A well written letter from the AKC Chairman that I feel all breeders, of any animal, should read.
Now, the long and short of this letter is that responsible dog breeders are being vilified the world over by rescue people, and it is high time for breeders to start standing up for themselves, for their hobbies and for the dogs they produce. The AKC is also planning to back the breeders, and help promote purchasing a dog from a responsible breeder.
This is beautiful, and it is exactly why I started my blog. Too many people accept the preconceived notions about animal breeders - we are in it for the money, we don't care about our animals, we only want the prestige of winning at shows. Now, the problem is that some of these statements are true of some breeders. Not all breeders, but it is unavoidable. There are those that will neglect their animals, or only just meet standards to be able to cut corners and turn a profit.
The problem comes when ARA's clump all breeders together. All breeders are bad, all breeders are mill type breeder. They attempt to break things down into a black and white issue. Rescues are good, breeders are bad. It's not like that at all, though. There are good and bad breeders, many shades of grey. Not all breeders are bad, not all breeders are mill type breeders, not all breeders are hoarders. I may have more rabbits than you feel a normal person should have, but it's a herd, not a hoard.
The most extreme of my categories, of course, is the mill type breeder. You know the one, they always show photos of the dogs on the tv, they're in tiny little kennels, stacked as high as possible, with the poop falling onto the animals below. The animals are half dead, mangy, with grotesque injuries and overgrown nails, the bitches with their boobs dragging on the floor looking raw and infected. You hear their stories of being rescued, how hundreds of dogs come out of a tiny shack, with hundreds of thousands of vet bills being faced by the organizations who take them. The adults always look like they are on death's door, only handled to be bred, fed irregularly, never groomed or vetted, and who knows what happens when they're done breeding? The puppies are cute and fluffy but quickly become sickly money pits, often never growing to be adult animals.
Everyone has this same picture when you say puppy mill, or mill type breeder. The animals are reduced to a product, and not cared for. I don't think anyone, at all, ethical breeder, pet owner or rescuer, agrees with these conditions. No one likes hearing these stories, they are ugly and pull at your heartstrings. I'm not saying that these breeders should be supported, or helped. In fact, I would like to see all mill-type operations shut down.
But how do you distinguish a mill-type operation from a "backyard breeder"? How can one determine where that line is? Does it really matter, though, aren't all unethical breeders bad anyway?
Well, yes and no. I think the distinction definitely needs to be made. A mill-type breeder cares for their animals below the legal standards, and knows what they are doing is wrong. You cannot tell me that you are simply ignorant when your dogs are housed in stacking cages with no waste containment system in place - no one can convince me that you didn't realize the poop and pee of the dogs above would fall onto the dogs below, and that it would be unsanitary. You cannot tell me that it is merely being uneducated when you see dogs who are giant poop/pee/flea/hair balls, or when your dogs have nails curling into their paws, or when your female's boobs are red and inflamed and infected. Those are not things you miss. That is willful negligence. That is wrong. That is evil and needs to be against the law.
Backyard breeders can be called uneducated breeders, but I prefer to think of these two as different categories. To me, backyard breeders are the sort who do it on a lark, They have an intact female, so they breed her. They have an intact male, so they stud him. They may or may not know about genetic testing for their species, but they wouldn't really care anyway. They breed a female or two, thinking of all the money they'll make, and are rudely introduced to the realities of pet breeding - there is no money in it. Their animals are generally taken care of, and they aren't bred to distraction, but they aren't bred with any care other than this breed and that breed go together. Backyard breeders are one of the primary sources of designer dogs - those mixed breed mutts who are given fancy "breed" names to justify pricetags that exceed the purebred parents. I don't want to make backyard breeders out to be evil, because I don't think they are... I just think that they're unknowledgable, breeding for the wrong reasons and often are simply wanting to cash in on the latest fad.
Now the uneducated breeder is another breed all together. In my mind, these sorts aren't meaning to be bad. They could be something as simple as not getting their dog fixed in time, or believing that they would be able to manage and prevent pregnancies. They might be the type that breeds their dog once, and uses the money to fix their dogs. They might be the type who love the breed and want to share that love with the world! They aren't the bad sort, they just don't know enough to do things as well as they should. These are the people who breed two purebreds together without performing genetic tests because they don't know about them. They don't administer prenatal care because they don't realize a dog should get it. To them, breeding can be something started out of love, but without taking the right steps. This sort, the kind who don't know what they are doing wrong, can often be educated through kind words and actions. If explained to them levelly, if they are taken under the wing of an ethical breeder, they have every chance to become the type of breeder you'd want to buy from. Someone just has to take the chance and help them learn.
