What's the difference?

As I can't see one!
As a breeder, when I sell a pup I hope it is to a forever home (barring unforeseen circumstances obviously) and I'm pretty certain that the vast majority of conscientious breeders would be horrified if their pup was passed on because the owner didn't want it anymore (for whatever reason).
So why is it that some show kennels who rehome their champions and no hopers/hangers on don't see that as the same thing.
I can't see the difference?
Becky

Mainly because their dogs are bought and bred for a specific purpose and all the big breeders have kennels - they have to, because they have too many dogs to fit in a house. Most of them have a few house dogs who wouldn't go anywhere regardless of what they look like or what they produced. Personally, if a dog spends it's life in a kennels (albeit being loved and very well looked after, just not with the bond that we have with ours) I don't see a problem with it spending it's latter years on someone else's sofa. It's the difference between having a dog as a pet, and if it's good enough to breed from and does OK in it's chosen field then having a litter - and buying in or breeding a dog specifically for breeding and showing, not just that you want to live with it.

I have no problem with bigger breeders rehoming older dogs - better that than them spending their days in a kennel.

Debs

I do and agree with Mahooli - if the dog can't get the quality of life it deserves and a forever home, then they should not have them. I do not think it is acceptable to merely use a dog as a breeding machine and then discard them once they have outlived their usefullness. I have no time for 'breeders' like this - if they can't give a dog a home for life (and the life it deserves - I am certainly not talking about being stuck out in a kennel all it's life with very little interaction) then they have too many and really need to rethink their practices.

It's really no different than having horses in training and then retiring them to a loving home.

Having said all this... I wouldn't sell a dog to someone who was going to kennel and then sell it on - double standards on my part maybe. But when you think of it, many breeds wouldn't be here if it wasn't for the bigger breeders.

Debs

Hi Becky When selling puppies a good breeder will stipulate that puppies/dogs should not be sold on to a third person and should be returned to the breeder if for any reason the new owner can't keep them. When I was involved with show kennels we always adopted this policy.
No doubt some breeders would say they won't do this because it is expensive and you could be stuck with unwanted dogs, tough if people are not prepared to take back the dogs they breed they shouldn't be breeding them at all.

If prospective owners are carefully vetted, made fully aware of what owning a puppy means and given lots of support when they get their puppy there should be no problems. People wait months for a puppy from a good kennel and in the main someone who is prepared to wait for a puppy will have researched the subject throughly and will be a good owner. There are occasional bad owners and in those circumstances a good breeder will be only too happy to have there dogs returned home safely.

Good breeders usually have a waiting list of people who would like an older dog. These people have usually owned the breed before, have lost a dog and would prefer to have an older dog rather than train a puppy from scratch. Older dogs are occasionally homed this way without papers and for a carefully monitored trial period again on condition that if there are and problems the dog is returned to the breeder. (It could be a dog who had been returned to the breeder because the owner couldn't keep it. I know of one person who returned a dog to the breeder because they were unexpectedly sent to work overseas for a three year period and didn't want their dog in quarantine for months when they returned to this country).


When I lost Amy last year I approached a couple of good breeders to see if they had an older dog available but they didn't. I was worried taking a puppy to work might be difficult. I needn't have worried, having a puppy with me wasn't a problem at all

So I take it you'd never buy a puppy from any of these breeders' lines then? Or use one of their dogs (or dogs they bred and sold) for stud? No matter how fabulously healthy their dogs were - all the health tests under the sun done - lines and physical attributes that would fit your bitch to a tee - all dogs oozing type and balance? No matter how much a certain mating or dog from these people would improve your breed? To do so would be condoning their actions surely.

Debs

I dont really see a difference , you are both selling on your puppies, hopefully to the correct home...the only difference is you have sold your at a young age, the "show" breeder will be selling on an older or retired dog.

I hove no problem, in fact I would rather see a "failed" or "retired" show dog , put into a nice loving home, where it can spend the rest of its life as a loving pet....rather than spend its days in a kennel environment.


The most important thing is getting the right home, and if you take responsibilty for your ofsprings, that is all that matters.

Much better surely for a dog to be in the right home, no matter what time of its life, than for a 'lesser' home to hang on to the dog?
IMO, as long as care is taken in rehoming the dog and the dogs needs are considered and catered for, I see no problem.

i could never pass it on if it didn't make the grade.. it's all very well getting mad at pet owners who get rid of dogs at the drop of a hat and i think this is the same.. (ducks!)

The point I'm trying to make (obviously badly) is that you shouldn't expect your puppy buyers to give their dogs a forever home and not pass on (or give back) while you're doing the same thing with the dogs you've kept. That's a bit double standards to me.
Everyone harps on about a dog is for life then you get people who give a long list of exceptions as to why it doesn't apply to them!
Becky