How would you handle this? - Page 1

I have a business associate that I must deal with and must keep good relations with. He breeds American white German shepherds. For the last 2 years I have been rather successful in keeping my big mouth in check. Today he announced..proudly....that he got a blue one from the last litter and he is growing really big. I said "I would have drowned it" Don't freak out friends, I could never drown anything,I was making a point. He asked why and I said because it's against the standard. I wanted to say YOU MORON.....blah blah. So,guys help me,normally I am good with diplomacy but this is in my head. My normal reaction would be to rip him a new one but I can't because of work, but I will surely be faced with this again. I don't know what to say. Keeping my mouth shut is an option but I get "forced "into these conversations,so de facto it's not an option. Any help would be appreciated Thanks

gsdlvr2, You do not write what his reaction was to what you told him about the standard. Did he give two hoots? Of course not. So why bother? I have learned that you cannot change the people who think it is ok to breed litter after liiter after litter, or breed dogs before they have no basis on why to do it, who have white or huge GSDS, dogs who have health problems, cannot work, blues and livers or dogs with temperament faults, and on and on. All you can do is decide by what standard or ethics you will live by and associate yourself with people who think and act as you do. If your standards are high, it will be lonely. In his case, if you have to work with or for him, you will save a lot of stomach acid by just keeping your mouth shut. If and when he decides to learn about the standards, then maybe you can help him. But he probably has his mind made up. Save your breath. Just simply tell him that you try to adhere to the SV standard and then do it.

I too have problems restraining myself. A friend at work asked me how do I advertise my male yorkie for sex? I asked does he have any titles? health clearences etc. ? she said no but he has a great background...she means he has an AKC pedigree...THATS IT...I guarantee you she doesn't even know how to read it. Oh it was so hard to hold back and tell her to neuter her damn dog. I said why don't you show him, make him more marketable, she said he wouldn't do well he's too big. I suppose I need some advise too, lol.

He is already breeding the white GSD. If he is happy with his dogs, so what. Just because some of us adhere to the SV rules, does not make it "the end all/be all", for everyone. So, enjoy his dogs with him and why not if they are healthy and well tempered! What a boring world it would be if we all had BMW's in the driveway.

I can beat your example GSDfan. I have a boarding kennel. A client brought in a huge lab to board. He had a nice temperament but likely is over the standard, had no working titles, no OFA, no show rating etc., but was not neutered. I asked her if he was neutered and she said " NO, we are thinking about breeding him" and then proceeded to hand me seizure medication for him!!!! Despite the risk of offending her and having her board him elsewhere, we had a long talk right then. Fortunately, I convinced her that it would be unethical and worse to breed the dog. Next time he was here, he was neutered. Generally, if letting someone know there are standards that should be met for a dog to even be considered as breed worthy does not make them think, nothing you say will. Again, as I said for the original poster....save your breath. Again, for these people, they do not care one whit about the dogs, they care only about the money.

I would bite my tongue. I think the consumption of alcohol is dumb and a waste of time as well as brain cells. People who want to consume alcohol can do so because its thier life and that is something I have no control over, so I accept it put that energy into my own life in a productive way to better myself. Too many people get so wrapped up into what others shit smells like when they have enough of their own to worry about. Im not saying you are bad or anything, because I know Ive been the same about other things in my life as well. Or, you could take some good philosoph y courses at a local university. Learn to build an argument with valid premises supporting your conclusion. White Shepherds should not be bred I guess would be the conclusion. An intermediate conclusion would be that White shepherds do not meet the standard. Now you need premises in support of the intermediate conclusion being that the intermediate conclusion supports the main conclusion. Once you have this argument built you could present it with tact and in a friendly manner let him know that this is just your personal opinion and not an attack on him or his lifestyle. Personally, I would bite my tongue and drive on, unless he was treating his dogs inhumanely.

I know a few such people. I generally nod and smile. A person who is not interested is unlikely to heed your advice, and will generally take offense. A former employee of mine purchased against my advice an AKC GSD from a BYB for $500. He began asking me when the dog was half grown how he would go about breeding him. I took the time to explain that in the unlikely event that as an adult his dog would prove not only breed worthy, but also a desireable sire, he might advertise him at stud after xrays, titles, and show. I believe that he understood the futility, though if he owned a bitch I am sure that he would have bred a litter just "because". It is noble to disuade the ignorant or casual would be breeder, but is unlikely to make you any friends. Best Wishes, Jonah

gsdlver2, I would agree with 1doggie2. It doesn't help to get into a battle when that person enjoys what he is doing and as long as they are all healthy with good temperament don't bother, because until he changes his ways he is not going to listen. I had 2 head cases at work, one would keep her boston terrriers caged up and she would let them out to go outside and breed. She kept getting deformed puppies, and came to me, well I basically told her how I felt with her puppy mill and she hasn't talked to me since. Another person has a son that keeps breeding his Labs back to back, and they are brother and sister, again I opened my mouth when she came to me about it and she hasn't talked to me since. Does it bother me NO, but my point is why bother speaking to deaf ears.

I hold it in as long as I can, then usually it overflows on a bad day and then I don't hear about it again...works for me. You can't change people. The ones who don't talk to you again, didn't want to hear the truth, they wanted to to agree with their doings.

That's right. Those who genuinely care and have the humility to ask and listen might benefit from advice. The rest generally view their dog as a puppy factory, and see no reason to do anything different.