The only place to get a pup from is an accredited KC breeder...

GeeGeeboy

GeeGeeboy

Well-Known Member
Joined
14 March 2010
Messages
801
Visit site
Says the secretary of the KC on Crufts . There's no way that will ever happen. 'designer-dog' breeders are taking over! Do you all agree?
 
Designer breeds still make up a small percentage of my client base. In fact I've had more new standard poodles this past year (go Ricky!).

But they also did say accredited beeeder OR rescue.
 
I'd say designer breeds are about 50% of my client base now. Yeah the vet guy said rescue but not the KC secretary who I was talking about.
 
blackcob said:
That would be a fair statement if the assured breeder scheme was the gold standard it promises to be. Which it isn't by a country mile. :p
Click to expand...


I know so many GSD breeders who have left the ABS, because they are breeding to a higher standard than some on the ABS. It could have been such a great scheme but as usual the KCs greed has spoiled it. :(
 
Possibly worth pointing out that Caroline Kisko is an assured breeder of Siberian huskies and has the following statement on her website:

"Even though we have had very few litters - and have kept most of the offspring from our litters over the years - we are nonetheless members of the KC Accredited Breeder Scheme. The scheme is intended to get rid of puppy farmers in the long term - and if anyone wants to debate the subject I'm more than happy to do so!

As a result we take part in all the health schemes relevant to the breed and even the ones which aren't especially relevant, like hip scoring. So our boys have eye certificates and have been hip scored."

Emphasis is my own!

ETA: Many of their dogs used for breeding don't have eye test results recorded.
 
Last edited:
FrankieCob said:
I have lurchers. Might be tricky to get a KC registered one of those :lol:
Click to expand...

Dont say that FC, they will be registering them as a breed with the Kennel Club before you can bat an eyelid :D Look at Jack Russell terriers..... border collies......Parson Jack Russells.....
 
My best and most beloved dog is a working whippet. He looks like a whippet on crack! Whippet shaped but with a butt like Jlo! His mum was racing bred and dad was a worker. He would be ideal for starting a breed of working whippets along the line of parsons. Maybe I'll set up a puppy farm and create my new designer breed? :lol:
 
I found mine (Smooth Collie cross Kelpie) via Gumtree back in 2011. He was an 8 week old pup, born in a cattle shed on a working farm in the middle of nowhere. Had to go through the Third Degree as to whether I could offer an appropriate home before I was allowed to come and view, and then the dam of the litter had to approve of me before I was allowed to see her pups. Mine cost me £70, and farmer gave me a pound back for luck too. Couldn't ask for a nicer animal. Next dog around, I'll use the same method.

Kennel Club can go and jump as far I'm concerned, but then I'm not keen on canine-mop hybrids :p
 
Sadly, the road of good intentions does all too often lead to Hell!

The documentary "Pedigree Dogs Exposed" (freely available to view on YouTube) was aimed at exposing the evils of the KC but in the public's eye it just highlighted the problems in pedigree dogs. There is nothing wrong in inbreeding, it is the selection of suitable breeding stock that is the problem and an external examination on the show bench or show ring has been proved time and time again to be the formula for disaster.

So Joe Public not unreasonably concludes that if pedigree breeding is bad, cross breeding must be good. But it's never that simple. Hard selection for function, as in the example of the sheepdog pup bought from a working farm, is at least a start. But is a working breed really suitable as a family pet?
 
As you say Dry Rot, Jemima Harrison did the world of pedigree dogs a great disservice with her programme. I am not disputing that a lot breeds have health problems which needed attention, but breeders were trying (and succeeding) to improve things in many breeds way before that programme, all PDE has achieved is to encourage backyard breeders and puppyfarmers with their crossbreeds.
The fact that there are so many rescues purely for Border Collies answers the question as to whether some working bred dogs are suitable for family pets. :(
 
MurphysMinder said:
The fact that there are so many rescues purely for Border Collies answers the question as to whether some working bred dogs are suitable for family pets. :(
Click to expand...

So true, MM, you rarely see one around here without it having so many stereotypical behaviours. Unfortunately, like huskies, they are so cute and fluffy as ickle wickle babies.
I only saw the end of the interview but I think if people did go to a rescue or an accredited breeder it would be better in many ways.
 
