Why Do People Want To Breed Their Pet Dog?

[crazydoglady]

All these idiots are doing is adding more poor doggies to our already struggling pounds and dog rescues. If you want another dog, go to a registered breeder, or, if you cant wait, go to the animal shelter and rescue a puppy. Most of these dogs are abandoned or surrendered because they're people cannot look after them.

All my dogs have been pound puppies, and they have all been so lovely and loving, and that is what we all want, isnt it? Unconditional love and endless cuddles from our dogs.

It makes me so angry when I hear people talking about this, too. My mums ex refused to de-sex his male staffy and he ended up dying of testicular cancer. Also he said "he will be right", instead of taking him to the vet to get him checked. I was so angry. And I still miss our Pirate Pete.

[Shaar]

A friend of my OH recently phoned us and asked us if he could come around and ask a few dog questions... great I thought, he wants to do things responsibly and ask us where to buy one from.

Well, half an hour later he turned up with an 8 week old Husky puppy. Right... He was saying how he wanted to show her and eventually breed her.

I just looked at the tiny little puppy stumbling it's way across the floor... there was no way it was 8 weeks old.

I asked whether or not he got limited or main registered papers with her.

He had no idea what papers I was talking about so I asked what breeder he got her from.

"Ummm, I'm not sure, she's from the pet store in town"

"Get her desexed"

And then the lecture started.

[Ashanali]

A friend said to me recently, "my dog is in season, what do I have to do to breed with her?"

Considering she's a very good friend, I gave her the nice lecture about trying to have a maiden litter with a 14 year old dog. She just wanted a puppy to replace her girl, so I asked how she would feel if she lost her in the process.

No puppies and she's now looking for a breeder to buy her next dog.

[twodoggies2001]

because people these days dont know better and are not being taught any differently

I think that's it in a nutshell. People just don't understand.

[sandgrubber]

Flame suit ready and the fire retardant is on hand.

My parents allowed bitser bitches to have a couple litters when I was growing up. I think us kids learned a lot from it. No disasters. They were hardy little girls. My parents died years ago, so I can't ask them what happened to the pups . . . it probably wasn't good news.

When I ran a boarding kennel, I ran into a lot of people who wanted to perpetuate their lines -- bitser lines. Some of them had lovely tempered older dogs who were in great health, and I can understand why they might want to keep a pup.

There are some exceptionally good dogs who don't have a pedigree

In the farm situation, neighbours asking for pups was a good reason to have a litter . . . in times past . .. and my guess is this sort of logic played a big role in the development of many working breeds, especially before the pedigree system was organised.

Yes there are a lot of idiots out there who don't know what they are getting into and who will ultimately be adding to the unloved and unwanted dog population.

But I can see why people might want to perpetuate a line . . . pedigree or not. It's an old tradition and still has some merit. Also, I think you'll be more successful in twisting arms by sympathising than blanket condemnation.

Edited September 24, 2010 by sandgrubber

[Fleuri]

Flame suit ready and the fire retardant is on hand.

My parents allowed bitser bitches to have a couple litters when I was growing up. I think us kids learned a lot from it. No disasters. They were hardy little girls. My parents died years ago, so I can't ask them what happened to the pups . . . it probably wasn't good news.

When I ran a boarding kennel, I ran into a lot of people who wanted to perpetuate their lines -- bitser lines. Some of them had lovely tempered older dogs who were in great health, and I can understand why they might want to keep a pup.

There are some exceptionally good dogs who don't have a pedigree

In the farm situation, neighbours asking for pups was a good reason to have a litter . . . in times past . .. and my guess is this sort of logic played a big role in the development of many working breeds, especially before the pedigree system was organised.

Yes there are a lot of idiots out there who don't know what they are getting into and who will ultimately be adding to the unloved and unwanted dog population.

But I can see why people might want to perpetuate a line . . . pedigree or not. It's an old tradition and still has some merit. Also, I think you'll be more successful in twisting arms by sympathising than blanket condemnation.

I can totally understand this situation especially if the pups were given to family and friends back then.

[Fleuri]

There are such high standards for breeding healthy pure breed dogs not so much for making human babies.

My point being that we condemn bad breeding in dogs but not in humans. We say well I didn’t know that he/she had this hereditary disease or was a carrier of gene so and so.

I think some people just don’t know any better and they think that because their dog is a family member they want to have another with the same good qualities though there is no guarantee that they will get a pup with those same quality, more so if they cross breed. Some people just don’t know any better.

I remember my mother saying that in her family she was taught that when she looks for a boyfriend (or potential marriage partner) she needs to make sure he is healthy, has good teeth, that there are no known abnormalities in his family.lol! She said that she check my dads teeth (Would this be considered discrimination?) And it was common back in her days to have blood tests done for blood match before they married. (I don't think this is common practise these days)

Edited September 24, 2010 by Fleuri

[OSoSwift]

Hmmm my husband is adopted so no medical or family history - looks like we shouldn't have had kids!

My uncle wanted one of my dogs puppies because he liked her. I told him her breeder was having a litter. No he wanted one of her puppies. I explained that to get a dog like her you would be better off going to her parents rather than her as half the genes would be donated by an unrelated dad dog!

He hadn't thought of it like that.

[nynka]

More than anything because they humanise their own pets, think they are a gift that everyone else must surely want to share, and that having puppies is easy cheap and fun.

[Staranais]

When I ran a boarding kennel, I ran into a lot of people who wanted to perpetuate their lines -- bitser lines. Some of them had lovely tempered older dogs who were in great health, and I can understand why they might want to keep a pup.

There are some exceptionally good dogs who don't have a pedigree

In the farm situation, neighbours asking for pups was a good reason to have a litter . . . in times past . .. and my guess is this sort of logic played a big role in the development of many working breeds, especially before the pedigree system was organised.

Yes, I can understand that too. If you have a dog that is an exceptionally nice pet, healthy & sweet natured, and your family and friends want a puppy just like your dog, then breeding your bitsa may seem like quite the logical thing to do.

Like Fleuri, I also wonder if people who do not know any better may think, well, I have had kids (and I didn't do any genetic tests and all it ended up OK), so why would it be any different for my dog?

[OSoSwift]

Like Fleuri, I also wonder if people who do not know any better may think, well, I have had kids (and I didn't do any genetic tests and all it ended up OK), so why would it be any different for my dog?

Yep I think that you are correct and I hadn't really thought about it in that way before. But I can understand that people would think that way.

[whiskedaway]

We get asked so often why we got "such a beautiful purebred dog" desexed and my reply is always that she was an accident and so why would I give her the chance of having accidents? She's a pet, not a breeding dog.