New Year's Puppies

[Jt.]

Puppies and dogs from shelters can have kennel cough. Three dogs of mine have had it, and Max almost died from it at age 9 because my dog Buddy had it. My other dog Lily had it so we did not introduce her to Buddy until it was completely gone, we didn't want any of our dogs getting kennel cough again. It is a definite nightmare. Max got it real bad--he was throwing up a lot, pooping/peeing everywhere, had snot everywhere.. it was just horrible. That's one of the main reason why it isn't that great to get a dog from a shelter, even though you are giving a dog a new home and stuff, sometimes it's not worth it if the dog can die from kennel cough.

Puppies and dogs from anywhere can have anything. It's not only an animal shelter problem.

Dogs from reckless breedings can have loads of defects that can't be cured. That's why breedings shouldn't be done without the proper health testing.

[Jyson]

Sorry but breeding mutts=irresponsible.
35 million dogs die every year in shelters.

And Im glad you find them good homes...
Did you health test your dogs to ensure you are not passing on genetic diseases? (hip and elbow testing, eyes and ears? whatever else is relevant to your breeds of dogs?)
Did you title your dogs to prove that they are of breeding quality? That they possess more traits then being a nice dog that can be passed down to the pups ?

Sorry. But when millions of dogs die every year in shelters, I cannot sit back and let people who breed irresponsibly think they are not doing something wrong.

Yep, a local vet comes once a year to do checkups on our horses and our dogs. All clean bills of healthiness.

A majority of the people who adopted the pups from the last litter were farmers looking for a good herding dog or two. And the pups (breed-wise) are perfect for the job. As for traits, they definitely live up to their breeds: smart as a border collie, hyper as a catahoula, and chases anything that moves just like an austrailian shepard.

Do you have contracts stating you will take the dogs back should the owners ever need to get rid of them?

Yep, a friend of ours who owns a rescuing facility that helped us find good homes for our first litter typed up the contracts. She's been adopting out animals for years and had over that time perfected a detailed contract.

[aaramire]

I agree with Brook. I do not understand why anyone would ever breed or buy dogs when there are so many dying every day in shelters.

[joepythons]

If you people want to ride the OP behind because he bred his dogs.Why not speak up to the pet stores that sell mutts as $2000 designer breeds? These idiots are buying mixed breed dogs for idiotic prices instead of rescueing one from the pound .Now back to our forum

[CoolioTiffany]

I agree with Brook. I do not understand why anyone would ever breed or buy dogs when there are so many dying every day in shelters.

I think another major thing that has to do with that is people not finding the right dog when they visit shelters. Some people want pure bred dogs, or nice looking mutts, and dogs that have a clean record. Clean record meaning no abuse, no parasites, etc. People are weird with Pit Bulls, since they are claimed to be born "fighters" when of course they are not, so they won't buy one from a shelter if they think it won't get along with the family or other family pets if it was used for fighting. The point is that some people want to get their dogs from top quality breeders so they have a nice dog without a bad history and know it came from someone with top notch breeding dogs.

People are starting to build non-kill shelters (these shelters are HUGE too, and have parts where the separate the new dogs from the already established dogs that got over sicknesses and got rid of parasites) so the dogs don't have to die, and so that most will get a good home.

[catawhat75]

If you people want to ride the OP behind because he bred his dogs.Why not speak up to the pet stores that sell mutts as $2000 designer breeds? These idiots are buying mixed breed dogs for idiotic prices instead of rescueing one from the pound .Now back to our forum

We do. Against pet stores, the Hunte Corp, Amish puppy mills, backyard breeders and the morons who create a new "designer dog" every other day etc...

At least he hasn't named them Austrialian Border Houlas

[catawhat75]

And didn't she just have the other litter back in August??? That is in NO way, shape or form a responsible thing to do. It is hard enough for the female to have a litter every year but twice in one year. DISGUSTING!

[sekaiNdobes]

I'll just say this.... for a site that is so incredibly particular about where snakes come from and how they're kept (I agree totally, BTW).... there sure are a lot of irresponsibly bred, BYB, totally unwarranted litters of dogs that are welcomed with open arms.

Here, I'll make a comparison that might be understood. Buying from a BYB is like buying a skinny hatchling from Petco. Supporting a BYB's decision to breed untested, untitled mixed breed dogs with no purpose other than to be pets is like *supporting* Petco's sale of skinny hatchlings.

Not all shelter dogs are ill - in fact, most are healthy. Kennel cough really isn't a big deal, as long as it's treated correctly. If kennel cough is someone's main excuse for not considering a shelter dog... yeesh.

I may be poo-pooed for this post... I have one snake, nothing fancy or pretty, just a plain, normal rescue. I know enough to keep him happy and healthy.... but I don't know nearly as much about BPs that many members here do.

What I DO know is dogs.... and this isn't the first time I've noticed the double standard regarding dogs here.

Perhaps I'm just a "snooty show person", but rest assured that the two show dogs I do own have extensively health tested parents and grandparents (and beyond) - and my dogs have health testing of their own. They are pets first and foremost, but they are also performance dogs with correct temperaments and very specific breeding. My corgi is from a health tested, stockdog-bred performance pedigree. And our 2nd corgi is on the way, 3 weeks old - from a fully health tested, responsible bred litter specifically brought into this world for performance and conformation.

Notice a trend? Extensive health testing, and from litters bred with a purpose in mind... not untested pets, bred to see what fun colors come out. Perhaps that's how it's done in snakes, but there's a lot more to dog breeding that having fun with color.

Just my two cents.

[sekaiNdobes]

PS -

Most of the hardcore herding folk I know get their herding dogs from proven, potent herding lines... not mixes from their neighbors. But I suppose they're snooty working folk.

[sekaiNdobes]

PSS -

As far as health testing on these puppies.... basing what I know of the three breeds in their makeup, I'd expect the following tests:

OFA Hips
OFA Elbows
Shoulder consult
BAER
Holter (performed annually, and before each planned litter)
annual CERF
TNS test
annual thyroid panel (through MSU or other OFA accepted lab)
Optigen (for collie eye anomaly)
MDS screening through WSU VCPL

And no, these tests are not included in yearly checkups.