In the defence of breeders

[Metwo]

To all the prospective buyers out there wondering why they charge so much. Ever wondered about the costs of keeping your loyal friends long after they cannot be bred anymore? Once there animals reach that age they are spayed and treated like royalty! Atleast thats how it works with us. They have free range of the house and are repaid everyday for their hard work.. They are not dumped at shelters but left to be part of the family till thd day comes that they go to doggy heaven. That is why we live in a zoo..

[__xXx__]

oh boo hoo hoo, you poor, poor breeders

have YOU ever stopped to think how much it costs a responsible pet-owner to take care of a pet, who is NOT exploited, i.e. not bred/abused for money-making purposes?

can you possibly imagine the sacrifices we, responsible pet-owners, make in order to have our pets de-wormed and vaccinated regularly, in order to avoid contracting and spreading diseases to other pets, without the tax-free thousands that you breeders suck out of gullible, pedigree-besotted pet-owners?

can you possibly imagine the sacrifices we go to in order to have our pets STERILIZED TIMEOUSLY, in order to avoid MORE neglected/abandoned/abused animals ending up in animal shelters?

no, you cannot, and that is why you and those of your ilk foolishly continue breeding. stop making excuses for breeding!

stop breeding pets!

btw, breeding WILL EVENTUALLY BE BANNED IN SA, so to all breeders out there, get off your butts and find a real job now, before all your pedigreed pooches starve to death due to YOUR fake "love of the breed" and lack of foresight!

[oneweirdkitten]

Yes, sorry to say this, but animal breeders are only out for the money and couldn't really give too much of a damn about the animal's welfare. There are thousands of unwanted "mongrels" sitting in shelters, waiting desperately for a home but most people still prefer to go out and buy a registered breed. It's a fact that mongrels are less prone to disease and health problems often associated with purebreds, and thus require less vet visits. It's a real shame that animals are treated like status symbols, much in the same way people would their car or cell phone.

[Cazeroo]

Reasons why you should adopt from rescue shelters rather than buying from breeders or pet shops.

We MUST educate those who are ignorant and punish those who are cruel and selfish. Taking a stand has never been more important than right now. DON'T BREED OR BUY WHILE SHELTER PETS DIE!



A Letter from a Shelter Manager


Hate me if you want to. The truth and reality hurts. I just hope I may have changed one persons mind about breeding their dog or cat, taking their loving pet to a shelter, or buying a dog. I hope that someone will walk into my shelter and say "I saw this and it made me want to adopt". THAT WOULD MAKE IT WORTH IT.

I think our society needs a huge "Wake-up" call. As a shelter manager, I am going to share a little insight with you all...a view from the inside if you will.

First off, all of you breeders/sellers should be made to work in the "back" of an animal shelter for just one day. Maybe if you saw the life drain from a few sad, lost, confused eyes, you would change your mind about breeding and selling to people you don't even know.

That puppy or kitten you just sold or gave away will most likely end up in my shelter when it's not a cute little plaything anymore. So how would you feel if you knew that there's about a 90% chance that your dog or cat will never walk alive out of the shelter it has been dumped in? Purebred or not! About 50% of all the dogs that are "owner surrenders" or "strays" that come into my shelter are purebred.

The most common excuses I hear are; "We are moving and we can't take our dog (or cat)." Really? Where are you moving to that doesn't allow pets? Did you really not enquire beforehand?

They say "The dog got bigger than we thought it would". How big did you think a German shepherd would get?

"We don't have time for her". Really? I work a 10-12 hour day and still have time for my 6 dogs!

"She's tearing up our garden". How about making her a part of your family?

They always tell me "We just don't want to have to stress about finding a place for her. We know she'll get adopted, she's a good dog". Don’t kid yourself. Face reality : you have just signed her death warrant. Live with that !!

Odds are your pet won't get adopted and how stressful do you think being in a shelter is? Well, let me tell you, your pet has 72 hours to find a new family from the moment you drop it off. Sometimes a little longer if the shelter isn't full and your dog manages to stay completely healthy. If it sniffles, it dies.

