Last week, a breeder of Standard Poodles in WA state was raided and 29 dogs were placed with a shelter while the investigation is completed. I did not know the owner of the Poodles, but I had seen her post from time to time on several poodle list I am on. She talked the talk, but obviously wasn’t able to walk the walk.
Read the story HERE with photos
Facebook page for the shelter can be found HERE if you can donate time, funds, or help with eventual transport.
How do you keep from supporting people who breed dogs in such a manner? How do you know you are dealing with a good breeder who thinks first of the dogs, anything else is a far far second? The number one thing is to visit the breeder and see exactly how their dogs are kept. If a breeder does not allow visits for ANY reason, walk away. If you are to far to visit, speak to 2-3 people who have visited in the last year. The old “The pups are to young, you can’t visit until they are older” saying is weak in this day and age, but almost understandable if the breeder has many dogs. As long as the breeder allows you to visit at some point and you get to visit with both pups and adults. I encourage visits anytime, even with infant pups. However, I don’t have a kennel, I keep my pups in my house, and I ask that you wash your hands with hand sanitizer and take off your shoes prior to holding infant babies. My husband is a physician, I understand the spread of germs / viruses. I do not fear them.
It is extremely easy for a breeder of Standard Poodles to end up over their head, due to the grooming and socialization requirements of this breed. They are not a breed who can be tossed outside and left. They must be washed, brushed, shaved, and socialized to be happy members of our society. Please, do not support breeders who neglect these poor innocent souls. Research, visit, talk to others who have bought a dog from the breeder in the recent past. Just because someone bought a dog from me 10 years ago and it was properly socialized and groomed, doesn’t mean I am still currently doing the same thing.
Sadly, I do not believe this is an isolated case. Far to many breeders start out with the right goal in mind and slide down a slippery slope and lose sight of the most important thing. The dogs.
I’ll leave you with a slideshow of our weekend to show how a Poodle deserves to be treated, even if they do live with a “Breeder”. It was Jazz and Mocha’s first camping / hiking trip and let me tell you they had a BLAST!! Flash is an old camping veteran, but he has issues with ‘critters’ and can’t be trusted off leash in the woods.
If you don’t already know, I foster or co-own almost all my breeding dogs with other people across the USA. I do this so that each and every dog has an opportunity to have a life like my Jazz, Mocha, and Flash enjoy. If I had every dog I ‘own’ living with me I would not have time for my kids, I would not have the ability to go camping, my life would either revolve around the dogs OR the dogs would suffer. Please think about fostering a breeding dog for a quality breeder. Give breeders another option to continue their line and their program. Read about my breeding program with the foster program details HERE. I am planning two litters next year with no firm foster homes lined up. Those litters might not happen without good foster homes ready to take pups. If you think your home might be right for this program, please contact me and I will explain in more detail and have you speak to one or more of my foster families to see how everything works. Fostering is not for everyone, but it isn’t difficult and can be both exciting and rewarding.
~Becky