"Ethical Breeders Society"

How many of you breeders would be willing to join such a society? What would you expect to be the minimum requirement for an Ethical Breeder (such as KC registration if applicable, health tests etc)? What proof would you expect and do you think that all breeders who apply should be visited?
How much would you be willing to pay for such an 'accolade' (as the KC put it).
Was thinking that each year a new logo was developed for people to put on their websites and paperwork?
Your opinions please
Becky

Interesting! In theory, yes I'd be willing to join. I wouldn't want to pay more than a few quid each year because, whether I join or not, it doesn't stop me being ethical. I don't need a piece of paper stating what I already know so I wouldn't be willing to pay a lot of money to have one.

IMO there'd be no point in having such a list without the breeders' premises being visited on a regular basis. Anyone can say they do this and that but with something like this it needs to be proven. That's going to cost an awful lot of money!

At first thought, the simplest thing would be for the breeders to comply with the rules of the breed clubs re: health testing, litters bred, age bred, etc. But this throws up another problem. Not all breed clubs are ethical. It may be only people 'in the know' who realise this about certain clubs. I used to be a member of a breed club who state, every year in their returns to the KC, that the breed has no known health problems. Yet the breed does indeed have problems, and major ones at that, which are being kept quiet and swept under the carpet by all but a few breeders. Thankfully this sort of thing doesn't happen very often but it does happen. So maybe breed club standards aren't the way to go either.

Interesting idea but it'd take so much work and money that I'm not sure it'd be viable.

Debs

I would definitely.

I do think that the only problem would be the Top Breeders (if any) that are ethical in every way and rarely breed, yet know they are breeding from dogs that could potentially throw out health problems, that they are keeping quiet.

Everything else could be checkable with regards to health testing, litters bred, ages, etc through DNA profiling, but if a breeder knows they are breeding from a dog which has thrown out lots of problems, yet the dog itself remains clear, they keep breeding from it, which is something you cannot check, unless you know their specific lines !!

The other thing is, there are hundreds of people buying puppies every day that don't understand the differences and potential problems, and therefore are happy to buy from puppy farmers, because they "just wanted a pet anyway" !!

Anyway, I totally agree that if the above problem could be ironed out it would be fantastic idea

How would you control this and what would your requirements be on results etc and what someone should and should not breed from?

I am asking this as I have a male with a high hipscore who is an improver on hipscores in the breed! This I know from a number of countries where his pups, grandchildren etc are, plus his daughter has the second lowest score here in the Uk and a grandson of his here in the UK has THE lowest hipscore.

I also love another male who has an excellent hipscore but his offspring do not.

With hipscores i's more than just genetics. Environment play a part too, and many people dont realise that an overly active pup, can contribute to a hipscore that would be higher than a sibling etc.

MY own opinion, is that dogs with high hipscores should not be bred from 'just in case' unless the breed is dwindling and the dog in question is needed, being an important addition to the breed.

I wouldn't take that chance, and if you allow it to happen, you will then have all and sundry thinking they can do the same !

Well like everything a dog isn't just the result of one health test.
Maybe get the breeders to agree what would or would not be acceptable i.e. say the mean is 17 would a dog that excelled at everything else with a hip score of 34 be acceptable?
With DNA tests then of course it is different and I would expect that all matings must be carried out with at least one totally clear parent.
Becky

Excellent idea

Would it be possible to only add breeders who follow up to ensure their pups are neutered if not used for breeding/showing.

Well with my boy that I've used it wasn't until I was looking at some old photo's that I'd taken in Spain that he was one that I'd photographed climbing a 8-9 foot wall who then jumped down from that height!! He must of only been around 7-9 months of age when I took these photo's.

He actually scored excellent in Spain but not so good over here! Although my vet, the vet in Spain and a number of people who saw the films are still extremely shocked by his BVA score!

I don't agree with routine neutering but wholeheartedly support responsible ownership, however, it is not responsible owners who let their dogs roam and breed willy nilly! So from my own personal point of view I don't think that should be part of any ethical breeder scheme.
Becky

Ok not to worry just thought it was a good idea