To breed or not to breed...

I guess the problem is more of the fact that there are sooo many dogs in the USA. So many cat's too. Shelters are overflowing. Ideally, there should be no shelters and if they only bred them once, maybe. But some dogs are bred every year and at some point more puppies are born than people want. No matter how responsible you are, you're going to oversaturate your area. So maybe one litter, you sell every dog. But what about the next litter and the one after that? Also shelters do background checks, most breeders don't. So people with no brains, no responcibility, just some money can buy them. Some stores sell puppies to people who don't know how to raise a puppy. So they abuse it the first time it does something wrong. Or they throw it out. Some people buy them for kids and then the kid doesn't feed it and the adult doesn't want to have anything to do with it. Purebreds cost a lot of $ to start and more $ to keep up and many have been overbred and have expensive health problems. So people eventually can't afford them and bring them to a shelter. Dogs live to be many years old. That kid that wanted a puppy goes to college and his parents want to retire to Florida. Right now 50 something percent of people are loosing their homes, their jobs, etc. I wouldn't be breeding dogs right now. I have two cats. Why? Because some dirty name lost his and her job (pretty sure it was the jerks across the road who just up and left their cat behind)and left a house cat to fend for itself and it has health problems. I went into debt,still the cat has health problems. There are just too many animals. 200% cats at shelters and 125% dogs.

Hi there, For those who want to make money breeding, I have a great idea! Why not breed yourselves! You could surrogate, or place a child on the market for people who cannot have children! You can also sell your semen. That way, you are not risking the life of a pet, or adding to over population of dogs and cats! And at the same time, making money off of breeding something! Good idea, right?

I like Pit Boss too. While I agree that there are a lot of responsible breeders who don't just let anyone buy dogs from them, there are some people who don't practice responsible behavior and are all consumed by the bottom line. As you said the key is personal responsibility.

I agree, it's OK if done responsibly. But for myself, I would probably never buy a purebred animal. Mutts tend to avoid being inbred. Also, they need the homes more.

I like you have very mixed feelings on breeding animals like dogs for profit. The problem that I have is that it seems for every responsible breeder who really cares and takes the extra steps to ensure that all the pups have good homes, there are dozens and dozens who care nothing for the animals. All they care about is how much money they can make. I haven't seen Pit Boss yet but I will check it out. He seems like a real character with a passion for animals. I do watch Pit Bulls and Parolees which is about a Pit Bull sanctuary and they have hundreds of rescued dogs and they rehabilitate them to adopt them again if possible. I just read that there are now over 100 miniature dogs being euthanized in LA every day due to the over breeding. And it was all started by breeders trying to make money on the cute little dogs that so many celebrities have been seen with. I guess I wish there was some way to have a happy medium. I don't think there would really be anyway to regulate who can breed dogs so that would be foolish for the government to even consider. Maybe vets need to be somehow involved since most of them know who is breeding for profit and who isn't. We have a pure bred Jack Russell and we adore her and got her from a wonderful breeder friend. She's the perfect dog for our family and my beloved had his heart set on a Jack Russell so I got her for his birthday a few years back. Very interesting topic and I will likely be thinking about it for while since there are so many shelters overflowing with dogs that no one wants. Thanks for bringing up such a compelling topic! Be Well!!

I have several friends who bought dogs for that reason. but they are let's say "small" breaders. i don;t see why not to breed animals, as long as certain conditions are available. it would be good if there is someone to check on such people, as you say once every 6 months or so. the bad thing is that not many countries are like usa... not many have established or worse, followed laws about such thing. what surprised me recently was that where i live was an increasing number of stolen animals. this i find really disgusting. these people use to follow the "victim" some period of time. and when the time comes they were stealing it. this cause a lot of distress to the owners... i can imagine. i guess it's just easier and a bit cheaper to steal one than to buy and look after.

I have a little cat rescue. ALL my cats are the result of people NOT fixing their animals. I have even some that look like Siamese but are not. Yes, there can be a point of responsible breeding - but most people are NOT responsible. A good cattery will insist that kittens that are not show quality are fixed. They will also not over breed their pets - allowing a queen to have maybe a litter or 2 a year, no more. There are FAR FAR too many puppy mills out there and there are the same thing with cats, not keeping them right and not raising them to be used to people. But, like I said - I have 27 cats at the moment - all fixed, and ALL rescues. 6 of them are even feral, but they are safe and fixed. The ONLY people that should be breeding pit bulls are those who are raising them for show - too many are back yard breeders/fighters and those dogs live short, pain filled, terrible lives. Spay/neuter is what I believe - there has only been one kitten "born" in this house, and actually he was delivered by emergency c-section at the vet because when I picked up his mother she was actually in labor.

I am of two minds about it. Responsible breeding is so much more than limiting the number of litters, taking care of the dogs, etc. When specific breeds are bred for specific features the animals often suffer. For instance, Great Danes are prone to hip dysplasia as are German Shepherds. Dachshunds are bred to have long bodies and short legs and often suffer great pain because of it. In that way, breeding is cruel and should be illegal.

First of all, I don't believe in breeding just for money AT ALL! If making money is your priority, then you're in it for the wrong reasons and you're contributing to a horrible pet overpopulation problem. The point of breeding is to advance the breed... To try to eliminate genetic diseases, and to continue favorable traits in the breed. I volunteer with shelter dogs and every day I see perfectly healthy, sweet, wonderful dogs have to get killed because of the pet overpopulation problem. Millions of cats and dogs are killed every single year because there are just too many animals in this country. On average, a pet is killed every 8 seconds. It is estimated that for every new puppy born, 3 shelter dogs are put down. Yes, the biggest problem are breeders that just want to make money, puppy mills, etc. But knowing the facts and seeing first hand the animals that are dying... I just don't see how someone could conscientiously contribute to the pet overpopulation problem. In a perfect world, responsible breeding would be a wonderful thing. But we don't live in a perfect world. We live in a world where we are forced to murder millions and millions of dogs! And even the most responsible breeding still contributes to the pet overpopulation problem.

Unfortunately the shelters are full of pure breed dogs that someone got tired of. People should not breed until there is a shortage of dogs for adoption.

I don't think that all breeding is irresponsible. However, I can see why he would be upset with people that are breeding Pit Bulls. I personally don't have a problem with them at all, in fact my mother has two of them, one of them is a mix and the other is a purebred and I love them both. However, what you see with pitbulls is that a lot of them are bred for the wrong reasons they are bred to fight and thus a lot of them do end up in shelters where they are judged to be unadoptable based on their temperments.

I think if the breeders are responsible and take good care of the animals there is nothing wrong with it. The breeders you mention that make visits to check up on the dogs are probably rare. It seems most breeders breed to many dogs to treat them right. My brother used to get his dogs from breeders who only had a few animals so they were treated pretty good. I guess that's why they have a bad reputation. Some breeders treat their dogs as more of a business asset more than an animal.

Responsible breeding is the key here. Most people only see dollar signs when thinking about breeding as it is expensive and risky. I currently have a pure bred Papillion and will most likely breed her to my mother's pure bred Pappy within the next year. She will more than likely only have 1-2 puppies that have already been committed to my niece and my son's girlfriend as gifts. After she has her first litter she will either be fixed or not be bred again until for at least 18 months.

Breeding is something that shouldn't be done right now. Way to many unwanted animals out there. The person who brought the breeder to the shelter had the right idea. to many animals born every year, heck even everyday and not enough space for them. We have a cat in a shelter right now because we couldn't keep him, this was a shame, but also a sad facet of life too.