23 replies to this topic

[Donald McCaig]

Dear Doggers,

The Dog Fancy could not continue long without a public willing to believe that their "pet-quality" pups are somewhat superior to mutts; certainly that expensive "AKC reg" pups aren't defective. Dog Fanciers can't go on long selling defective pups only to one another. They need the pet buying public to survive. That's why Pedigreed Dogs exposed was such a blow.

Donald McCaig

[Cyberdog]

It seems like the "mutt" is gaining in popularity along with "rescuing" a dog rather than purchasing one from a breeder. Am I wrong about this??? Even AKC made the "Pet Partners" registry to make a little money off the mutt owning crowd. There's actually a few folks in my local area who keep fancy pedigreed dogs, and mutts. They seem to like showing them both. Perhaps the Victorian Age Dog Fancier is slowly disappearing.

[PSmitty]

It seems like the "mutt" is gaining in popularity along with "rescuing" a dog rather than purchasing one from a breeder. Am I wrong about this??? Even AKC made the "Pet Partners" registry to make a little money off the mutt owning crowd. There's actually a few folks in my local area who keep fancy pedigreed dogs, and mutts. They seem to like showing them both. Perhaps the Victorian Age Dog Fancier is slowly disappearing.

Meh. I don't think so, but I only have a limited sample here to go by, of course. I would love to say that rescuing is more popular than purchasing dogs, but I'm not really seeing it.

[mum24dog]

Meh. I don't think so, but I only have a limited sample here to go by, of course. I would love to say that rescuing is more popular than purchasing dogs, but I'm not really seeing it.

I suppose people will go for the easy option.

If there isn't a rescue with a good selection of the type of dog someone wants nearby then it could be easier just to buy from a breeder or puppy mill/shop etc.

The last time I counted around half the dogs in our agility club were rescues, but it's easy for us. We have a family run mostly collie rescue about 90 mins away that has rehomed around 200 dogs already this year, many to agility competitors, some for pets, some to work that they have assessed on their own sheep. We just tell them what we want and wait - our last member who did that was found a perfect dog within days.

It also helps if the majority of the highest grade dogs in a club are rescues, as is the case with ours.

It is a question of club culture though. If there is someone breeding in a club then you're likely to get some people buying from them. We've got 3 Jacks from the same litter starting soon. Fortunately noone has yet had a collie litter, although one member did put her dog to stud elsewhere and took one of the pups. My heart sinks when people start talking about breeding.