Dog breeders still doing it !

lucylocket

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Still selling puppies "ready for Christmas". Our local freead paper has several breeders advertising Christmas puppies,
and someone I know has appeared with a puppy as a present.
Honestly, dont they read about the hundreds of dogs dumped at Christmas, old dogs and puppies. It makes my blood boil
Especially when you know that after a few weeks most of them will be surplus to requirements, making a mess or making a noise, or chewing. People do my head in sometimes.
 
I know what you mean, infuriates me every year. However, in most cases don't think they are true breeders, just people with a bitch who think it would be nice to have a litter. At the risk of sounding a dog snob I don't know of any breeders who advertise in the free ad papers.

I only ever bred one litter that would have been "ready for Christmas". Although they were all sold before Christmas I wouldn't let any of them go their new homes till after New Year. Luckily all prospective owners fully undersood why (they wouldn't have had a puppy from me otherwise)!
 
I don't agree with advertising them as "ready for christmas" and exactly with what you're saying. However, for those breeders who are responsible and plan litters, it can't always be helped when a bitch is in season and then when she whelps.

For example I'm breeding from Mouse when she next come into season, which will be August (if she obliges and comes in on time this time
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) therefore her puppies will be born October time-ish and ready to go end of December.

I shall be making sure though that none go as presents!
 
We bought my dog on Christmas Eve! She was my christmas present and we still have her! She's 8 now so getting old. But we didnt buy her just cos it was Christmas. We just had difficulty finding a mastiff and she happened to come along and it happened to be Christmas Eve!!

So not everyone ditches their dogs in the new Year but I know what you mean. It's the one problem with breeding mastiffs. People see them as cute puppies and dont get the idea that they get huge very quickly and destruction follows them!
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I am saddened by how many end up in rescue centres.
 
it makes me mad and also makes me cry.

i would rather not go there

my siggy basically shows how i feel, and shows what it causes (the breeding, buying and dumping)

HUNDREDS of dogs are now put down each year because rescues cannot deal with the sheer amounts of dogs in their care. and it isnt the rescues fault, its ours. not as individuals, but as humans we are the sole reason for these problems.

Lucy x
 
I agree to some exent, and as a breeder people should be a heck of a lot more responsible, there are good breeders out there too!! But I feel the people who buy these dogs, what ever the breed and even sometimes rescues, are just as much to blame - they don't bother doing their research on what they're getting. So like Dozziesmummy said, they buy a puppy because it's cute and don't realise what they're taking on.

I know of someone who's been bought a Shih Tzu puppy and they haven't got a clue about anything to do with dogs and neither do the parents. They know nothing about the breed or the person they bought it from, who also had a litter before the one this pup is from, a litter of Jacks and a litter of Jack x Shih Tzu. Now to me that screams puppy farmer, stay away but there you go.

I also knew of a couple who had a Mastiff x GSD who was from a rescue centre and before they got him he'd been in and out of rescues because the people who homed him realised he was a big dog and had a lot more issues than they could cope with. So it's not just irresponsible breeders, I think rescues can be part to blame and those who buy/home dogs.
 
We actually stop rehoming 1 month b4 christmas and 1 month after...and we are non profit making and packed to the brim...and have even had 3 new arrivals all landing on christmas eve
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Some planned breedings may indeed fall upon christmas for sale...but Unfortunatley some do intentionally have litters planned for christmas...knowing they will sell as presents agree with Murphysminder....any good/responsible breeder would keep their puppies until after christmas...weather they where ready to go or not....IMO.
As usual we will no doubt be flooded with requests and dumpees in a few months.
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(QR)
I dont see a problem with animals as presents IF they are going to good homes who know what they are taking on and who would buy them anyway whatever time of the year.
Bought my little brother a rabbit for christmas a few years back,he had wanted one for ages and (as the one buying it) I would have taken it in if he had lost intrest.

Putting ready for christmas in the ads is shocking beyound belif-just encoraging people to pick one as a present on a whim
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Agree that if you are breeding dogs as a living you can't pick when they come into season but responsible breeders should behave in the same way as rescues and refuse to allow pups to go as christmas presents. If you check the rescue sites now unwanted dogs and pups are already pouring in. I'll never understand it as long as I live
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Its not really the giving dogs for presents, although obviously they should never be given without a lot of thought. IMO Christmas is just a terrible time to bring a new puppy into the house. I think there are very few people who can say their routine is exactly the same on Christmas Day as any other day of the year, and trying to fit a puppy, house training etc into this is impossible.
 
I have a litter at the moment. They are all sold. One went before xmas as they were an older couple with adult children. They already have a dog and spend very quiet xmasses.

The rest I refused to let go until after. Some of the people who wanted to buy a pup were quite taken aback when I interviewed them to see if they were fit to have one of my pups! I refused to sell to some of them. I know there are no guarantees in life but, I have done my best to only let the pups go to forever knowledgeable homes.

I bred this time as my bitch only comes in season every 8 months.

I agree there are some unscrupulous people out there but, please don't tar us all with the same brush.

By the way, all health tests had been done on the parents and pups are KC Registered.
 
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Agree that if you are breeding dogs as a living you can't pick when they come into season but responsible breeders should behave in the same way as rescues and refuse to allow pups to go as christmas presents. If you check the rescue sites now unwanted dogs and pups are already pouring in. I'll never understand it as long as I live
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The problem is solved with ownership agreements and all of mine go with them so they won't ever (or if they do there will be a court case) end up in a rescue home!
 
