In Defense of Dog Breeders

I’m a part of the rescue community here in Louisville. That’s a really loaded statement. There’s a lot of issues I have with some of the people and ideas I run into. One example is the rescue world’s view of dog breeders. Some people blatantly say silly things like “I wish all dog breeding would be banned” or “We should punish breeders.”

Well, we have a dog at the clinic right now who wandered or was dumped onto a client’s property who is probably 20 pounds or more underweight and who we had to do abdominal surgery on to remove a blockage because he was so desperate for calories he ate everything (in this case it was sticks, what looks like a wash cloth and a corn cob). I know very well how damaging stupid, irresponsible selfish breeders who are just looking for money can be. And I know they make up a whole heck of a lot of the breeders out there.

But I also know about a friend and coworker who breeds poodles and cares very much about who they go to (mostly she keeps them and shows them). And her sister who shows and “breeds” french bulldogs, but has yet to ever have a litter since even though she’s paid heftily for good quality dogs, they’ve come down with issues she doesn’t want to pass on, so she sterilizes them and ends up with pets. And a former coworker who has bred and shown Staffordshire Terriers and Rotties and always had a waiting list before she even bred her females, of people she approved, after doing background checks.

I was also told about a friend of a friend who bought a cocker spaniel from a breeder and about a year after received a call from the breeder because one of her dogs had been found in an area shelter. (The breeder always microchipped her puppies and always pledged to take them back should they need a home.) The breeder asked them to pull the dog, funded vet care and neutering, but the family fell for dog #2 and opted to keep him too.

There are good people breeding dogs out there. People who love dogs madly and want to see them as a species healthier and every bit as important to our species. People who understand that “dogs” is sometimes more than just “this dog”. I know it gets hard to see sometimes, but it’s important that we remind ourselves because rescue is just one aspect of animal care.

Second is the idea that every time you buy a dog you kill a shelter dog. This is utterly untrue, for many reasons.

First, many areas are exploring some form of no-kill. Louisville’s city shelter isn’t no-kill, but it also does not have a set amount of time before a dog is euthanized. Adoption is a priority.

Second, some people know what they want and that is not likely to be a rescue dog. People do still use their dogs for all the reasons we used to. There are still hunting dogs and herding dogs, farm protection and police dogs. Many of the service dogs you see are purebred just because solid genetic knowledge about the health and temperament of the parents leads to some really good guesses about the future health and ability of the pups, which makes job training tons easier. It takes years and lots of money to train seeing eye dogs and the like. You really want to know that that dog isn’t going to come down with dysplasia in three years or anything.

Some people also just love the reliability of “their” breed. For aesthetic reasons or sentimental. There’s nothing wrong with that.

Third, not everyone is prepared for the unknown and potential issues of a rehomed dog. Most shelter dogs are amazing, wonderful critters who make great companions. No dog is perfect. Every dog, like every person, has their habits and some people are not prepared to translate “is this a quirk or is it dangerous”. Or they might be looking for a jogging partner and adopt a slightly-disappointing couch potato instead. Dogs in shelters often have bad habits from lack of training, lack of “normal” socialization with people or just the fear and anxiety of the shelter life itself. Dogs are not always the same at home as they are in the shelter, and some people don’t do well with personality surprises.

(Other people, like me, like the challenges and excitement of new dogs, new personalities and new things to try out and learn.)

Finally, what does guilting the shit out of someone who wants to provide a loving, safe home to any dog accomplish? The key is education, not bitchiness, which I know is hard (I break sometimes too). But we’re trying to help here, not spread a culture of bitchiness and miseducation.