Dog Numbers In The Old Days

[sandgrubber]

I find it interested that we have English words for castrated sheep, pigs, horses, and cattle . . . but not for a castrated dog . . . I think that says that getting the dog done is a relatively new thing.

My impression is that spey / neuter surgery has gotten increasingly common over the last 50 years, and so have Ceasars. . . . so have fenced back yards. Yet breeders still loose quite a few pups, and there are more than enough oops puppies to overflow the market and fill the shelters.

What was it like in the bad old days? The dog surplus must have been awful. Did people casually drown unwanted pups? Did bitches commonly die when one pup was too big or got stuck?

[Lab_Rat]

Hey Sandgrubber, I can only speak from personal experience and memory.

I grew up on a farm just outside a small country town. We inherited our first bitch from a relly, she got in pup to a dog we already had. All bar two dog pups were "culled", not sure how ....Both these pups grew up entire. They never sired any pups however as they were always under supervision (working) or tethered. Our next dog was a bitch - funnily enough she was spayed as soon as she was old enough!!! So we only had one litter that had to be dealt with. This is going back 30 or so years too....

I dont remember there ever being an over abundance of pups or dogs in town either. The odd litter, mainly cross breds too! I think the majority of litters would have been working dogs.

I think the mentality was different back then, certainly where I grew up I think. People didnt just breed because "their dog was soooo cute they had to have babies" I think they were bred for a purpose - this is a country view btw, and my own opinion, so of course others will be different!

Perhaps alot were culled, and Im sure alot died from birthing complications or were "put to sleep". As I kid, I dont remember being told what happened to the other pups, or kittens for that matter! I am glad though that by the early 80s animal sterilisation was becoming commonplace in my neck of the woods

I suppose there were alot less people 'back then', so there wouldve been alot less dogs too!

I would be interested to hear others experiences and opinions!

Rat

[Nekhbet]

unwanted puppies and kittens were drowned in buckets or knocked on the head

mongrels were giveaways, worth not much more then the collars around their necks

and if a dog got in trouble giving birth invariably it did die if a vet wasnt called.

Edited February 26, 2010 by Nekhbet

[Christina]

unwanted puppies and kittens were drowned in buckets or knocked on the head

mongrels were giveaways, worth not much more then the collars around their necks

and if a dog got in trouble giving birth invariably it did die if a vet wasnt called.

That was about it. My mum is 86 & in the UK.

She said when she was a little girl they always had a cat. It was always having kittens, same as the women were always having babies, no way of stopping it then.

She said my grandmother would never allow them to be drowned & always found a home for every single one of them.

Unusual back then. Life was hard & harsh for people too in many ways.

Horrid really.

[Nekhbet]

yes quite ironic isnt it

these days we have better facilities, better education, better options for our pets

and we manage to monumentally stuff it up.

[GeckoTree]

My grandparents bitches when in season went into a bitches box, ( a high rise kennel). they never had accidental impregnation by straying roaming dogs despite the only fencing they had was strands of barbed wire.

[gillybob]

Unwanted pups are still drowned up here.

I found 6 one day, when I took my dogs down to the local river.

They floated past me.

On the property i lived on, the owner drowned unwated pups.

A lot of farmers wont get their dogs desexed, reacon it changes them and they dont work as well.

[rubiton]

But then at least back in the 80s there wasnt a big business in the cross bred oodles so you had the options to get puppies from the RSPCA, breeders, pet shops and the odd newspaper ad for those 'oops' mongrels that were usually fairly cheap. And the oops mongrels were still raised in the home not in a puppy factory

Now you can buy oodles from online, from a millions paper ads in addition to the other places and people think its a good thing to breed a few cross bred litters and sell for hundreds each (remember some relatives who did eventually get the untrained oodle cross desexed though it did have at least two litters).

And you also have the paris wannabes that think buying a cute white fluffy is a good status thing (usually at the high price from the internet or oodle breeders) - still cant believe people like the bloke who was selling out of a car in a car park meeting would actually have people paying hundreds for a puppy. But right sales pitch you can push them and succeed in selling anywhere now. Back in the 'old days' no one could seel a dog that way especally a 'mongrel'.

[ellz]

Dogs also didn't cost a lot of money to breed, feed and maintain in those days either.

It wasn't normally the "done thing" to purchase a puppy from a registered breeder and turn around and decide to "try and make your money back" as seems to be the norm now.

And dare I say it, but it seemed that people were more honest back then too. Breeders COULD sell (or even give) a quality puppy to a family and know that their word would be kept with regards to any agreements made about that puppy for the future. Tying dogs up in red tape to keep purchasers honest was almost unheard of and a mans' word was his promise.

[Paptacular!]

My grandparents bitches when in season went into a bitches box, ( a high rise kennel). they never had accidental impregnation by straying roaming dogs despite the only fencing they had was strands of barbed wire.

