Re: [pyrnet] Shelters and Breeders (was: shelters)

["Karen Reiter" <kreiter@servtech.com>]

From: <clhenke@juno.com>

Cindy, thanks for clarifying.   :-)

<< At the Pet Shop end, I don't know what anyone says about people who would
pay those prices.  I have never figured out why a brouse through the paper
wouldn't give anyone an idea of what dogs in their area are going for.  Why
anyone would willingly pay two to three times more than what they could pay
for a dog in the paper, is just totally beyond me. >>

I think that New England and Texas have very different pricing for Pyrs for
sale.  I've never seen them in the paper for less then 200.00, and that's
usually for an older dog, not a puppy.  The average price in the paper is
$500-700.  Do you see Pyrs in pet stores down there?

 << I guess that's the part where "a fool and his money are soon parted"
comes in.  >>

Or beware the consumer.  Most of these purchases were done on impulse.

<< So yes, if you are going to pay $800 plus dollars, why wouldn't you get
them from one of the better breeders?  >>

I may be underestimating your average American, but I think that folks don't
really know/aren't educated about where to buy a dog.   You might not be
surprised how having a dog "with papers" implies that the dog is "of
quality".

<< Next we come to the largest part of the regular world of dogs.  They go
out and buy from a good breeder.  They spend the money, and then they figure
they should be able to recoup their expenses.  They buy one male, several
females, claim they got them from a good breeder and their dogs are quality,
and set off to breed to make a few bucks.  <snip> They don't know how it is
used, what it actually means, or remotely have an idea of what they are
breeding for.  To those people, two good dogs constitute other good dogs.
>>

I guess that I don't see this as a large "part of the regular world of dogs"
here in the northeast. Is this what you see/heard alot about in the paper?

<<  Less intent of everyone becoming a breeder" is just that.  Breeders in
an effort to get their name out, seem to want everyone who buys their dogs
to breed.  Contracts go out on dogs with future breed backs.  This may be ok
if it is just that, the option to breed back.  But when people find they
can't handle a stud dog, or decide in the end, that they really do not want
to produce a litter after all <snip> But we have breeders pushing the issue
that they "must" honor that portion of the contract and allow them to breed
back. >>

If I were to sell a dog to someone to get a puppy back (or stud fee or
whatever), I wouldn't force someone into it if they changed their mind.
Each individual situation needs to be evaluated by the owner and the
breeder.  Things happen and people change and that's a fact of life.

<<  No matter how gorgeous or perfect the dog, no one should be forced to
get into breeding if they don't want to>>

On the flip side, if this is a line in my kennel that I absolutely wanted to
continue because it was a close to perfection as I could get (theoretically
speaking), and this were the only bitch or dog, should I not breed it?
Should I not honor the contract that I had with my breeder if I were buyer?
The buyer and breeder should have discussed the what-if's, and if they were
not comfortable with it they should have gone elsewhere.

I think it's important to educate puppy buyers and wannabe puppy/pyr buyers.
They need to understand the difficulty and work involved in
breeding/showing/lgd education/even pet ownership.  If they can't take it,
they don't need a Pyr.

<< I find it ironic that through all of this, everyone walks around claiming
"It is not my responsibility ".  Well the bottom line is, it is
all of us and our responsibility "  >>

I'm sure that I've said "it's not my responsibility".  Thinking in terms of
black and white, I didn't produce those dogs that come through rescue so why
should I be responsible for it?  Is this becoming a government sort of
thing?  Where our taxes (dollars and time) go to help other people that we
have absolutely nothing to do with...  I don't think so.  It's one thing to
volunteer your time or donate money to rescue, just like you can select the
charity(ies) where you would like to see your dollars/time go.  It's quite
another to say that the responsibility lies with all of us.  (I'm not sure
if I explained this well... it has been a long day   :-))

Karen
Fairport, NY
kreiter@servtech.com
karen@dogsoft.com