Adding to the Family

Some of you may know (but mostly not I'm sure) that I plan to add another member to my family in the coming months. Naturally said member will be of the canine variety.

No, not this one. I already added him! However, said new family member will be a Basenji. I will be purchasing my new friend from a breeder. A recent conversation with a colleague has made me realize that, even among dog professionals, there is a lot of confusion about what constitutes an ethical breeder and how to identify one.

Cos it ain't easy.

In order to find a breeder who behaves ethically one must first have a set of standards or expectations. That means doing some research first. No one can tell you, "this is an ethical breeder". It's subjective. You have to know what you think is important, and then make your own judgment.

Here are some of my expectations:

• The breeder competes in venues appropriate to the breed. (Conformation, performance events, field trials)
• Breed appropriate health tests are performed on breeding animals and extended family alike.
• The breeder will take back a dog of their breeding at any time during the animal's life.
• The breeder offers health "warrantees". There may be some limitations here, but those things covered should extend through the life of the dog and not entail the dog's return.
• The breeder has an enforceable contract and requires spay/neuter for animals deemed non-breeding potential or sold into strictly pet homes.
• The breeder welcomes the buyer to their home and proudly shows off their dogs. If puppies are on the ground s/he lets the buyer see them where they live as well as any other dogs on the property. Naturally they will appear happy, well cared for and healthy.
• The breeder interviews the buyer as intensely as the buyer interviews them!

I'm sure I'm forgetting some things here. My point is that you can't decide to buy a puppy and with less knowledge about dogs than you have about televisions, expect to find a good breeder. When you decide to purchase a puppy you have an obligation to educate yourself and only support the best, however you may define that.

We all understand that if we don't research a product and end up buying one that falls apart shortly there after, we have mainly ourselves to blame. Yet because we are dealing with living creatures we somehow have the expectation that the person we purchase from automatically has to be kind and responsible and if they are not, well, we can simply blame them for being horrible while accepting no responsibility ourselves.

Yes, irresponsible, unethical breeders are... well unethical and irresponsible! Yuck!

But just as breeders have a moral obligation to act in the best interest of their charges, so do buyers. Human beings are what they are. Whenever there is something to gain from doing so, you can expect people to be myopic or cut corners. Buyers need to educate themselves. This helps ensure that they obtain a good pet and it helps all dogs in the long run by not reinforcing bad behavior!

I'll post more next week but in the mean time...

What do you look for? Or do you choose to bypass and adopt from a rescue organization instead? (Which may entail it's own set of challenges!)