🚀 go-pugleaf

Someone wrote for a friend:

I am answering this, knowing fully that the breeder herself didn't
write it. Perhaps the breeder is the victim of someone who doesn't
write ads well, but there is a greater chance that the puppies - and
their new owners - are the real victims here.

>7 std poodle puppies are looking for a new home.
>
>Both parents have pedigrees (mother is French!) 

All dogs have pedigrees, even mutts. A pedigree means that the dog has
ancestors, nothing more. Since there have been no dogs created out of
thin air since at least the first chapters of Genesis (if one ever
was), I suggest you ignore the word "pedigreed". It is as meaningless
a word as "natural" or "hypo-allergenic"; just a cute word that sounds
like it means something, used solely to attract less knowledgeable
buyers.

At the minimum the litter must already have been registered with the
American Kennel Club, the Canadian Kennel Club (not likely, I know) or
the United Kennel Club. Unregistered purebred dogs are literally a
dime a dozen; go to your local shelter and find out. AKC registration
does NOT mean the dogs are quality, though. (Other registries, such as
the Continental Kennel Club or the Worldwide Kennel Club, are simply
papers-for-bucks businesses. They will and have registered automobiles
as dogs if given enough money. The AKC isn't always that much better -
they register puppy mill puppies - but they do require some proof of
the dog's ancestry.)

BTW, Poodles are actually German dogs. (Pudel = old German for "to
splash in water." Our word puddle comes from the same source.) Just
because a dog was born in France doesn't automatically make it free
from hip problems, epilepsy, hereditary forms of cancer, diabetes,
cataracts, other eye problems, bad temperament, etc. All these things
are HEREDITARY. There is no magic wand in France or Germany or
anywhere else that prevents pups who carry genetic diseases from being
born.

If you've never owned a dog before, or if you've been very lucky, you
probably don't know that all dogs, purebred or mutt, are at risk of
developing genetic diseases either early in life or later on. Many of
these diseases can be tested for and should be. Any responsible,
reputable, worthwhile breeder will BRAG about the tests her female and
the stud have passed. She will let you know before you spend money
calling her long distance.

Just because the parents are healthy now doesn't mean the puppies
always will be. Some hereditary diseases are recessive, and skip
generations; others are polygenic and can affect puppies far more than
parents; some only affect a dog in middle age.

The breeder knows that knowledgeable people read these boards and will
shoot down any breeder who doesn't list the parents' names, titles,
health histories, and the results of medical and temperament tests. If
she gives all the info she has, and it isn't enough, someone who knows
Poodles can reply and let prospective buyers know that this is no
bargain. What does the less scrupulous breeder do? She offers almost
no information, and tells people to call for more info. Why? So the
new buyer, who knows nothing about Poodles, can be fed a line of bull
that no experienced Poodle person would fall for in a billion years.
I'm not saying that this woman is like that; she or her friend who
posted might just be very, very, very, very bad at advertising, but I
would say that it's more likely this is a careless breeder than a
careful one.

>White or black - 8 weeks old 

>$1,000

Boy that's a lot of money for a dog. Don't spend that kind of money on
a dog unless you have proof - visual proof - that both parents have
had their hip and elbow X-rays evaluated by a veterinary orthopedist,
were cleared of diabetes and other diseases discernable by blood and
urine tests, have had their eyes checked within the last year, and
have been temperament tested. The pedigrees must be researched to
calculate the chance of a non-testable hereditary disease (epilepsy,
for instance) showing up in the puppies. Remember, just because the
parents look healthy doesn't mean that the pups will be or are even
likely to be.

If the parents weren't tested before breeding, these puppies are not
going to be any healthier or better tempered than the small breed
puppies available in any given LA area shelter. So why pay big bucks
for one, when you could adopt one from a shelter for far, far less?


>Call Patty (in Los Angeles) at xxx 

--

Charlene Vickers, Yellowknife, NWT
cvickers@internorth.com

"Be gone! Before someone drops a house on you!"