The Puffer Forum

...two insane, animal loving dog breeders move in together?

I visited a friend of mine on Friday, and I haven't seen him since his girlfriend moved in. His house has definitely become a zoo! They breed 3 or 4 (I've lost count) different breeds of dogs. They also breed lovebirds, and I think they breed cats as well. I am not sure about that though, but they definitely have several cats. They have fish tanks all over, and they also keep lots of guinea pigs and pigeons. Whether they breed the last two, I don't know. There were animals all over!

You lock up the girlfriend and get plastic surgery to look just like her, and take acting lessons..

I'd be in heaven! Maybe not with the squealing (aka screaming) guinea pigs, but i miss my pigeons and dogs!

That sounds almost like animal hoarding. I don't think I could put in that much time for pets. I'd go nuts.

Sounds like me when I get a place of my own.

My mother is always teasing me by saying that she feels sorry for whoever I marry because they'll end up in a zoo. Her favorite is to mimic what she thinks I'd say. "Oh honey there was a lost dog on my way home, can we keep him?" "Sweetheart I found an abandoned elephant, can we keep it?"

If I had a dayshift that would be my house

Sounds like complete insanity to me. Do they have any life outside that house? Are all the animals clean, fed & well cared for? Why do people continue to breed dogs when there are so many in shelters put to death???

Pufferpunk wrote:Why do people continue to breed dogs when there are so many in shelters put to death???

As far as I know, people want either pure breds or cute wittle puppy wuppies. They don't want "mutts" or "sloppy seconds" and besides, shelter dogs aren't "cute wittle puppy wuppies"... but they were until the previous decided that they no were no longer and gave them to the shelter.

With that said, I've only had dogs from the local humane society, they just happened to be pure as well and were the best dogs you could ask for.

There are thousands of puppies & purebreds in shelters.

I can at least tell that they are well fed, and have the basic care they need. As they are breeders, the parents have to be in good shape. All the puppies looked very healty. The Chihuahuas are definitely very well cared for. They looked like a very nice group, with good temperament and very cute (all though not my kind of dog). The only thing I worry about is that I don't know how much life they have outside the dog yard. I know they give them lots of exercise on a treadmill, but they still need to see something different than their own yard. But I really don't know if they take them outside or not. I didn't ask about that.

The differences between the breeds of dogs they have is funny. They breed Chihuahuas, Borzoi and St. Bernhard dogs (I have no idea if this is the right names in English - these are the Norwegian names). From the very, very small dogs, to the very big ones!

When it comes to getting a dog from a shelter, I'm a bit divided in opinion. That's because the dog I had before Kaisa was from a shelter. Her name was Kässi, and she had a long and sad story behind her. She had had at least 6 different owners before me, and I am absolutely certain that she had been beaten. I loved her very much, and she was a very nice dog. But she had her problems, and they weren't always easy to deal with. I never regretted taking her in, but decided not to take a dog from a shelter again. I wanted to have a dog from it was a puppy, so I could teach it myself - which is what I have done with Kaisa. You know more what you get, when you train the dog yourself. And of course: I stay with one breed: Kleiner Münsterländer. I know that breed very well, having grown up with the breed, and having had it myself too (Kässi was also a Münsterländer - I was very surprised to find one in a shelter, as it's not a common breed). I know the breed so well (I usually say that I can talk Münsterländer ), so I know I get a dog that suits me well. This is not a breed that suits any dog owner, as it is very energetic, stubborn and highly intelligent.

As they are breeders, the parents have to be in good shape.

Have you heard of puppy mills? None of those breeders are in any shape to have puppies--sickly, starved, diseased & way over bred. How many litters have those dogs had each? How many times/year are they bred? It sounds like the dogs aren't well socialized, I doubt the puppies are wither. They are what is called "backyard breeders".
http://home.comcast.net/~NoPuppyMillsVA ... eder_.html

They breed Chihuahuas, Borzoi and St. Bernhard dogs

2 of those breeds are GIANT breeds, they must have a HUGE house!

Only the chihuahuas live inside the house. But they have a large barn the larger dogs live in. The St. Bernhard dogs came with the girlfriend moving into the house.

No, I haven't heard of puppy mills. But I know breeding dogs is quite different in Norway, compared to the US. If you are member of the Norwegian organization for dog keepers (which almost every dog breeder in Norway is), there are strict rules for how often you can let the parents have puppies. They can have two litters in a row, and then you have to give the dogs a break for some time. I don't know how long that break have to be. This will secure that the dogs aren't over bred. The puppies will AFAIK always have had a health test (what you don't want to experience is when a breeder comes to a veterinarian with a large litter, and his/her appointment is the one before yours. I experienced that when Kaisa ate rat poison. It took a looong time of waiting for them to get finished!).

In Norway you can't buy dogs at a pet shop. The only place you can buy dogs are directly from the breeders (or you can get one from a shelter). So you will always see a little of how the dogs have been treated. And because of the rules and the tradition on how to breed dogs here in Norway, you don't get those backyard breeders. Or, at least, there's very few of them. I've actually never heard of one. BTW, my friend is judge at dog shows, so he definitely knows his way around his dog breeds.

Ok, I always forget how different things might be over there. Just in case you're interested in the horrible practices of puppy mills, please do a search on them. I'm sure you'll be as horrified as I am...

Pufferpunk wrote:Ok, I always forget how different things might be over there. Just in case you're interested in the horrible practices of puppy mills, please do a search on them. I'm sure you'll be as horrified as I am...

Watching 30 second news reports is enough to do it to me. No desire to see anymore of that unless I get a loaded gun and the names/addresses of the operators...

No kidding!

Our two dogs were rehomed from a rescue centre. One is a hairy mutt who was described as ' oh you mean that funny looking thing' when we collected her and the other is a staffie cross who looked like a toast rack when we got her.

Two of the cats were rescued kittens from a stray mum and the ginuea pig and rabbit were offered to us very casually when I went to buy a surf board...

That lot and the fish are close to all I can cope with. You should see my 'poo' duty tasks - I can quite often be found with a shovel and a mop and bucket either outside or in the garage. Pretty sure we have the bin mens least favuorite bin to empty around here