Your pet will be confined to a small run/kennel in a room with about 25 other barking or crying animals. It will have to relieve itself where it eats and sleeps. It will be depressed and it will cry constantly for the family that abandoned it. If your pet is lucky, I will have enough volunteers in that day to take him/her for a walk. If I don't, your pet won't get any attention besides having a bowl of food slid under the kennel door and the waste sprayed out of its pen with a high-powered hose. If your dog is big, black or any of the "Bully" breeds (Pit Bull, Rottweiler, Bull Mastiff, Bull Terrier etc) it was pretty much dead when you walked it through the front door. Those dogs just don't get adopted. It doesn't matter how 'sweet' or 'well behaved' they are.

If your dog doesn't get adopted within 72 hours and the shelter is full, it will have to be killed. If the shelter isn't full and your dog is good enough, and of a desirable enough breed it may get a stay of execution, but not for long. Most dogs get very kennel protective after about a week and are killed for showing aggression. Even the sweetest dogs will turn in this environment. If your pet makes it over all of those hurdles chances are it will get kennel cough or an upper respiratory infection and will be killed because shelters just don't have the money to pay for even a R 100 treatment.

Here's a little euthanasia for those of you that have never witnessed a perfectly healthy, scared animal being "put-down"

First, your pet will be taken from its kennel on a leash. They always think they are going for a walk, wagging their tails happily. Until they get to "The Room", where every one of them freaks out and puts on the brakes when we get to the door. It must smell like death or they can feel the sad souls that are left in there, it's strange, but it happens with every one of them. Your dog or cat will be restrained, held down by one or two helpers depending on the size and how freaked out they are. Then a euthanasia tech or a vet will start the process. They will find a vein in the front leg and inject a lethal dose of the "pink stuff". Hopefully your pet doesn't panic from being restrained and jerk. I've seen the needles tear out of a leg and been covered with blood and been deafened by the yelps and screams. They all don't just "go to sleep", sometimes they spasm for a while, gasp for air and defecate on themselves. Kittens and puppies’ veins are too tiny for a needle so the executioner carries out death by lethal injection by thrusting the needle straight through the sternum into what they hope is the little beating heart. Sometimes they miss and hit the spleen.... the liver. Enough said. And don’t let anyone tell you they don’t do this to baby dogs and cats. THEY DO!! THERE IS NO CHOICE.

When it’s all over, your pet’s corpse will be stacked like firewood in a large freezer in the back together with all of the other animals that were killed, waiting to be collected like garbage. What happens next? Cremated? Taken to the dump? Turned into pet food? You'll never know and it probably won't even cross your mind. It was just an animal and you can always buy another one, right?
I hope that those of you that have read this are bawling your eyes out and can't get the pictures out of your head. I deal with this everyday on the way home from work. And many of us become alcoholics to drown the nightmares.

I hate my job, I hate that it exists and I hate that it will always be there unless you people make some changes and realize that the lives you are affecting go much farther than the pets you dump at a shelter. Between 9 and 11 MILLION animals die every year in shelters and only you can stop it. I do my best to save every life I can but rescues are always full, and there are more animals coming in everyday than there are good homes.

The point to all of this?

Don’t buy a puppy or kitten from breeders or pet shops while shelter pets die.

Don’t breed your dog or cat. Have her sterilised.

You want your dog or cat to have just one litter for your children to witness the miracle of birth? Then you should be prepared to complete their education by allowing them to witness the miracle of death in the backroom of a shelter.

You never have a problem finding good homes for your puppies or kittens? Visit them six months later to see what happened to them. Still there? Lonely and neglected in a backyard or a happy part of the family and allowed to sleep inside?

When you are old, don’t adopt a puppy or very young dog when there is a good chance that they will outlive you. Rather give an older cat or dog a peaceful home.

