Puppy mills & care-less backyard breeders

Puppy mills and care-less backyard breeders influence dog behavior

part 2

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puppy socialization & training the best age to get and socialize a pup

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training puppies not to bite

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Puppy mills and care-less backyard breeders influence dog behavior

The care-less breeding of dogs and its interplay with the compulsive spay and neuter mindset need to be understood and explored. Care-less breeding is a primary supplier of puppies to the pet market. Within this group are those who are doing long-term damage to society and to large populations of dogs. If our cultural institutions support breeding high numbers of problem dogs it will eventually lead to catastrophic failure. This failure can spread trait based behavior problems throughout society.

Could care less selective breeding is often done to supply pet stores and puppy sellers with commercially raised dogs. Quite often the only selection done, is for AKC papers. This is because puppies that can be registered with the AKC make more money than dogs without papers. A problem with selecting dogs based only on a recoded name and number is there’s no selection for desirable behavior or traits. A piece of paper with a registration number does not prove quality. Knowing the history is what makes the number meaningful. We learn something about a dogs history by reading its pedigree. You’re bound to get behavior instability When the main selective trait you are breeding for is a number and the dog’s name on a list in a New York office. Although governments and big business would like it otherwise, all of us are more than just a number.

Most notorious culprits puppy mills

The most notorious culprits of could care-less selective breeding are puppy mills. Puppy mills churn out a multitude of problems camouflaged as furry bundles of love. Many people after getting attached to a problem pup find it hard to give up on the new family member. To the committed puppy parent’s credit, they try to work through the problems. These Trojan Horse pups can sometimes over tax even the most tolerant persons emotional and financial resources.

Some backyard breeders are just as bad as puppy mills

The next group of breeders range from doing their best to be responsible, to no better than puppy mills. As a group, these casual breeders produce large quantities of dogs. By casual breeder I am not referring to the occasional breeder who is trying to improve the breed. I use the term casual breeder to describe those who breed care-lessly as a part time or full time business. Often casual breeders use the same selection criteria as the professional puppy mill, a piece of paper with AKC on it. These puppy producers are often referred to as back yard breeders, but I think a better term is care-less breeders. This is because many good occasional breeders keep their dogs in the home.

The AKC's role

While I do like to gripe about the AKC they do a lot of good for dogs and the industry. I am not totally anti AKC I just think there is some instability in their system. Also when a good working breed gets accepted for AKC registration the traits responsible for its working ability tend to decline. I do feel that AKC dog shows are good for pet dogs in general. I am not a big dog show fan but being finished as a show dog to some extent does qualify as a type of temperament test. This is because dogs need to attend several shows to finish and they need to be manageable even if it is only while in the ring. They also need to tolerate being kept confined, can’t bite the judge, and they are not allowed to go potty in the ring. The newer canine good citizen test is also a move in the right direction.

In the pet industry natural selection is not at work. A very successful kennel owner I worked for once told me. “While nature may cull weak puppies, in the pet industry every puppy lives.” I don’t think this is bad, but I do think, not all dogs should reproduce. It would also be nice if the puppy buyer was told they are getting a dog that was saved by intervention and that it may require extra attention.

Since humans have taken natural selection out of the dog’s evolution we need to replace it with good selective breeding. By breeding better dogs we reduce the number of dogs turned into animal control and in the long run cut down on dog overpopulation.

Part 1
Neutering and spaying dogs and the impact of a compulsive spay and neuter mind set on pet dogs

part 3 dog fighting and criminal dog breeders

part 4 Solutions to mandatory spay / neuter dog laws training, testing, and good breeding

firsr article about act AB1634
Anti Healthy pet act act AB1634 Read Why it is bad California dog legislation

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un healthy pet act AB1634 California sick dog law - euphemism healthy pet act Learn the Secrets of its Unseen Dangers