This is worth watching for anyone interested in owning animals of any kind. If you buy or adopt any dog, you should be aware of these issues with breeding because they will affect your dog (sometimes even non purebreds because often they are crosses of purebreds). It is heartbreaking to watch some of the problems they experience. I don't agree with SOME of their moral equivalency arguments between humans and animals (it is based on the assumption that we are just animals and so what is wrong for us is wrong for animals -- this is not true). But they do make a compelling case for breeding reform. Much of the pressure for breeders to reform should come from the public refusing to buy dogs that are not conscientiously bred. e.g. pet stores, newspaper classifieds are a big red flag! Good breeders don't breed until they have a handful of people with deposits down on their puppies and as such they don't need to advertise or sell their animals to a pet store.
This is more proof of why we need to keep preserving *working* lines of dogs and not breed for structural or cosmetic exaggeration -- the working lines have to have the functionality to work, that takes priority over the cosmetics to win in the show ring. Health problems due to bad breeding will show up as undesirable far sooner in working lines than show lines unless the breeder makes an effort to avoid it. Not all do. You pay up front for a conscientious breeder or you pay afterward throughout the life of the dog.
That being said, health issues are not always the breeder's fault, sometimes unforeseen things happen! A good breeder (NO PET STORES, and GOOD BREEDERS ALMOST NEVER ADVERTISE IN A NEWSPAPER - you have to sniff them out yourself and get on a waiting list!) will be there for you and take the dog back or provide some other guarantee for many genetic health issues. But that seems to be the exception in the general dog population, not the rule.
Just some food for thought anyway!
Finding a good breeder is hard work but worth the time and effort in having a trouble free dog, and good rapport with the breeder. There are many pages online devoted to the process - google "finding a good breeder" or something... but you have to do the footwork.
We’ve gotten our last two dogs from rescue organizations, and couldn’t be happier. One is a ‘pure breed’ although as some of us know, thats just a arbitrary label from the AKC types.
When I look at our four dogs, I don’t see ‘bloodlines’.
I see our kids. Our family.
Interesting article - as you know I would only purchase (dog, bitch, or breeding fee) from a trusted breeder. My last was from a DVM breeder. It's so much better to be able to see the litter, see the sire/dam, see the certs on eyes, hips, etc. And sadly, there are some breeds I would never buy/recommend, just because the breeders (and their club) are not doing their breed any favors.
Μολὼν λάβε
TG: This is a great article, and btw, I recently acquired a pure bred Rat Terrier. My first excursion into the complex world of the “terrier.” So smart, great gopher getter, lives to play, and runs like a bullet out of a gun.
No, I didn’t get her from a breeder. I happened to stop in at our animal shelter, I still don’t know why, and there she was. She had been there for twelve days, no tags, no chip, nearly one y/o.
Beautiful, healthy, perfect dog. And their DO brains work different than any other dog I’ve met. Terriers seem to have the ability to understand “cause and effect” quickly and act on it.
Twenty pounds of love, her markings are milk and honey, no black, and her name is Ruby. She’s a great big dog in a little body.
Cheers!
I think the fans of a quintessential working breed, the Border Collie, have steadfastly refused to let anyone set cosmetic standards for it.