breeder

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Puppy Mill Problems

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If you’re considering getting a new puppy there are a lot of options.  One of them is buying from a ‘puppy mill.’  A puppy mill is usually considered to be a substandard breeding facility that produces large numbers of puppies annually.  They may supply puppies of many different breeds.

Some of these facilities are licensed by the government and inspected by the USDA.  Care and conditions must meet certain criteria.  Others fly under the radar and go without inspections.  Inspected kennels may produce healthy puppies which receive vaccinations and are then trucked to pet stores at a young age.  Kennels which operate without inspections may sell directly to buyers.  Since they are operating without inspections it is more likely that the facilities are deficient and the conditions for the dogs are poor.  These are the ‘puppy mills’ you sometimes see in videos and on TV in undercover investigations.

If you buy a puppy from one of these poor facilities odds are that the puppy could have begun life with many problems.  The puppy is likely to be the victim of breeding from poor quality parents who may exhibit health and genetic problems, dirty conditions, cramped quarters, perhaps no early vaccinations or worming, and the list goes on.

All puppies are adorable, but a puppy’s mother and her health are extremely important.  So are his surroundings in the first few weeks life.  A puppy who gets off to a bad start in poor puppy mill surroundings can have health or behavioral problems that last the rest of his life.  It is possible to buy a healthy dog from these sources but many people buying from puppy mills have bought unhealthy puppies.  Some puppies may even die soon after purchase.

Puppies in pet stores may come from several sources including licensed commercial breeders and inferior puppy mills.  There may be no way to tell the difference in the pet store.  Even looking at the puppy’s registration papers will not tell you what type of breeder or kennel produced the puppy.  Purchasing a puppy in a pet store also encourages people to make impulse purchases which is never a good idea where a dog is concerned.  That cute little ball of fur may grow up to be a 100 pound pet who can eat you out of house and home.

If you are seeking a new purebred puppy consider going to a reputable breeder.  Contact the breed parent club for the breed and they can put you in touch with people who are expecting litters.  Reputable breeders perform health testing on their dogs before they choose which dogs to breed to make sure they are fit to breed.  Puppies raised in a home environment receive much more socialization, love and personal care than any commercially-raised puppy can ever receive.  Reputable breeders also carefully screen potential buyers and guarantee their puppies for health problems in the breed.

Breed parent clubs can also tell you about purebred rescue if you might be interested in a young adult or an older dog.  There are nearly always purebred dogs available in rescue looking for great homes.

Puppy Mill Problems courtesy Dog Articles.

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5 Tips For Spotting A Disreputable Dog Breeder

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New dog owners should always make sure that their purebred pup comes from a reputable and responsible breeder. This is really is the only way to ensure that the animal will be free of any medical or behavioral problems. If a breeder you speak with displays any of the following 5 behaviors, he or she probably isn’t breeding healthy puppies in accordance with standards that have been set for the breed.

1. The breeder is willing to sell you any puppy you want, no questions asked.

All reputable dog breeders care about what happens to each and every puppy they breed, even after it leaves their care. Indeed, a good breeder will ask you many, many questions about your lifestyle, experience with the breed, house and property size, show or breeding experience, and any other aspect of your life that may affect the puppy’s future. If your answers to these questions are not satisfactory, then the breeder probably won’t sell the puppy to you. A good breeder will also require that you sign a contract in which you agree to: have the puppy fixed if you’re not going to breed it; notify the breeder if the dog develops any diseases or medical conditions; notify the breeder first if you are no longer able to care for your dog; and, do anything else the breeder feels is important for the health and well-being of the puppy and the breed. If your breeder doesn’t seem to care about the puppy’s future and only seems interested in payment, go to another breeder.

2. The breeder seems reluctant to answer questions about the puppy’s pedigree.

A reputable breeder knows all about the pedigrees of the puppies he or she sells. He or she knows who the parents were and can provide you with each puppy’s lineage, going back several generations. You will also want to register your purebred puppy with the American Kennel Club (AKC). The breeder is supposed to supply you with an AKC registration application with his or her portion already filled out. After you fill out and submit your part of the application, you’ll receive an AKC registration certificate. If the breeder you are dealing with cannot provide you with any documentation or registration papers for either the litter or the parents, be extremely wary.