Really, just like Footrot Flats?

[Sandra777]

We had a blue-blooded pedigree Cocker Spaniel when we were kids, apparently dad always wanted one. My mum has a deep abiding loathing for the breed to this day He came from impeccable English imported bloodlines and his brother was a major show winner. No idea if he was any good or not. He was chained up when no one was home, and off (no fences) when someone was. I remember when I was about 8 or 9 the dog ranger bringing him home and my father being very surprised that it was against the law for dogs to wander about.

We always had a cat, always a female. She always had at least one litter of kittens then was spayed. I remember at least 2 being killed by cars and one fell off the roof (so we were told) and was PTS. I don't really remember those kittens - must've been a dog person even then

My aunt & uncle owned a large sheep farm. They had a bitches box (yep just like Footrot Flats) but of the dozen or so dogs they had only 2 were bitches, they hated having bitches and only had one if it was from the best working lines and then she was really only there to breed from.

I remember when I first got into Staffords dog puppies were much easier to sell than bitch pups - NO ONE wanted bitches "too much trouble"

[Jed]

I grew up in the 'burbs. Dogs were mostly fenced - some roamed sometimes, but not so many cars then, and they lived to roam another day. No one bothered too much, they didn't do any damage. They were family dogs, having a run, rather than stray dogs. And you could generally pat one if you wanted to. They never bothered our dogs when we walked - but we didn't see lots of them, just the occasional one. And our dogs trotted along behind us, off leash.

The dogs which didn't have fences seemed to stay inside their yard. I remember the GSD down the street always swore at us when we went by, but never ventured out of the yard, despite not having a front fence.

I can't remember seeing a dead dog on the side of the road, or having any near misses.

None of my friends had pups, coz they mostly had boy dogs. Boy dogs were more popular. If the girls came into season, they were locked under the house or inside.

We kids used to run around the neighbourhood with a few dogs - we did kid things, sledded down the big hill, swam in the creek, explored the wilds (about 10 ha of bush!! ) climbed up people's trees and ate mulberries, mangoes, nuts, and the dogs didn't seem to cause any problems.

I can't remember anyone much having litters. If you wanted a crossbred pup, you asked around - the produce might know, or there might be a sign in the shop - or the vet might know, but he mostly did large animals. And you went around, and the people gave you a pup. All my friends with dogs seemed to have them for a long time - most of my childhood. I remember the dog two doors up died (old age?) and a pup appeared some time later. the first was foxy size, black and tan (probably kelpie x), he was a nice dog. His successor was like a foxy - tricolour - but not purebred. Purebreds and crossbreds seemed to be about even in my street - 2 collie roughs down the back, corgi next door, cross bred two doors up, 2 x GSD further down the street, and a nearly border collie further down, lab over the road, pom in the next street.

If you wanted a purebred, some breeders advertised in the yellow pages, otherwise you contacted the canine control and they gave you a list of breeders of the breed you wanted. If you didn't know where to get one, you asked someone with one, and they told you, or you phoned someone in the yellow pages, and they told you. I remember there were quite a few breeders in the yellow pages. And, of course, they advertised in Saturday's paper. The give aways were sometimes advertised there too.

Cats seemed to be neutered.

People then seemed to have more idea about dogs, how to treat them, and a lot more tolerance. I guess a lot of people in the city had been raised on farms and understood dogs.

Dogs in the country just ran around, and the bitches were locked up when in season. Most farms had a lot of cats, which lived in sheds, caught mice, were fed, and had kittens.

The RSPCA was a proper charity then, the pound had stray dogs looking for homes, and you thought highly of the RSPCA. They helped cats stuck up trees, and homeless dogs, and did good stuff.

*hisses at Sandra for having no taste in dogs*

[Steve]

The concept of breeding puppies for money is relatively new and when I was younger pet shops sold puppies which came from accidental litters and they never gave much to the breeder.Breeders were just glad to be rid of them and most times handed them over to the pet shops for free. These days one breeder with a couple of hundred dogs sure makes what used to happen long gone.

I grew up in suburbia and dogs were rarely desexed but they were always in their own yards. It was rare to spot a stray.

[Christina]

Bit different in the UK.

I bought my own 1st pedigree dog, when I was grown up, in about 1975. He was a chihuahua & came from a registered breeder who went on to become a judge. Cost me about 100 pounds from memory.

Many breeders of pedigree dogs, a few bred a small amount from home but there were also many big kennels.

No limits on how many dogs a person could keep & no dog council registration. Not sure if they even have any now there.

Mongrels about but most the people around us had pure breeds, most with papers.

[sas]

I'm in my 30's which is probably not as old as the OP was referring to, although as a child I heard of pups being put in a bucket.

