Why not breed?

Question

This dog group is great, I have one issue that constantly comes up, and it constantly annoys me when I see it.

Many of you say do not breed, do not breed, do not breed, yet you still only respect dogs if they are pure bred.

Many of the dogs in kennels are mutts. So if you don't want people to breed their purebreds (because sooo many other dogs need a home), where are you going to get them from?

I get the feeling that no matter how responsible the breeder, this group still looks down on breeding one's dog, even though it needs to be done to further the bloodline or breed. The logic of "don't breed" makes no sense.

Let me just clarify that this "do not breed" reaction is also noticed even when one is a responsible and knowledgable breeder.

If you don't want people to breed purebreds (again even responsible breeders), where are you going to get your purebred in the future?

Very good answers...And I seem to have misunderstood this group...and true, it doesn't make sense that a responsible breeder would be asking questions on YA...

Answer 1

No, it does make sense. The people on here asking about breeding SHOULD NOT BREED. Why? Because if they were knowledable enough to breed, they wouldn't be here asking questions. And if they DID need to ask a question, they would ask their mentor, not a bunch of strangers on YA.

The REPUTABLE BREEDERS on this site do not ask simple questions about breeding (IE: My dog is pregnant, when will the puppies come? My dog just had puppies and keep moving them around what do I do? 7 out of 8 puppies have died already, and the 8th is sick, what do i do).

The people who tell others not to breed don't have anything against mutts. In fact, most will recommend adopting as a possibility - but thats the point, there are so many in shelters, why are people ADDING to the problem?

ADDED: When was a reputable breeder told not to breed?

Answer 2

Many dogs in a shelter (kennel) are purebred dogs not only mutts. The reason being people are breeding for money, cuteness & to see what the dog would look like.

Why breed for these reasons when you could adopt and save a life? I personnelly think that there are not that many reputable breeders. And the ones that are would not be asking questions on this or any other site. (not about breeding anyway)

Best way to stop haveing to put the dogs down who do not find a home, is by not just anyone breeding.

By the way I love all dogs purebred or mutts.

Answer 3

I know what your saying, but I think its people who don't have a clue how to look after a pregnant dog or have the money , space and time to raise a happy healthy litter that most are telling not to breed. It takes a small fortune to buy all the stuff needed and to feed mom and pups properly. It doesn't end there either, you brought the pups into the world and you are responsible to them for all their life, to see they have a good start, a good home, and always be there if help or advice is needed. Its not something to just make you a few extra quid, it just doesn't work like that. I know I have been a proper and responsible breeder for a long time and I don't even have to advertise the pups as I have waiting lists of good and checked out homes waiting.
I also never let any of my ladies have pups till they are 2, 1/2 years old and they don't have any more after they are 5 - 6 years, then they are Spayed.

Answer 4

it is a very simple awnser! The people on here simply are lazy and do not do enough research to breed. All they want is money money money. Then there you have the starting of a puppy mill! These people rely on starangers and other unknowlegeable people to tell them what they want to here. If you do not tell them what they want to here they get mad and go for the thumbs down button even though the awnser may be true. We would rather them go rescues a few dogs than to breed a few litters and creat more to go in the pound! Hey I have a suggestion! Why not go to the pound adopt 5 or 6 dogs then you have your litter! Then you can be ree to find them good homes! There really is no ethical reason why these people want to breed anyway. it is alway the same excuses! "I want the kids to expeiriance the mirical of life"..."I want to know what it is like to have puppies in the house".... "My dog is registard and so is the daddy so what is the problem". If you watch closely you can tell we say the same things to people with purbreds. We just get more irritated when they are talking about breeding mutts because we oviously in there little world don't have enough of those! They just do not think of what could happen. They expect it to have a fairy tail end "and they lived happely ever after". They do not understand that the story dosn't end there and it could end in death of the dogs they just created. It is one thing if you are doing your research and have a few quesitons because you may want to become a breeder down the road but these people are just to ignorent to care of the well being of the animals and will breed them at any age anytime they want to because they want to. It really is just endangering the lives of there puppies. I have a quesiton for them...they always state that they have "Good" homes lined up well how do they know that they are good homes and how do they know nothing is going to come up and that pup is going to end up in the poun? That is it! There is NO way to tell! Reputable breeders will put it in the contract that if things do not work out then the dog gose back to them and they will rehome it along with the same guidlines in the new contract. These people have no idea what they are getting them selves into and that is putting it nicely!

ADD- Rose, something you said in your awnser reminded me of my favorete qout by Benjamin Franklin "We are all born ignorent but one must work hard to remain stupid" lol!

Answer 5

I agree with you in respect to keeping the bloodline. I have a pure bred cocker spaniel who is a beautiful dog. He was actually a gift to me and ee is the first of all dogs I've had to not be mixed.
I think it is great to have a pure dog, but when I think about all the dogs that are put down all the time because they are in a shelter and no one wants them it breaks my heart. They are often dogs who come from a pure bloodline and somewhere along they way the pure bred dog mated with a random dog and unwanted puppies came to be. Often dogs get out of yards when they are in heat or dogs enter the yard of dog in heat and accidents happen just like they do with humans.

