Depending on where you live, you may have a larger or smaller problem with unwanted dogs and cats filling your local shelters. The problem seems to be worse in the United States than it is in Canada. This is heartbreaking, and the fact that anyone would make a commitment to care for a dog and then abandon that commitment is not a person who should be breeding and they possibly should not even be a dog owner. Nobody should be ok with anyone accepting a dog until it becomes inconvenient or too much work. Of course there are certain circumstances where if someone loses their job and cannot afford to care for a dog or maybe they become ill and are physically unable to care for their pooch. In certain circumstances there may not be a choice to keep the dog they so lovingly made the commitment to care for. In any surrender, your dog is still a living, loving animal requiring care and homing.
There is a solution and we can stop or reduce unwanted dogs in shelters . For the most part the people active in rehoming dogs are pro-shelter dogs and against breeding in general. This is understandable because according to their knowledge there are many breeders who simply breed dogs for the money. They don’t even have to come from a puppy mill, the puppies may come from what appears to be a loving home. But, if you ask one of these back yard breeders what they breed for they are rarely able to explain more than they have a beautiful dog and want to pass on that dog’s personality traits.
These breeders are the ones filling the animal shelter. They simply place an advertisement that is titled “Puppies for Sale in Ontario” and then let their puppies go to whomever shows them enough cash. They may breed mixed breed dogs or they may breed purebred Labrador Retriever Puppies with or without papers, either way they are most of the time contributing to the problem of unwanted dogs ending up in shelters. There is a way to drastically curb the breeding of unwanted dogs and it comes with an understanding of why we actually need professional Labrador Retriever breeders or other breed dog breeders for the right reasons.
Before you read through this I’d like to mention that I am completely against any dogs in any shelters. My opinion is that each and every dog created both accidental and planned should be able to live out their life in a happy home full of love,fun and chew toys. I do however believe this can be done by requiring all breeders follow a set of rules that should be written with care for preserving the traits of the individual breeds while holding those who breed responsible for the entire life of the puppies they create.
1. Breed in order to improve the traits in one specific bloodline. An example may be breeding German Shepherds to become smarter so they can help Law Enforcement.
2. Commit to take any puppy they have bred back, for the entire lifetime of the dog. Good breeders are responsible 100% for their puppies which results in 0 of their dogs being placed in a shelter. The breeder is responsible for the re-homing.
3. Screen their applicants for suitability. They simply won’t just sell a puppy to anyone who has the money.
4. Contribute their work with their bloodline for the greater good of society. An example would be breeding dogs to act as Service Dogs for Veterans with PTSD.
5. Have an agreement with the person who purchases the puppy that they may not breed their puppy and are responsible for any mating even accidental. They also require the dog to be spayed/neutered.
6. Contribute their knowledge and work on developing their bloodline so that they can share this with others and the others will also benefit from their work. This could be in the form of mentoring another breeder to breed ethically or through the donation of their best dogs to act as service dogs.
7. Offer training programs for their puppies and will also take the time to answer your questions about training their Labrador Puppy. Information about our Labrador Retriever puppy training program can be seen here.
Back yard breeders breed because:
1. They wanted to let their kids experience the miracle of puppy birth.
2. Will not be responsible for their puppy once you purchase it.
3. Will not be available for training support after you purchase the puppy.
4. Do not properly screen applicants for suitability.
5. They want to pass on their dog’s traits but not for a specific reason.
6. They won’t pay the cost to fix their dog.
7. They want quick cash with no regard for what happens to the puppies later.
A final point is to avoid making a purchase of any pet from a pet store as the pet store normally has no interest in developing a bloodline of any pet. They are simply there to place the animal for profit.
Having an understand that we need working dogs specifically for tasks such as seeing eye dogs, diabetic alert dogs, companion animals, seizure response dogs, psychiatric service dogs, bomb gun and drug dogs, police dogs, medic alert dogs, autism service dogs, and much more, will shift a person’s thinking toward asking the right questions when looking for a dog so that a back yard breeder will not be able to create a lucrative puppy selling business. If adopting a purebred dog with a proven history of learning and service is not important to you then you should consider visiting your local humane society or rescue group and look at the available shelter pets and adoptable dogs (also called rescue dogs) they have available. There are a great many shelters and rescue groups willing to help you in order to reduce the number of homeless animals in their area. Most shelters evaluate the dogs that come in and are able to educate you on their personality. As well, they will likely have had veterinary care before they are offered for adoption.
We cannot, however, simply stop all dog breeding because we will lose the traits of those dogs who have been developed to help over the course of many years. Our society needs the help of these wonderful animals. Not all shelter dogs have the temperament or intelligence or sometimes even physical size is important to achieve the same results as a dog trained for a specific job. I hope that one day we are able to write this professional, purposeful type of breeding into law so that we are able to end the backyard breeding and that proper dog breeding for the right reason is only allowed. Once a breeder is required by law to commit to that puppy for the duration of its life we will see many back yard breeders looking to make a quick buck disappear.
