Vice President Biden and "Champ."
The breeder of the Bidens’ new puppy has had her life threatened by animal rights fanatics. Further, the increased scrutiny has led to legal trouble, resulting in $4,000 in legal bills. (Article is here).
The vice president has received similar threats.
No wonder Obama is taking his time in selecting his new dog.
Animal issues tend to breed fanatics. Dog people are very often dogmatic to the point of being religious. This fanaticism is something I try to avoid on this blog. I welcome opinions of all perspectives, provided they are well-argued and respectful.
Now, I don’t know whether this breeder is reputable or not. I don’t live in Phildelphia area, and I’m not in GSD’s. However, what I do know is that this logic that breeding dogs results in dogs being euthanized is quite common in the animal fanatic world. The truth is that one of the main solutions to the pet overpopulation problem is to include responsible breeders in the process.
The animal fanatics have decided to alienate breeders, which they do at their own peril. Responsible breeders do not contribute to the problem. Indeed, because they require that their dogs be returned to them if the owners need to rehome them, their dogs do not contribute to the problem at all. And breed rescues really could take the burden off of rescue organizations.
Update: It turns out that this breeder is a puppy miller. She probably does deserve to be harassed. However, it does not change what I said about responsible dog breeders.
And if you want a longer analysis of what a responsible dog breeder is, click here.
It would seem to me that PETA would not want to talk about animals being killed in shelters, as they do in the linked article.
This breeder, who at first seemed to have a reasonable “reputation,” has a number of fairly serious violations in her kennel inspections, and more to the point, a large enough operation to require inspections. And, if I recall, breeding dogs stashed at multiple locations.
In a word, a puppy mill.
Background: http://www.petconnection.com/blog/2009/01/22/finding-a-nice-puppy-should-not-be-this-hard/
Pennsylvania has a new kennel licensing law that will probably shut her down anyway, or rather, she’ll move to another state that doesn’t have them at all, and Virginia just passed a strict kennel licensing law. I wonder where the puppy millers are going to move to.
My guess is that in 5 years the puppy mill capital of the east will be West Virginia.
Thank you for sending me this.
However, these fanatics will still harass reputable breeders.
There is no pet overpopulation problem as far as I can tell. There are many other problems including killing adoptable pets in shelters, failure of shelters to reach out to the community with education and easy accessibility to pets in need of homes, lack of low and no cost neuter programs to pet owners in need, etc. MORE responsible breeders are needed if we ever have any hope of replacing the puppy mill product with responsibly bred pups which the market wants but currently can’t find.
The market for dogs is still growing– even in this recession. In the past 5 years, the pet dog population went from 58 million to nearly 70 million.
I grew up in very rural West Virginia, where there was no county shelter. There was no private shelter, but there was an effective low-cost spay and neuter organization. In just the past few years, I’ve noticed that dogs are being much better taken care of. I don’t see the strays wandering the countryside or so many dogs tied to metal barrels with some straw in them for bedding.
Responsible breeders would not(should not) sell unaltered dogs to the general public. Responsible breeder would only sell to another responsible breeder an unaltered animal. If dog shows permit docked tails and cropped ears then altered animals should be allowed. To suggest that “responsible” breeders who sell unaltered dogs don’t add to the pet over population problem is naive at best.
Truly responsible breeders don’t. If they take the dogs back and require them to be altered, then these dogs simply don’t add to the problem.
https://retrieverman.wordpress.com/2009/03/13/is-there-such-a-thing-as-a-reputable-breeder/
>>> If dog shows permit docked tails and cropped ears then altered animals should be allowed.
Altered animals are allowed to be shown in the veterans class, generally starting at age seven. In order to understand why dogs are required to be intact for show, one must be aware of why shows came about in the first place. Dog shows originally started in the mid 1800s in England as a means of evaluating breeding stock … a process which continues today. It is not a “beauty contest” … although some might argue otherwise. Dogs shown in conformation events are not being judged against each other. They are judged against the written standard which outlines the “ideal” dog for that particular breed.
A responsible, ethical breeder *will* take back a dog of their breeding at any time in the dog’s life. If circumstances do not allow that, then they work with the national club/rescue to see what can be done. After a decade of being involved with rescue, I have yet to have a dog from a reputable breeder cross my doorstep. Without fail, all my fosters have been from BYBs and petstores (puppymills).
