Yesterday while shopping with Sweetie a lady approached me and wanted to know if my dogs was one of those Doodles~ I nodded my head as I tried to be nice and walk away. I could feel it coming, there was a vibe in the air and I just didn’t like the way she approached me. I tried to keep walking.
Zap~ she did it. She asked if I would use her male Labrador Retriever with Sweetie to produce a litter of puppies. Of course we would have to split the profit and she would raise half of the puppies at her house and I could raise the other half at my house and maybe she would like to keep a girl so she could have a litter or two too.
I stopped and tried to look as interested as possible. I asked her about her Lab. What color is he? How old is your Lab? Has he ever sired a litter before? Has he been finished? How about health testing, have you tested him? I got all sorts of cute answers. “He is a black Lab with a white chest and 1 white foot. About 2 years old but really not sure. He has never sired a litter but does practice on their other dog who is too old to have puppies. Of course he goes to the vet all the time and has had all his shots and is on Heartguard, he is real healthy.” I asked why she thought he would be good with Sweetie and she said “he would be a good father, he plays with the kids and never leaves their side, he won’t even eat their snacks when they lay them down.”
I nod my head real interested like. Wow I tell her he sounds like a great dog but I dont think it is a good idea. I try again to walk away but she wants to continue talking about how we could split the profit. I finally get free when my daughter and her friends come out of a store… shew.. my head hurt.
I really wanted to give her a peice of my mind but I held back. I always try to educate people about responsible breeding; pedigree research, breed standards, health testing. It was clear I wasn’t going to get through and she will likely find another dog and attempt to breed her dog.
It was nearly a year ago that I received an email from someone else wanting to use one of my boys with their girl. I asked about health testing, pedigree and conformation. I did get an email back, the owner told me how her dog had been hit by a car so her hip rating was not good but that was only on one side, the other hip was good. I declided allowing her to use my boy after a long rant about responsible breeding and placing puppies. She eventually found some one sorry enough… Her puppies were listed in the Indianapolis Star want ad for just a couple hundred dollars. I have been lucky enough since to actually meet 2 of them in training, owned by the same person they plan on breeding the pair when the girl comes into heat. Yep you’re following me~ someone bought 2 puppies from the same litter… brother and sister… and they plan to breed them.
It is a vicious cycle of uneducated breeders producing puppies, placing them intact and owners breeding them and starting the cycle all over producing 100’s of puppies from dogs that should not have been bred and have clear health issues.