Don’t acquire a pet on a spur of the moment or give in to the demands of a whining child. Dogs can live twelve to sixteen years depending on breed, cats up to twenty years. Where will you be fifteen years from now? Taking pets with you when emigrating is not an option because of endless quarantine and costs.

Don’t ever “rescue” a puppy from a man standing on a street corner. By paying him you encourage puppy factories and hamper efforts by animal charities to sterilise township dogs. And what do you do afterwards? Give it to a charity, only to be killed in the end? Or keep it and deprive a shelter dog of a home?

[Miss Kisses]

Don't get it twisted, people. There is a huge difference between Puppy Mill/Back Yard Breeders & the Registered Breeders. I have never bought a cat or dog from a Pet shop or back yard breeder. I never will. Our cats were bought from CFSA registered breeders & our dogs from multi award winning KUSA breeders.

Backyard breeders are the ones that supply pet-shops, sell on street corners, flea markets and so on. These pets don't come with registration papers, injections, microchips, guarantees or after-sale support & advice. These are the people who sell dogs and cats for R20 - R500. They are people that get exposed on Carte Blanche for the terrible conditions in which they keep the animals.

Registered breeders are the people that responsible pet owners should deal with. Most people just refuse to pay R2000 + for a pet or to do their homework (investigate the breeder & phone the Kennel Union of SA or the Cat Federation to make sure they are legitimate & properly registered). Registered breeders will make sure your pet comes with its papers, injections, microchip & they will ALWAYS allow you to view their breeding facilities and to see the parents of your kitten or puppy. A backyard breeder will never allow that & they do not care enough or have the resources to register or microchip the animals.

Most people would rather just get the R50 pet from the mall & then complain later when the animal is sick or it dies. Breeding will never be illegal in SA. But I look forward to the day when Backyard breeding is banned.

I fully support SPCA pet adoptions. If you can't afford a pet from a registered breeder or you are looking for mix-breed/brakkie then you should give a home to a pet from the SPCA, instead of buying from a pet shop.

[Miss Kisses]

[pablogirl]

I can see the two sides of this Discussion very clearly:

1. I have dealt with some of these back yard Breeders myself before and believe me they are really under the impression that they are doing absolutely nothing wrong! And when you meet them and do not know how they are exploiting these animals you would actually deem them as "nice people".

BUT I have seen the sad and cruel side of this "breed them as much as possible for money" results, mostly in Persian cats. Small underweight females weighing as much as a kitten most of the time. By the time they are sold off or land up under the "Give Away section" their health is ruined!

2. BUT although I do not agree mostly with Breeding I have also encountered Good, Caring Breeders who are commited to the Health and Welfare of their cats and who is obsessive with providing the best homes for their animals.

A NOTE FOR EVERYONE WITH UNSTERILISED HOUSE PETS:

Please spay/ Neuter your animals. Really there is NOT ENOUGH HOMES and thousands are dying every year, including the "Cute Kittens and Dogs" you so carelessly Breed and Give Away.

[__xXx__]

[IndaZone]

So YOU think that there should be NO breeders at all. Pretty smart arent' you - so you're saying we should just let all the registered breeds die out and eventually no-one will have quality dogs - not even cross bred mongrels

[__xXx__]

[IndaZone]

(this should be an unlit bulb)

[IndaZone]

Do nine out of ten breeders really suck? A veterinarian's response to Dr. Khuly. (Part I)
Dr. Patty Khuly's assertion that nine out of ten breeders suck prompted this response from veterinarian and NAIA board member Marty Greer:


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I see the world in a very different way than Dr. Khuly. I work with breeders, many every day, and find my breeder clients to be caring, thoughtful, intelligent people who work harder than anyone I have ever met. They live with – I mean LIVE WITH the dogs they are passionate about. I love working with them because they challenge me at every visit. They expect me to know about every new disorder and diagnostic test. And they expect me to work as hard as they do. And I do – because I am one of them. Yes, I am proud to say I too am a dog breeder. I share their passion. I share their joys and I share their heartbreaks. And I have become a much better veterinarian because of the challenges they present me with.

