PUPPY FARM PUPPIES AND 'DESIGNER DOGS'
(more often - one in the same)
Several things the general public ought to know about Puppy Farming and 'Designer Dogs' (Ooodles and the like):
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Many 'Designer Dogs' are bred by puppy farmers, or backyard breeders, and then sold both direct to the public or through pet shops. Designer dogs are not 'breeds' and have no standards of type or health. While all puppies are cute, the mixture of breeds and the genes the individual puppy picks up from it's parents will denote health, looks and personality of the puppy - in short, you have no idea what you're going to end up with in any of those areas. Families buying the puppy on the basis of an allergy free pet can be just as disappointed when the puppy does not pick up on these genes from it's parents, if indeed they existed in the parents at all.
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'Designer Dogs' are not a breed of dog - they are mixed breeds (mongrels as they can also be known) of very questionable background as to health and certainly have no standard of type. Indeed the 'oodle' part of these breeds can range from miniature poodle, to standard poodle, for a start. No responsible and ethical registered breeder will provide a puppy or dog to a designer breeder or puppy farmer, so the original parents are again questionable as to health and type. Not a good start for a happy healthy puppy I'm afraid. One only has to visit a shelter or two to realise how many of these puppies end up there for one reason or another.
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Puppy Farms and backyard breeders often portray themselves as a 'registered business', or claim their puppies are 'registered' in an endeavour to justify their enterprises. They may even claim their puppies are 'purebred', something that cannot necessarily be verified of course, particularly with unregistered dogs. Their premises might be seen to be clean to comply with council regulations, or they may not even be council registered and their premises might be as those depicted below - regardless, it is the breeding principles that produce the puppy that are the most missed, but important factors involved. We have even heard of at least one establishment who brags that it's puppies are desexed prior to being sold !!!! As to whether these puppies are kept until they are 6 months old (Veterinary recommended age for desexing) or are subjected to a full anaesthetic and operation at 6, 8, or even 12 weeks old is not defined, but surely no ethical vet would subject puppies of that age to that ordeal??
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Pedigrees are just as important for pet puppies as they are for show or breeding puppies !!! Pedigrees give the ability to trace a puppy's background, affording you proof that you puppy is purebred and giving you the ability to research the health of puppy's backgrounds. Unless your puppy comes with registration papers issued by a Canine Control Council (NOT council registration) then you cannot be sure it is purebred or comes from a healthy background.
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With the only regard these breeders have being focussed on 'jumping on the trendy bandwagon' to earn a quick or lucrative income, the puppy farmer and/or backyard breeder rarely, if ever, has any breeding principles involved, covering the use of healthy and true lines in their breeding programme, health testing their breeding stock, ensuring that breeding stock's needs as to environment and health are fully provided (clean or otherwise crates or cages don't make a suitable environment), that breeding stock are properly cared for in regard to breeding scheduling, and the correct and proper raising of puppies and socialising them properly, and finally screening families to ensure the puppy has the best chance of a long and happy, healthy life.
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These puppy farmer and backyard breeders are given complete anonimity by the pet shops they supply, are paid minimal amounts for their puppies, not only influencing Woolworths style production of puppies in order to make a buck, but ensure that proper breeding principles and practices are, in fact, unaffordable by the so-called breeders. With the trends toward these so-called designer dogs being encouraged by some Australian notaries (who should definitely know better), and the discovery that fluffy little puppies in the window is a great drawcard, the pet shops are more and more encouraging the puppy farmers and backyard breeders to produce more and more puppies. One very vicious circle indeed and one where the dogs and puppies' health and wellbeing is the last thing to be considered, if at all.
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For those who believe mixed breeds are generally hardier and healthier than purebreds ..... here's food for thought: For mixed breed puppies to be hardier and healthier, as indeed was pretty much the case in the old days, natural attrition would need to be in place, with nature able to ensure that only the fittest and healthiest survived. With modern council regulations and education of the general public to 'desex' their pets, natural attrition went out the window and the control over the health and wellbeing of the 'breeds' rests on the individual breeders. Where responsible registered breeders are concerned, they are already aware of this responsibility and take it seriously as they do the fact that they are responsible, indirectly, for bringing a little life into the world and therefore responsible for it's future wellbeing. The Puppy Farmer or backyard breeder, if aware of this responsibility, are certainly not taking it, therefore the adage noted above no longer applies to puppies coming from puppy farms or backyard breeders. It does apply to responsible registered breeders' puppies as they take that responsibility seriously.
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Until the general public is informed and discerning enough to RESIST the flully little puppies in the window or cages, puppy farming and backyard breeders will continue to flourish. The selling of puppies in Pet Shops should be banned outright. If you want to 'save' one of these poor puppies, go to a shelter to do it.
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Until the Government is brave enough to instigate a law that means each and every breeder has to be registered and accountable in regard to breeding practices, whether intentionally breeding, or by accident, and every puppy has to be microchipped with breeder details recorded on microchip papers ...... then these poor dogs and puppies will continue to be used and abused.
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In 2007 Inspectors from RSPCA QLD
seized 104 poodles in appalling condition
from a puppy farm near Brisbane
This mother and her puppies were
permanently confined in a transport
container stacked above other cages
| PUPPY FARMER FACTS !!!
Puppy farms are intensive systems with breeding animals and their puppies kept in facilities that fail to meet the animals’ psychological, behavioural, social or physiological needs. As a result many of these animals have a very poor quality of life. Puppy farms are usually difficult to locate, with operators tending to hide their activities from the general public and the authorities in isolated or remote areas. They usually do not allow prospective puppy buyers on-site and this is reflected in the way they sell their animals. One major distinguishing feature of puppy farms is who the breeders will sell to. Puppy farmers will sell to anyone, wholesale and retail, and by any means, on-line, through pet shops, via newspapers and car boot sales or by using a false house as a ‘shop front’.
In contrast, responsible breeders do not allow their pups to be sold without assessing the suitability of any prospective buyer as the puppy’s new owner. Responsible breeders also have well-established codes of ethics and provide very high standards of care for their animals.
Help us rid the world of these abhorrent practices - encourage people NOT to buy puppies from pet shops and indiscriminate, irresponsible breeders. If there's no demand for these puppies the cruelty will eventually stop.
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