine Association), which Bruns called “a puppy mill registry...
http://www.enidnews.com/
You may want this for your doggie ping list.
Very true.
Every animal that has lived with me has been a stray, or unwanted cat or dog. They are and have been the best and better that most people I've had to endure.
Those of us who breed quality animals do our homework. Mine all have their championships, and clearances on their hearts, eyes, hips and elbows. Otherwise they do NOT get bred.
I think auctions are at least immoral, and should be illegal. They are nothing but vehicals for puppy mills and worse.
Well, she's probably right about that... I've never heard of it.
I'm with you on that part of it... any discussion about the qualities of the people involved don't reflect any misgivings about the dog. If the pup's had it's shots, the pup's probably fine.
Their website is fairly rudimentary, and has a lot of busted links. One busted link is the one for shows and events -- they don't seem to have any currently. That contrasts with any decent registry - their bread and butter is the shows and performance events and they keep those up to date.
I think auctioning off a puppy is a big mistake, and I think a breeder who would do that is certainly an idiot and probably unethical, or at least doesn't care what happens to her pups (and most good breeders DO care - my Lab is 5 years old and I'm still in regular contact with her breeder).
I met a guy in the vet who had won a little Chocolate Lab puppy in a local auction for a private school. Didn't know the first thing about dogs - I bit my tongue and wished him luck. At least he'll get good advice from our vet, who is a good one.
Sounds like he knew enough to be at the vet.
I'm of two minds on this, and they're seemingly in conflict. On one hand, I'm pretty picky about how dogs should be cared for. But on the other hand, I can't stand the elitist snobbery of purebred dog people (and you do this AAM) who think it takes a pedigree and a team of geneticists to find a good pet. If you want to compete with dogs or take part in certain sport, get a spendy purebred, if you want a pet, they might be just as happy with a mutt from the pound.
I'd be more concerned about where this dog was going than where it came from, and those who spend hundreds on charity auctions are probably not bad homes for a little lap dog. I'm not totally up in arms about it. And I was about a similar fundraiser trail ride that was giving away a foal. MUCH different, that.
I'm not talking about animals that come from the pound, and I do own show dogs. I'm not an elitist snob, just against online auctions.
The buyer has no way of knowing what they are getting, how it was raised and the health of the animal.
I know... I know the fears. And I dig show dogs, I used to compete as well.
It is a dumb idea to auction a dog and I really don't mean to defend it.
I don't think it takes a ten-generation pedigree to get a good pet. It does help though if you want to be reasonably sure of a good performance dog for competition. Since that's what I do, I'm concerned about pedigrees. And if somebody wants a dog for a particular purpose, it's a good idea to do some research and talk to a lot of people in that discipline before making a choice. You can get lucky -- the USDAA allows people to run non-pedigreed dogs in competition. You just register them with USDAA as "All American" - they either do well, or they don't, but as long as the dog is enjoying it everybody has a lot of fun (at least until you get to the higher levels of competition, where everybody gets deadly serious.)
But even with the pet dogs, there is something to be said for paying attention to pedigrees with regard to genetic deformities and diseases as well as temperament issues. If you're going out to get a "purebred", you have to watch out for puppy mill dogs and careless breedings. Cavalier King Charles Spaniels are fairly inbred and have some serious genetic defects in the bloodlines -- particularly mitral valve disease, serious eye defects causing blindness, dysplasia, deafness, spinal deformities, and something called hypertonic collapse. Up to 50 percent of all CKCS have spinal deformities.
A friend of mine bought a backyard-bred Golden and wound up spending over $6,000 for hip dysplasia surgery - which was unsuccessful. What a heartbreak for her family . . . if she had bought a dog from a breeder who tested for dysplasia her chances of a sound Golden would have been much better.
If you don't want to research the breeder and the pedigrees, you're probably better off with a chance-bred mutt with hybrid vigor than a poorly-bred pedigreed dog.
And I think it would be a very bad idea to auction one off. What if the bidder buys a dog full of time bombs?
I can agree with that.
Purebred dog breeders have done as much harm as good, some breeds in particular. Many are short sighted, thinking of litters as income instead of investment in the future of a breed.
I got my cocker spaniel from a good breeder. He's going on 17 years old!
I'm really crabby tonight... sorry for snappin' at you.
Time to repair the fence . . .
No problem, BTW.
They sure can be cute. Glad you got a good one!
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