10 signs of a back yard breeder - Page 1

http://itsdogornothing.com/10-signs-of-a-backyard-breeder/

i suppose maybe mixing to breeds with no clear intentions

#9 on the list is very telling.

9. The breeder isn’t active in breed specific clubs

 

European breeders probably ignore six out of ten of these things.....yet I have seen some great dogs consistenly from over the pond.....Go figure!

Maybe two or three out of ten, Gustav, surely ?  In European

countries we have different registration systems to AKC's, so

the 'limited registration' thing does not apply.  Good breeders

have workable equivalents.  Practices re Contracts also vary.

But stuff about being really interested in your breed & joining

clubs is relevant, and most respected breeders do not split litters

too early, or try to sell 'twofers';   those practices raise exactly

the same warning flags here in the UK at least, as they do on the

American checklist.  I think the same is mainly true of Germany  and

its neighbours, also the Scandinavians  - I don't know enough about the

rest of the EU to be sure  (but I am assuming you do not usually buy

dogs from eg Spain anyway ?).

I think a better discriptor would be "pet market breeder" or puppy mill breeder. Whether it's one litter/year or 10, when there is no higher goal than supplying pets to the public it's a puppy mill.

There are and always have been excellent dogs bred in backyards. But it's done by people participating in what the dogs are bred for and claimed to be good for. Don't care if it's ASL, WGSL or working line or if it's my cop of tea or not.

6. The breeder doesn’t issue a spay/neuter contract.

That's a deal breaker for me. I wouldn't purchase a puppy with a mandatory spay/neuter clause. It's my decision as the dog's owner when/if I want to spay/neuter; reponsible dog ownership doesn't require surgery.

Agree with Laura. 

Also, I don't know many breeders I'd buy from who keep all parents on premisis. To do that means you're only breeding dogs you own, over and over, and how can you really reach goals if you're never utilizing outside lines? Breeding the same pair over and over or the same several pairs over and over is producing puppies, not breeding toward a goal. Sorry, but I'm not keeping a bunch of extra males here in kennels just to appear "responsible" and say I have both parents on premisis. I'll pay a stud fee, thank you. 

There are things on this list that are not going to apply to all breeders and I think some of it is outdated like the neutering thing. When there were no  limited registrations it was not unusual to ask that pets be neutered the intent being to prevent the breeding of pet quality dogs. With all the objections to neutering, especially neutering young, most are rethinking that idea and instead are using the limited registration for pets. IMO there is are no hard and fast ways to define a BYB/puppymiller/whatever. It's one of those - I can't define it, but I know it when I see it.

4,6,7,8,10 are things I have experienced over the years with importing dogs from Germany, Sweden, Holland, Czech Rep, Slovakia,......not familiar with UK system nor do I know any of my colleagues that have sought UK dogs over the years....so I apologize for implying UK breeders fall in that category.