None of my familes pet dogs were bred and were desexed before 12 months of age. We had fences but the dicipline was very hard but my memories of those dogs were that they were happy and well behaved not cowering or scared etc. None had health problems until old age and old age was 11-16.

Our dogs always came from the SPCA. Kittens were natural in petshops, pups were not, if you saw them in a pet shop it was an oopsay dasiy mating.

Edited February 26, 2010 by sas

[Swiss Girl]

Our dogs were always desexed, my parents first dog was the same age as me so 50 years ago and dexed at about 6 months of age. They got her from a chow breeder and she was a great dog We didn't have a fence, very few people did back then in Perth, but the dogs were not as territorial and you didn't have problems with children being bitten or dogs running out and attacking you And these were the days the rubbish men came into your backyard to get your rubbish bin and dogs always slept outside.

I have though about this quite a bit lately, why do there seem to be more dog attacks these days, is it the breedings, do we own different dog breeds or is it the way we treat them.

When I was a child dogs were really ignored, I took mine for a walk about one a week, and she was one of the few on the street that were actually walked. Our neighbours dog used to come onto the road and lay on it in winter, people would just slow down and beep the horn to make him move. We didn't think anything of it, that was just our life at the time.

[altheau]

I think the changes always come when an animal makes the change from a necessity to an indulgence. It has happened with horses as well (lots go to the doggers) but the only blessing there is that horses only have one foal at a time and not a litter.

There are of course still working dogs and horses but I would think the majority are for pleasure now and not for hunting/farming/guarding etc.

[Dog_Horse_Girl]

I'm in my mid-40's and growing up, we had cats and dogs. The cats were always desexed and as young as possible. The dogs were always desexed around 6 mths of age. We never had an oops litter and didn't know anyone who did either. Most of our neighbours dogs and cats were desexed...the rest were probably a combination of good luck and good management. There were rarely any issues with roaming dogs but cats were allowed to "be cats" or in other words, were left to roam the streets day and night. I guess I considered our cats more "disposable" for that reason.

Our first two dogs were both strays...I think my parents tried to track down owners and got nowhere. I know both dogs were taken to the vet for a once-over and then booked in for their desexing ASAP once we were advised that nobody had reported them missing. From memory, the council had a pound arrangement with another council and I'm sure the strays were registered there just in case somebody was looking for them. Both were really good dogs: Penny was supposedly a cattle dog cross and Jerry was more than likely a GSD x BC - the smartest dog I knew back then!

These days there are too many people willing to make a buck from unscrupulous breeding and the pet shop chains are only too happy to take on litters and give the "breeders" enough money for the pups to ensure the idiots keep breeding their pets. Years ago there wasn't any money in having pups and in fact, most of the people around us avoided breeding their pets because they didn't want to have to either re-home or PTS the resulting litters. Having said that, I'm sure there were drownings and the like...I suppose (just like today) some people just didn't want to desex, while a few really couldn't afford the surgery but loved their dog none-the-less. Oh, and I also think that multiple dog households are far more common today than 40 yrs ago...so there might be a much higher dog population today than back then.

[OSoSwift]

We only had bitches, our dog didn't go off the farm initially.

OUr two whoops matings occured once when the neighbours dog travelled over 10kms, and the second time when a dog came through (from 30 or so kms away) picking up our bitch and taking her about 15kms away.

She had more seasons, no litters, then got pyo and was desexed.

Some pups were rehomed locally, some were given to a petshop to sell for around $40 or so, can't remember as I was quite young.

Our cat/cats were always having kittens. Many got homes, some just disappeared, Knocked on the head as they were born, some got shot later. They did get very out of control at one stage and Dad went on a cull and we were mortified to be left with only 8, but that is what happened we were not overly sad about it.

We lived on a farm so roaming dogs, no fences cars etc were not an issue. If we had a dog that roamed they had two chances then were shot.

[Crisovar]

I have though about this quite a bit lately, why do there seem to be more dog attacks these days, is it the breedings, do we own different dog breeds or is it the way we treat them.

I think the way we keep dogs is vastly different. When I was growing up our dogs went where we kids went, if 6 kids were playing under the tamarind tree after school there would be at least 2 or 3 dogs, they socialised differently, they had heaps of fun doggy things to do. One of my dogs and an old cattle dog didn't really like each other so we took it in turns sending one home.

Our dogs went tadpole fishing, played hide and seek in the cane fields, swimming in the river etc, they were not bored and rarely needed structured exercise,

Maybe modern lifestyle, smaller yards have contributed to the problem.

I do however strongly believe that the way that dog bites etc are handled these days is different.

If you teased a dog and it bit you, you got a kick up the backside, end of story. Now it seems that the public expect stuffed inanimate objects that their kids can do whatever they like to and the dog dies if it snaps.

Sleeping dogs, dogs eating, dogs with bones were left alone, you were not cruel to dogs, it was common sense. We have sadly little of it these days.