Bad Breeding and Beyond
I have purchased a Miniature Australian Shepherd, co-owning, with the breeders, as they want to breed her but have too many dogs at their house. They want her to be with someone that can give her attention. The question I have is: They have said that they want to breed her in her first heat, which they said would be at about 10 months, then every year for 5 years after that. Then she will be spayed and I will own her. I am wondering if this is healthy for her to be bred so young and so often. A lot of people have told me that it is too much. What is your opinion? I have not signed the contract yet and want to do what is best for this wonderful dog.
Thank you, R.
Dear R.
Run as fast as you can and leave your money behind if you have to. This is not even a breeder. It is a ‘greeder.’ If dog hair were brain cells this greeder would be a Mexican hairless dog. (No offense to Mexican hairless dogs)
First, the controversial practice of breeding for aberrations such as breeding one undersized dog with another for the novelty of producing something miniature is just hubris. There are now not only miniature Australian Shepherd s but there are “toy” Australian Shepherds. This is being done, not to improve the intelligence and physical stability of a wonderful working breed. It’s being done because “cute” sells. Whether the breeding is for the sake of producing a miniature version of one breed or flattening the face of another like a Pug to the point that day to day breathing is difficult or as is the case with Great Danes creating sizes so large that life spans are halved, it’s all bad breeding. Selectivity is a normal part of breeding of any kind but it’s supposed to revolve around function rather then fashion.
I suppose I wouldn’t have as much of a problem with such experimentation if amongst the many hundreds of existing breeds we’d achieved perfection but do we really need a miniature or toy Australian Shepherd when the true to form Australian Shepherd still has inheritable genetic issues such as back, hip, epilepsy, deafness and vision issues including blindness?
You can agree or disagree me on that topic but if you’re still on the fence consider this. No responsible breeder would actually choose to breed a dog at such a young age? She’s over a year away from being an adult. Any real breeder would know of the considerable physical consequences and risks of breeding a dog so young. Even so, at such a young age this greeder is just throwing the dice and hoping for the best. More likely just hoping for a buyer. This dog is neither physically or mentally an adult and until it is and its strengths and weaknesses assessed from the perspective of what a breeding might pass on, no one but a greeder would consider doing such a thing. In the dog world, this is as close to rape as you’re going to get.
In my mind such a person barely qualifies to even own a dog let alone breed them. I wouldn’t exactly be thrilled to learn they were contributing to the human gene pool either.
Pawsitively yours,
John Wade