Yes I agree in principle Clodagh, and a couple of years would maybe have agreed totally. But the fact remains that many breeders (myself included) have left the ABS because the KC were giving the accreditation to breeders who didn't meet high enough standards in our opinion. To be a member of the ABS a breeder has to health test their breeding stock, all well and good, but what the scheme doesn't do is set a standard for these health tests, so a breeder can breed from a dog with a high hip score and still be a member of the scheme. Whereas another breeder will be penalised for not having a separate kitchen for preparing their dogs food, and in my own case for not having "retirement homes" lined up for my bitches when they were no longer being bred from.
This and other similar things are the reason so many previous members have left , because they feel they are setting higher standards than the scheme .
This isn't sour grapes, I had already stopped breeding when I had my inspection, and still passed despite the above "failure", but left the scheme on principle. My dogs are my pets, not breeding machines to be passed on when they have finished being useful. :(
 
My fantastic, healthy, amazing little dog who is 14 now was bought from an advert I saw in Loot (the free ads paper). She cost £200 and I bought her from a family - she had no papers. I couldn't have wished for a better dog so don't think being KC registered is that important to be honest. Maybe I was just very lucky, I don't know.
 
I think the main thing is to use your common sense. A lady I work with wanted a cheap pup and she found one, he was in a stable with 20 other pups of different breeds, she did meet the parents, they all had the squits and she still handed over £200 and took him home. He is very ill (not parvo, mainly worm damage) and has cost her a fortune. She was a muppet!
 
With what appears to be a complete lack of interest in the further and ongoing development of any breed of dog, then it's beyond me how anyone can take the Kennel Club seriously on just about any topic. The problem, I suppose, is that whilst there may be those amongst us who feel that they are competent at reaching decisions as to whether a 'breeder' is experienced enough to be considered as a voice worth listening to, the tyro owner has to rely upon some guidelines, and as such will grasp at the word 'Accredited', so perhaps the service is of at least some use!

Jumping through hoops to achieve a dubious accolade, doesn't necessarily make for a competent breeder, in my opinion. The accredited scheme mentioned, is I suppose, better than nothing.

Alec.
 
My boss's parents have a Boerboel, which I think is a breed not registered with the Kennel Club. He's a very nice dog - like a mastiff but without all the droopy skin on his face.
 
Cyrus said:
If I want a particular breed I will approach the breed club for a copy of their breeders list not the KC Assured breeders drivel
Click to expand...

Same here Cyrus. Although we have found both our last two breeders through word of mouth and personal recommendations, they are also KC reg but not assured.
 
What I want to know above all about any prospective dog of mine, if it is not a rescue, is that both parents and even grand-parents have led a long and very active life without any physical or mental defects showing up. A lurcher from known working parents bred by a good dog man fits the bill for me. If I have a horse, it must be up to the work I want from him, same with a dog. Until the Kennel Club promote grading 'trials' for breeding dogs similar to those for registered warmblood horses that will test their trainability and physical fitness, the whole registration system will be worthless for me. Even a pet should be capable of an active life without 'breaking down'.
I am afraid that would weed out all breeds physically unfit for an active life but would that be such a bad thing? How immune to suffering have we become to accept that some dogs will go through life wheezing and gasping for breath for instance? or that some breeds can only reproduce by caesarian section?
 
Common sense is required. I got my dog from a KC breeder, but one with a very good reputation by word of mouth and I went all the way up to Glasgow from London in order to see my dog in her home environment, plus I met her parents, relatives, and got a full history of their health and the relevant tests. Equally, I enquired about another puppy, and the breeder wanted me to take the dog at 8 weeks- 4 weeks too early for a papillon, and was talking about how he would have another litter in a couple of months if I wanted another one- sent alarm bells ringing and this man was a KC breeder as well. I wish people would do more research before they got a dog.
 
Clodagh said:
I think the main thing is to use your common sense. A lady I work with wanted a cheap pup and she found one, he was in a stable with 20 other pups of different breeds, she did meet the parents, they all had the squits and she still handed over £200 and took him home. He is very ill (not parvo, mainly worm damage) and has cost her a fortune. She was a muppet!
Click to expand...

Unfortunately this is way too common.
There has to be some sort of regulation, not only for the health of the dogs but there also has to be some sort of criteria for who dogs are sold too!
Many breeders don't give a **** what will become of the pups as long as they get their cash.
Owning any dog is a privilege, breeding them should not be taken lightly and those involved should always put the dogs welfare before their own greed unfortunately this isn't always the case.
 
amymay said:
But for a first time dog owner (me), wanting a specific breed, it was (and remains) hugely important.
Click to expand...

Well me too, it was the first time I'd owned a dog, I wanted this particular breed and I struck gold without her being KC registered.

I knew someone who owned a Westie, who really was the most unattractive Westie I have ever seen, with a not particularly great temperament. And they bought him from Harrods!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top