I really like the idear of a contract,but dont have much faith in them
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Wonderfull as long as the new owners stick to them,but useless if they dont.
I'm sure you would do all you could to sort things out and give the owners hell if the contract was not stuck to,but the trouble is finding out.....how many close friends have you lost track off over the years?
All breeders can really do is ask the right questions and keep fingers crossed that the dogs have the 5* life they deserve.

I was really hoping that the animal wellfare act would cover this.
In an ideal world you should have to register intent to breed with the relavent breed club/KC and be bound by law to spay/castrate if you dont-threat of a spell in jail/huge fine would stop most people breeding dogs that will probably end up in rescue.
 
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Ah..but my friends aren't microchipped, my pups are
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Ahhhhh, so can you have you details permanantly on the chip?
Fab
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So,now if rescue places bother to scan the dogs(Battersea diddnt when yorkie went walkies alone...then charged me for 3 days board while we were franticly searching for him AND full corse of jabs when he had had his booster 2 weeks before
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) dogs can be returned to breeders instead of staying in rescue
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To be fair to the breeder of my bitch I was given the tenth degree before she would even tell me where the litter was! She asked me so many questions as i had never had a mastiff although my OH had had one. But the breeder is well respected in Mastiff circles and my bitch is a bit special! I think she was a bit worried about it being Christmas Eve but I also think she realised we were genuine dog lovers who had not had the opportunity to own our own dog as a married couple, but we'd both had dogs as children.
 
Hey Whyworry,I wasn,t tarring you with the irresponsible breeder brush. If you read my other reply on this post you will see that I have been in exactly the same situation as you. Had a litter at Christmas cos the bitch only came in every 9 months,I also ended up keeping them till after Christmas. Have also told people they can't have one of my pups in the past, its quite funny in a way because they actually seem to think they are doing you a favour by wanting one of your pups.
Anyway, good luck with your litter. what breed do you have?
 
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I agree to some exent, and as a breeder people should be a heck of a lot more responsible, there are good breeders out there too!! But I feel the people who buy these dogs, what ever the breed and even sometimes rescues, are just as much to blame - they don't bother doing their research on what they're getting. So like Dozziesmummy said, they buy a puppy because it's cute and don't realise what they're taking on.

I know of someone who's been bought a Shih Tzu puppy and they haven't got a clue about anything to do with dogs and neither do the parents. They know nothing about the breed or the person they bought it from, who also had a litter before the one this pup is from, a litter of Jacks and a litter of Jack x Shih Tzu. Now to me that screams puppy farmer, stay away but there you go.

I also knew of a couple who had a Mastiff x GSD who was from a rescue centre and before they got him he'd been in and out of rescues because the people who homed him realised he was a big dog and had a lot more issues than they could cope with. So it's not just irresponsible breeders, I think rescues can be part to blame and those who buy/home dogs.

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echo the bt about there being some good breeders out there, its just a shame that there is only a handful of extremely sensible, caring, and decent breeders out there
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but i still dont think rescues are to blame for anything, tey try their hardest but everyone makes mistakes.
 
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The problem is solved with ownership agreements and all of mine go with them so they won't ever (or if they do there will be a court case) end up in a rescue home!

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It's a bit like putting a horse out on loan, despite lots of checks and paperwork it's not foolproof but better than nothing I guess. If only everyone was so careful!
 
Murphy'sMinder, I have labradors.

Potential owners are a nightmare, one even said if I get stuck with a puppy he'll give me half price!!!! Doh, as if.

Two pups went today. Although I'm pleased they are just starting out on the rest of their lives I am quite sad as they have such individual characters and I feel really responsible for them. The homes have older children and I have met the whole family in each case.
 
Couldn't agree more about potential owners. One of the reasons I wasn't too bothered when my last bitch wasn't able to be bred from. With GSDs you always have to be so careful people aren't looking for guard dogs. I always used to sell with contracts stating I must have first option if they were unable to keep them, yet 2 did still end up in rescue. Luckily had all pups tattooed so the rescue kennels were able to contact me. And unless the contract is drawn up by a solicitor don't think you have much of a comeback against the owners to be honest, but at least you feel you are doing everything in your power to ensure they have a home for life. And in most cases people have kept in touch throughout their dogs lives, in fact it is lovely at this time of year to get loads of photos and christmas cards.

Best of luck with the rest of your litter going, its always a bittersweet time isn't it?
 
It is a shame, all those years of "A dog is for Life not just for Christmas" obviously haven't worked for everybody. Though I agree about not tarring everybody with the same brush - got my mini dachs pup on 7th December after months of searching, and because he is still so little all I've heard the last few days is, "Ahhhhh, Christmas present was he?"

NOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!
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We got ours a week before xmas, it was just the way it worked out and nothing to do with xmas, xmas did in fact make sense ultimately also as we had lots of time off to settle pup in with whole family at home.

We had been looking for months, and these just came up locally. Its down to being responsible, and sadly some are just not those kind of people.

Dogs will be dumped whatever time of year, sadly people just dont think it through when committing to any animal.

Strange though that its ok to sell a horse but not a dog......??? Not saying I could sell either but does make you think.
 
there is nothing wrong with selling a puppy near xmas the problems arise when breeders dont take more care who they sell their puppies too, i always make people sign a contract to say they will not pass them on and that they have to come back to me if they can no longer keep them. also i put restictions on my pedigree pups to stop people breeding any old dog , these can be lifted at a later date once you know the people are genuine.It seems some people just take the money and sell to any one regardless of their credibility.
 
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