We cannot forget the accidental breeder. These people should never be vilified or attacked, but educated about spaying and neutering their animals. They are quite frequently the posters of "Free to good home" animals - they produce many different types of animal, but are most commonly trying to rehome cats. I think the best way to deal with these people is to calmly and politely suggest asking a small fee for the animals, and using that money to fix the mother so it doesn't happen again. I also suggest they speak with low cost spay/neuter clinics, and try to fix their animals that way. They often don't want to deal with the baby animals and want to move them out as quickly as possible, while vowing it will never happen again. There are frequent offenders, both unintentional("well, it can wait, we can keep her from being bred again") and backyard breeders who try to portray themselves as accidental breeders. All should be treated with respect and educated, rather than attacked and put on the defensive.
It is important to note that dogs are being less and less frequently "accidentally bred". People are becoming more intelligent with managing their dogs, and spaying and neutering them. However cats and small animals such as rabbits, guinea pigs, hamsters and other rodents are often accidentally bred at no fault of the owner. Occasionally a breeder will incorrectly sex a small animal or cat, and an owner will believe they have same sex pair, only to find out after maturity has hit that they actually have an opposite sex pair, and the female is expecting. While I do think that owners should always be leery and continue to check as the animal grows to prevent this, it is also the breeder's responsibility to prevent this type of thing from happening as well - educate the owner, be sure that they know you could be wrong(especially important with small animals), and make them aware of the possibilities. I see this often with rabbit breeders - many post deals for pairs, to try and sell them quicker. This makes you an unethical breeder.
An unethical breeder would be the type in it for the money and/or show winnings. They follow the fine line, stay within the law, but don't go above and beyond for their animals - their animals are often also treated as commodities, however valued much higher than the mill-type breeders, and less apt to be replaced. These types want to be the best, and are quick to cull any animal that isn't going to be the best - either by sending the animal to a pet home, or by terminally culling it. They breed to the latest fad, trying to get that all important characteristic that will help them win, without caring about the ultimate health of the animal. A good example of this is squish-face dogs, who are prone to overheating because they cannot cool their air by panting. Animals bought from these breeders aren't generally ill, but they are promoted as product, quickly sold without care as to where the animal goes, or what the life will be like after leaving. In some ways, they are like a puppy mill once you've removed the dirt and neglect. An unethical breeder is not an evil person, though, they are just someone who should pick a competitive hobby that doesn't involve live animals.
An ethical breeder, of course, is what all intentional breeders usually aspire to be. They are perceived as having the best of everything - facilities, stock, employees, vet care... That's not always the case though. Many many ethical breeders(especially dog breeders) only have a few animals. They will be quality stock, no doubt about it, health tested, trained, proven themselves, but there often isn't a ton of them(an exception to this is often rabbit breeders, and other small animal breeders, due to large litters, short gestation and ease of care). The animals are cared for - well groomed, fed a correct and complete diet, vetted as required, handled frequently. These breeders love their animals(although the majority of the breeder types love their animals!) and it shows.
A problem, of course, is that these breeders don't often have the shiny new equipment everyone expects - an ethical breeder can use older cages or crates or kennels, they might use a dog house or barn or shed that isn't the most presentable, but rest assured that these containment devices are all in usable condition. The animals aren't going to escape from the cage/crate/kennel, and the building isn't going to collapse upon the animals, the breeder would rather spend their money on good food and proper care than on rebuilding something that already works.
Finally, we must touch upon animal hoarders. Often unwitting breeders, these people aren't brought to the attention of the public because they do not sell the animals they produce. Hoarders are almost always people with big hearts, but not the most reasonable brains. They are often resistant to change, get attached very easily, and think that they are the only ones who can properly care for the animals in their care. Through unfixed animals breeding unchecked, and bringing in new animals on whims, these people amass a larger number of animals than is normal, but are unable to care for it. And that's where the line, for me, is drawn. You become a hoarder once you have too many animals to care for, and are unwilling or unable to reduce the numbers without intervention. Their animals go without health care, without proper food. Their homes are destroyed, covered in feces, damage is not repaired. An effort is being made, but one person alone is unable to keep up with it all, and they become overwhelmed.
I do not hate hoarders, and I don't think they are horrible people. I think they are essentially good people who are over their heads, but simply cannot make that decision to rehome their animals. They don't want to send their "babies" out into the world to be cared for by someone else, because the animals may not get the care they need/deserve. They might get put down. The people are often afraid to ask for help because they are worried that all of their animals will be taken away and that will break their heart. They are often emotionally or mentally disabled persons, who have a strong bond to animals. These people are to be helped, treated kindly, never attacked or vilified. No matter what they have done to the animals, they always firmly believed what they were doing was in the animal's best interest.
As always, there are exceptions to every rule, and I can't even begin to cover every little detail that makes one person fit into a specific category. Many breeders may be deemed one title by one person, and another by someone else, and many may be somewhere in between even these categories. I don't claim to be an expert on anything but how I see the world, and this is how I like to break down breeders as a whole. The most important thing is to take each breeder on a case by case basis, and judge them for what they do and how they do it - nothing else. I did not write this post in order to offend anyone, or hurt anyone's feelings, but instead wanted to show that there are many many shades of grey between black and white. If this opens one person's eyes to reconsider the notion that breeders are evil, it will have done its job.