3. The breeder does not seem too concerned with the health of his or her animals.

Any potential buyer of a purebred puppy should be able to see the facility in which the animal was bred. Do the puppies and other dogs there look healthy? If not, then the breeder may not be maintaining an appropriate standard of care. This could definitely affect the current and future health of the puppy in which you’re interested. The breeder should also have a record of the puppy’s health care, from birth to the present, and should be happy to provide you with copies. He or she should also guarantee that the puppy is free from any genetic disorders.

4. The breeder will not allow you to see the breeding facility.

Any reputable breeder will be happy to give you a tour of their facility. If the breeder you’ve chosen is not willing to let you see where your potential puppy comes from, the breeder may be running a puppy mill. Puppy mills are facilities that breed puppies only for profit, not for the benefit or love of the breed. Often, multiple dogs are crammed into one cage, the living conditions are filthy and the dogs there do not receive the proper nutrition or medical care. If the puppy you want comes from such a facility, it will most likely have serious medical and behavioral issues related to its stay there.

5. The breeder engages in questionable business practices.

If the asking price for your purebred puppy is significantly lower than other prices you’ve seen advertised for the same breed, there may be something wrong with the dog. Perhaps it comes from a puppy mill or has some serious medical issues. If the breeder also sells to pet stores, you can be pretty sure that he or she is operating a puppy mill. Reputable breeders usually concentrate on one or two breeds. If the breeder advertises that he or she has many different breeds for sale, then this is another indication that he or she may be breeding animals indiscriminately, without much concern for set breed standards.

5 Tips For Spotting A Disreputable Dog Breeder courtesy Dog Articles.

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Going To A Backyard Breeder

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In some cases, the owner of an AKC-registered female dog will breed her to a friend’s unproven registered dog of the same breed.  Are puppies of such matings likely to be satisfactory canine pets for you? The answer depends on the quality of each of the parents, not the cuteness of the puppies.

If both dogs are fair representatives of their breed, have few hereditary problems, and demonstrate acceptable personalities, their offspring may suit your needs.  However, if both parents are quite young when bred, and nothing is known about their ancestors’ qualities, especially conformation and disposition, their litter may not be the one you are looking for! Genetic diseases may be first exhibited after several years of age, and these conditions may be prevalent in both the male and the female bloodlines.

These facts should make you wary of obtaining a backyard-bred puppy.  Judicious advice admonishes you to buy soundness in a big dog, not cuteness.  Look for the best pup, not the most available one.

Mixed breed and crossbred big dogs

Sometimes, a big dog may be inadvertently bred to a neighborhood fence jumper or a female dog of one large purebred may be purposefully mated with a purebred of another large breed to produce crossbred puppies.  What can we predict in such pups?  Again, only the puppies in question and the people involved can answer these questions.

Something can be said for the hybrid vigor of mixed-breed pups.  Sufficient research has not been done to prove that the offspring of such matings are truly stronger or more vigorous than the progeny of purebreds.  Commonsense genetics tells us mixed-breed puppies should have fewer hereditary problems, but the wider gene pool behind them does not assure that these pups will be free of all such problems.

Crossbred offspring conformation is relatively unpredictable on the first mating.  If a large purebred female is bred to a large purebred male of another breed, anything is possible, and few assumptions can be made about the variety of appearances or sizes of the puppies until the litter is several weeks or months old.  Previous matings of the same two dogs may predict the size of these crossbred puppies.

Often, personalities of mixed-breed and crossbred pups are quite attractive, but are probably less predictable than those of purebreds.  Even though individual dispositions may vary, purebred puppies’ characters are likely to be similar to those of their ancestors.

However, if you are not concerned about the actual size or appearance of your big canine partner, and if you find a mixed or crossbred litter, go for it! If the dam is a big dog and the sire is of equal or greater size, the litter has an excellent chance of containing at least a fair percentage of big puppies.

Going To A Backyard Breeder courtesy of Dog Articles.

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Should I Have My Dog Spayed Or Neutered?

