Gone But Not Forgotten - Page 4

Let's just add that on top of that those top breeders try to convince all the future clients that they sell top of the crop, and sometimes the so called back yard breeder might have actually something better, because he might actually breed it totally out of love to the breed, he breeds what he would want to own, and not what a judge would like to see.

Very true, Brady Bee.

snaiper69

what you say is so very true

Blitzen,Snaiper69,Brady bee,totally agree100%,  BLITZEN your first post is sooo correct,you have a much better way with words than i, your second post is an eys opener,WOW !!! liz.

inregards to the health of showlines, I would like to add a little bit of my input:

I have noticed, especially in my area of the country LOTS of reproduction issue's with showlines. very small litters consistening of 1 to 3 puppies, bitches who can not conceive unless they are SURGICALLY AI'd, and many needing hormone treatments to conceive. bitches who have weird heats, never ovulate and some  never really go through a full true heat.  I place the blame on the breeders for this problem that is continueing to spread throughout the breed.  if a bitch does not concieve or breed naturally, DON'T BREED HER.  There is probably a reason, since when did MOTHER NATURE NOT KNOW BEST! and by all means, don't keep daughters out of these bitches and continue to produce this!

it is also males being kept out of these bitches, they too will pass this trait on to their offspring.

Blitzen, you made a really good point inregards to the use of steroids.  it has been common practice with horse breeders and racers, why not for some of these dogs?  it has gotten to the point that winning is everything, at all costs.

Uber Land, I agree, however, I also believe there are other problems of which we know little.  A friend of mine (GSD breeder) used to live on a farm that was "dotted" with pylons; my friend also bred cattle.  During their many years on this farm, they had countless breeding problems i.e. litters of 1, apparently pregnant bitches failing to whelp... because there was nothing "in" there, failing to conceive, still births... the list goes on, you have the general picture.  This farm was sold and they purchased a farm without pylons... no more breeding problems... healthy litters of average size and healthy calves!

I could waffle on for ages on this topic but one of my main "things" is this, we now "save" puppies... these are whelps that our bitches oust or whelps that would die (for numerous reasons) if we did not intervene.  This is all good and well... except sometimes people go on to breed from these "saved" dogs and I believe this is a real problem because we lose natures "survival of the fittest" selection... this is huge intervention on our part and I believe, huge error... ultimately... what are we saving?

Don't bombard me with stories of how you had to save a puppy or a litter because the bitch was ill etc... you know what I mean, I'm sure... I hope?

Thats what my breeder said, that unless the dam died doing whelping he would not assist and let the nature do it's magic I though at first that it was a bit cruel, but now thinking about it, I am not so sure any more.

snaiper69, I firmly believe that IF you save whelps, they must NOT be bred from... they were ousted or sickly for a reason.. we should not ignore our bitches choices or nature... there is a reason... we may not see it, we may not understand it but we ignore it at our peril.

I find it interesting that the topic of diet has not come up.  Many people don't understand that many foods we feed our dogs are loaded with chemicals and crap for ingredients.  However it is not just dogs, we, we the human race have created a global toxic environment for all life, not just dogs.  The soil, the air, the plants growing in the contaminated soil. I don't have the solution.  I do the best I can with the information I have, try and be the least toxic I can, etc.  I had begun to make local connections in my community with the small time family farmers who grow naturally and without hormones and chemicals and fancy commercialized things.  But I am not an extremist either side of the spectrum.  I do vacinate....but moderately and only up until a certain age.  I feed raw foods, meats and vegetables, mixed with a high quality kibble with few ingredients, short expiration dates because they are not loaded with chemical preservatives, and local manufacturers. 

How can we be sure that it is not genetics but years of slow poisoning due to lack of knowledge.  Many have probably seen Old Yella....it isn't the movie itself that is important but the lifestyle portrayed in the setting...what did farm dogs eat?  They ate what the humans ate, scraps of meat from the farm, the precious leftovers carefully grown or hunted for.  It was....mmm....late 50's? Early 60's that kibble came on scene...even so, the early stuff was alot better than this stuff nowadays....too bad there is not a label archieve to look at.  I think it was 70's 80's that it started going to "cheaper" more mass produced stuff.

Ah...I know people don't really care, everyone is too busy to care, maybe I am just getting old and too nostalgic and wishing for when life was simplier and pure.