Editorial: April 22, 2022

As a community, we are an honest lot. Oh, there are a few undesirables, as there are in every walk of life. But we evaluate our breeding stock and the puppies we produce to the best of our abilities and knowledge of our respective breeds. Trying to breed the happiest and healthiest puppies possible, we employee our years of experience to weed out dogs with known hereditary diseases and other problems that are inherent to our respective breeds. Our buyers are mainly divided into two categories: pet or show quality. We ask questions about the environment the dogs will live in, the family dynamic and if our breed is the right fit for the buyer in question. Let’s be honest: Sometimes in that line of questioning, we do become overbearing. But it is for the right reasons. We also encourage our prospective puppy buyers to visit our homes/kennels and see as many of the puppy’s littermates, sire, dam and related dogs in person as possible. We evaluate the puppy they are interested in buying, and provide them with all the necessary paperwork and inoculations. We should all be proud of the research we do to try and breed the best representatives of the breed, in health, temperament and structure according to our written breed standards. Unfortunately, for the most part the general public is unaware of our good works. We are damned for breeding purebred dogs when there are shelter dogs waiting to be adopted. Of course, none of us wants to see any dog put down for any reason, but where are these same people criticizing the Joneses’ breeding their Collie mix FiFi to the Smiths’ Shepherd mix Duke, which produces 12 puppies that end up in the local shelter because the Joneses didn't realize how much work it is to raise puppies and find good suitable homes for them? Do these critics ever state the percentages of purebred dogs compared to mixed-breed dogs in shelters around the country? Why are these indiscriminate breeders held in such high esteem, and we are chastised for trying to improve each successive generation of dogs that we breed? During the pandemic, the number of puppy sales across the spectrum of purebred and mixed breed exploded. Now there is a small percentage of those buyers who are suffering from buyer’s remorse, no longer at home all day as they return to their jobs. When contacted, we take back the puppy or rehome it to a new suitable home – unlike the shelter dog, which most likely is not accepted back to the facility from which it was adopted for a fee. We may not get the public opinion that we deserve, but we should all be proud of how we try individually and collectively as a community. So, Three Cheers for US, and keep up the good fight.