I think breeding a dog takes a very responsible owner who has a lot of time to dedicate to the dog-much like it would be their career! So many people plan to breed their dog and then don't and then do not get the dog spayed or neutered...and that is the major cause of the problem!

I wanted to breed my dog when I first got him, but then i realized that I didn't have the time to dedicate to him and the female that I was in the process of purchasing. I then canceled the purchase of the female and made an appt to have my dog neutered. I didnt want to take any chances and felt that it was not fair to have these two dogs be nothing other than my little money makers!

Answer 6

my stance on it: do not breed if you have nothing to offer the dog world other than more dogs- if you do not or will not show your dog to prove it is a good specimen, or perform neccesary health and genetic screens, have their hips, elbows, and eyes certified, actually take the time to make sure that you are not breeding crap, then you shouldnt be breeding.

we already have shelters full of poorly bred dogs to add any more to them.

now, if you are focused on bettering your breed of dog, have proved that your dog is good quality, and your dog has passed all of the health/ genetic tests, and is an excellent example of the particular breed, then those and only those dogs should be bred.

the reason you will see so many responses of "dont breed" is because, if someone did meet the above criteria and they were trying to be a reputable breeder, they would not need to be asking questions on here such as "is it ok to breed after the first heat cycle?" or "how and where can i stud out my dog?" or "how much are stud fees?" or "where can i find a mate for my bi tch?" because they would already know the answers to these questions and more through either their breeding mentor or people from the show circuits.

so, the people that come here asking thse questions do not need to be breeding their dogs because they havent a clue.

the only reason to breed is if you are going to be responsible and ethical about it. and btw, "designer" breeders are not responsible nor ethical.

i have no problems adopting, rescuing, or buying from a breeder. however, i do have problems giving money to breeders that are not breeding quality, pure bred (not designer) dogs. if i wanted a mix breed of any kind i would adopt one. and i will not buy from a pet store or condone it either.

Answer 7

Any responsible breeder would not be on YA asking how old a dog need to be to be bred. Dogs should only be bred by knowledgable breed enthusiasts for the betterment of the breed, or for show, not in puppy mills for sale for profit. If you do some research into the state of puppy mills you will see that the animals are exploited and many are in ill health and bred carelessly.

The mixed breed population will ensure that there are always a supply of pets to be adopted. There is NO reason to buy a purebred. Everyone needs to take a walk thru a county shelter and see the dogs that are condemned to death.

Answer 8

As someone who will never spend thousands on buying a dog, I still say people shouldn't breed. All my dogs have been rescues. I don't believe in furthering a bloodline or breed, but I can respect a breeder who does so responsibly.

There are thousands of dogs out there needing homes. People who breed just because their dog "is cute" are just adding to the problem. My feeling is, if ppl have to ask how to go about breeding then they have no business doing so.

Added: MelissaM - buyers aren't the problem. Treat the problem at the source: bad breeders!! Because a GOOD breeder would NEVER let any of their dogs end up in a shelter.

Answer 9

Rachel F wrote:
"I feel the same way.I'm getting into breeding labs, and my family laid down rules, we'll get a litter every other year and if we don't sell the pups we'll give them to the seeing eye dog place to get trained"

What an idiot! This is exactly the kind of person who should NOT be breeding!!! She obviously isn't aware that not just any old dog - even a lab - is accepted into the program to be a seeing eye dog. Those dogs are chosen very, very carefully and even many that are initially chosen to enter the program as puppies, never graduate. This is a backyard breeder who thinks she can just give away any puppy she can't find a home for, to this organization, and they'll be grateful to have them. WRONG!!!

To the asker: You wonder why people on YA don't condone breeding. She is the reason why.

More specifically: if we were to ever reach a point where there was no need for rescues and shelters and humane societies because there were no adoptable dogs left in them, then I'm sure the stance on "no breeding" would be relaxed. But when there are hundreds of dogs put to sleep each year, no, of course we don't want to see people contributing to that. Here's one way to think of it: for every puppy that is born in your city, a dog at your local shelter is put to sleep. Think about that for a minute. Your dog has a littler of 10 and you find "good" homes for all 10. You feel great, right? Wrong. Those 10 homes you found are no longer available to adopt a shelter dog so 10 shelter dogs will now have to be put to sleep.

Answer 10

Well, there's different people here. Many of the top contributors here are excellent responsible breeders. Many of these people (including myself) highly encourage responsible breeding.

The problem is that many people show that they're not responsible breeders and haven't done their research by the questions they ask on here. So often, the best advice is "don't breed." Sometimes an asker isn't clear and it's assumed that they're a bad breeder when in fact they are trying to be a good breeder.