The breeders I work with would not dream of breeding a dog without OFA or PennHip certification, along with elbow, thyroid, cardiac and CERF testing. They include at least one DNA test for every breed. They follow their breed-club health screening guidelines. They work hard to police themselves and each other. And just for the record, there is not a need for annually retesting most of this – only the CERF examination is recommended once a year. The last time I checked, an individual dog's DNA doesn't change from year to year, so if your dog is tested clear for DM (Degenerative Myelopathy) or EIC (Exercise Induced Collapse), that dog will remain clear for the rest of his or her life.

Their breed clubs devote themselves to minimizing genetic disorders in their breed and fund research projects intended to detect the DNA defects that underlie them. Before you start saying they should not have to look for genetic defects, let me remind you that all dogs have genetic defects, whether purebred or mixed breeds. There is no genetically perfect dog, or genetically perfect human for that matter. Only the purebred dog breeders have a gene pool that they can evaluate and work toward eliminating disorders in because they know the DNA markers that indicate disease and have an organized enough breeding program to do something about avoiding these disorders in their next generation of puppies.

Here in Wisconsin, where I live, our residents and shelters have done an outstanding job of limiting accidental breedings. In fact, it has been done so well that we no longer have enough dogs in our shelters and humane societies from local sources for families to purchase. Instead, the shelters need to truck in dogs from other states where they are not so careful with unwanted breedings. Here, our local residents would not be able to find a dog if it were not for intentional dog breeding or "humane relocation", the politically correct term for the shuffling of dogs from out of state.

I encourage my clients to purchase a dog of their choice. And if their choice is to find a dog for their family that will grow up to have a predictable size, appearance, and temperament, I then encourage them to purchase their new dog from a local reputable breeder who carefully screens for genetic disorders, selects and mates two dogs together who have a very good chance of producing healthy pups with good temperaments, who will be there for the family to answer questions about how to care for their new pet and to assist them if they do have a health concern. This is a much safer proposition for a family who plans to live with their purchase for the next fifteen or so years. I think we should have the opportunity to purchase the dog that we want, not what is thrust upon us by careless breeding practices. When I buy a car, I like to know how many miles it has, how big it will be, what color it is, and what the warranty is. I expect no less from a purchase of a dog. And believe me, I expect to love my new dog much more than I will ever love a car.

Last weekend, I was invited to speak to a group of commercial breeders – the large scale breeders Dr.Khuly refers to a "puppy mills." I was given 3 hours to speak. After 4 hours, the hotel shut me down as we needed to clear the room. They were without a doubt the most attentive group I have ever been in, as a speaker or participant. This group that the media likes to demonize was soaking up information like sponges – doing everything they can to learn how to do a better job caring for their dogs. Their questions made it clear that their dogs are not a commodity, but rather an important part of their lives. They want to do their best. Some spend 18 hours a day in the dog facilities, with their dogs, like my dog hobby breeder clients. That is the commitment it takes to know and care for their dogs.

It is unfair to paint all dog breeders - hobby breeders, backyard breeders, or commercial breeders - with a broad brush and assume that they are all cut from the same cloth. I have a huge respect for my breeder clients. They spend hours deciding who to breed, what to test for, what care is best for their dogs, and which family is best suited for this new puppy they have put their heart and soul into. I have wiped their tears and danced with them for joy. When they have sick puppies, I have to insist they get enough sleep and remember to feed themselves so they can care for their dogs. We say many times that breeding dogs is not for the faint of heart. I am blessed to work with such wonderful, big-hearted, caring and devoted people – they are the best!

- Dr. Marty Greer, D.V.M., J.D.

[seamy24@yahoo.co.uk]

I have a male german shepherd do you know where I can registered him? I know I will have to do blood tests etc. I just don't know where to do it. Please help

[Cattlegirl]