I agree with most of what you say.
For your breed, I don’t know of a better way to evaluate breeding stock. Maybe test them in their ability to guard Buddhist monasteries and bark to alert the Tibetan mastiffs.
For mine, dog shows don’t produce dogs with the best working conformation or instinct. The only way to get stock evaluated for working ability is to work them.
A golden with as much bone and feathering as you see in the show ring is not as good in terms of working conformation in the field. That long coat collects the undergrowth on land. In the water, the dog gets bogged down. And too much bone and with legs too short, the dogs don’t have enough reach to swim light on the water.
My problem is that breed standards are not written in real world conditions for most working dogs, and are the result of interested breeders promoting novelty.
I don’t know your breed that well. I’ll be honest with you. I don’t know its standard. I’ve seen only one or two of them, but other than that little bit, I do agree with what you say about reputable breeders.
I’m going to link to your rescue organization in my “dog links” section. You are doing a good thing here.
I consider myself a responsible breeder but every pup I’ve sold has been unaltered. I have researched early neuter but decided it wasn’t something I felt comfortable with. I do screen buyers and have a written contract that requires neutering at the appropriate age (if the dog is not to be used for breeding). I make efforts to keep in touch with puppy people and many of them have become permanent friends. In that way, I have an opportunity to follow up and make sure the neuter agreement is followed. But if someone else deems me a “puppy mill” or otherwise irresponsible, so be it. I’m ok, you’re ok. But I reiterate that as far as I know, there is no pet overpopulation problem. Nathan Winograd’s book “Redemption” makes a compelling case for that and to me, it is very convincing.
I am very uncomfortable with early spay and neuter, just because there was study in my breed that found that early neutering predisposed the male pups to developing osteosarcoma. Having just recently lost a dog to that particular disease, I don’t think it’s wise to risk.
Further, you really can’t assess a working retriever’s quality until it’s fully trained. That means waiting until it’s 2.5 or 3 years of age.
That’s why when California came up with its incredibly stupid early spay-neuter bill, the working dog societies, especially SAR, came out strongly against it.
Winograd’s book is excellent. Everyone who cares about animals should read it. His blog is on my blogroll.
Guess VP Biden doesn’t watch Oprah. Otherwise, he would’ve seen the segment she did on puppymills and wouldn’t have boughten from such a person in the first place.
Honestly, as large as GSD Rescue is, he could’ve went to any GSD rescue and have easily requested a puppy. I bet there would’ve been a GSD puppy somewhere in rescue that he could’ve adopted. He’s the VP for God’s sake!… Rescuers would’ve provided him with a puppy if he had gone to them.
I like Biden, but this just leaves a lot to be desired in a time when we’re doing all we can to put puppymillers out of business, not keep them in business.
But in any case, at least the puppy will have a good home. He’s such a cutie pie!
>>> For your breed, I don’t know of a better way to evaluate breeding stock. Maybe test them in their ability to guard Buddhist monasteries and bark to alert the Tibetan mastiffs.
Form follows function. As a landrace, the Apso is a hardy little mountain dog and the dogs of today *should* be able to survive in Tibet at altitude. This is where “type” is so important to our breed … the straight, hard coat for protection against elements, a moderate oval-shaped eye, length of muzzle to warm frigid air before entering the lungs, an oval rib cage to provide more lung capacity in the thin air, a rectangular shape for flexibility navigating rocks, large feet provide a stable platform for traveling the mountain paths, and keen hearing with a discerning nature.
>>> For mine, dog shows don’t produce dogs with the best working conformation or instinct. The only way to get stock evaluated for working ability is to work them.
A golden with as much bone and feathering as you see in the show ring is not as good in terms of working conformation in the field. That long coat collects the undergrowth on land. In the water, the dog gets bogged down. And too much bone and with legs too short, the dogs don’t have enough reach to swim light on the water.
My problem is that breed standards are not written in real world conditions for most working dogs, and are the result of interested breeders promoting novelty.
This may surprise you, but I agree! Honestly, I’d like to see all the breeds that started out with real-world jobs with titles at *both* ends of their name. In our move away from an agricultural-based society, their original purpose has been lost … as well as the ability to perform that purpose.
We do agree.
You are doing an excellent service for your breed.
And I always link to what I feel are worthy causes.
Almost forgot … thanks for including us in your links!