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Many people today are concerned about pet overpopulation.  They may choose to adopt a pet instead of buying from a breeder.  Even if they do obtain a dog from a breeder they may be interested in having their dog spayed or neutered.  Is this always a good idea?  Is spaying and neutering right for everyone?  Are there drawbacks?  If you do plan to spay or neuter your pet, what is the best age to have it done?

There are many positives to having your dog spayed or neutered, especially for the casual pet owner.  Primarily, you reduce the risk of unplanned and unwanted pregnancies.  Many people today are not always aware when their female dog may be in “season.”  They may not take the proper precautions to prevent her from becoming pregnant.  It can take a surprisingly short time for a breeding to take place.  Even fenced dogs may become pregnant if you have a determined male nearby.  Dogs can escape from a yard or house for a brief rendezvous.  You may not even know that your dog is pregnant until shortly before she has puppies.  By then it’s too late to do anything but get ready for the whelping.

Spaying your female (and neutering your male) eliminates this risk.  You won’t have to find homes for unplanned puppies or care for them for several weeks while the mother nurses them.  Newborn puppies are virtually helpless and you would be responsible for their welfare until they are old enough to wean.  After that you would need to get their first set of shots before they go to their new homes.  It’s quite a daunting experience to try to raise a litter of puppies and find good homes for them.  If you are unsuccessful you would be responsible for taking them to an animal shelter where they might be put to sleep if not adopted.  For this reason alone, many people choose to have their female dogs spayed.

From a health standpoint, spaying also has certain benefits.  If you spay your female dog before she is 2 1/2 years old she has a significantly lower chance of developing mammary cancer than her unspayed counterparts.  Mammary cancer is one of the leading causes of death among unspayed females.  Spaying a female dog also removes the chance of ovarian cysts developing since the ovaries are removed during the hysterectomy.  You will also avoid pyrometra and uterine cancer.

Neutering your male dog has similar positive benefits.  Besides being unable to mate, your neutered male will probably have less or an urge to mark in the house.  Your dog will not have a risk of testicular cancer and the risk of prostate cancer is reduced.

There are, however, negatives about spaying and neutering.  Weight gain is often observed after spaying and neutering.  Spaying and neutering at young ages (before the onset of puberty and the beginning of the sex hormones) can mean that your dog never achieves the look of a mature dog.  Males, in particular, may lack muscle tone and mass their entire lives.  Spaying and neutering at young ages — before the growth plates close — may also stunt the growth of your dog.  On the other hand, some spayed and neutered dogs grow to be much taller than normal.  Spayed females may also become incontinent and have accidents in the house.  At least one study has shown that sterilized dogs are more likely to have problems with hypothyroidism.

In addition, while spayed and neutered dogs are less likely to get some cancers, they are more likely to develop others.  This is thought to be because they no longer have the beneficial effects of some necessary hormones in their bodies.

Neutering increases the risk of osteosarcoma in male dogs (bone cancer).  It increases the risk of cardiac hemangiosarcoma.  It triples the risk of hypothyroidism.  It increases the risk of orthopedic disorders.  And it increases the risk of adverse reactions to vaccinations.

For female dogs, spaying significantly increases the risk of osteosarcoma (bone cancer.  It doubles the risk of splenic hemangeiosarcoma.  It triples the risk of hypothyroidism.  It triples or quadruples the risk of persistent urinary tract infections.  It increases the risk of orthopedic disorders.  And it increases the risk of adverse reactions to vaccinations.

That’s a lot of important health information to consider.  Having your dog spayed or neutered is not a slam dunk decision.  If you have a breed that is already prone to one of these conditions you should think carefully before having your dog spayed or neutered since you will be increasing the odds that your dog may develop a serious health condition.

Most pet owners will choose to have their dog spayed or neutered for the sake of convenience.  They won’t have to worry about unwanted pregnancies.  They won’t have to worry about their dog coming in season.  This is often a good choice.  But please consider all of the health ramifications of your decision.  Talk to people who have your breed.  Find out about common health problems and see what other people recommend.  At the very least, try to delay spaying and neutering until your dog is sexually mature so that you can avoid some of the worst of the potential health problems associated with spaying and neutering.

Should I Have My Dog Spayed Or Neutered? Courtesy of Dog Articles.

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