to brainless would like to know which breed you are talking about? if pups are so unpopular they are pts why breed? surely rare breeds are in demand? (if it is a rare breed)??

I think I know who Brainless is refering to and completely agree with what she's said.  The breed in question is a very primitive breed and highly specialist.  They've been around for thousands of years but only ever hunted in their native country - never kept as pets.  They do not make good pets for ordinary dog owners.  They require vast amounts of understanding and patience and don't cope well with average 'pet' people.  The need 8' fencing and cannot be trusted off lead - they do, however, need to be let off the need so they must live with someone who has access to a few acres of fenced in land.  Not easy to come by I think you'll agree.

Debs

> surely rare breeds are in demand? (if it is a rare breed)??

Nope they are usually rare because they are not in demand.  Some as mentioned above because they are very specialised and not easy for the average pet owner, some are diffcult to breed and have small litters, but with others it is simply fashion.

This is why the KC are trying to highlight the plight of native breeds, but sadly many foreign breeds are in just as low numbers or lower.  There were under a 100 pups of my breed registered last year (a quarter the number bred in 1970, and nearly half the number of 20 years ago), yet a friend of mine still has a dog pup unhomed at over 16 weeks, because as luck would have it the 3 most recent litters bred were predominantly male.

They are an uncommon breed everywhere except Scandinavia where if hunting were banned the numbers would also probably reduce in favour of more fashionable;e breeds.  As it is the numbers bred even in Scandinavia are not high about 3000 a year at most in each country, though still the fifth most popular breed in Finland, but a long way down in popularity in it's native Norway where it is the National dog.

They are not a particularly difficult breed to own, in fact much easier than several breeds who have population explosions.

Interestingly the show greyhound is very low in numbers, because the breeders are so responsible about only breeding for themselves because of the huge ex-racing and racing bred greyhound problem the two types are very very different.

There are formerly rare breeds that have suddenly become dangerously fashionable, with the wrong sort of people.  What I mean is that the interest has been such that pups were bred unscrupulously fast from an initial tiny gene pool or to fill a fashion.  Some breeds only introduced to this country since 1980 include the Akita, Siberian Husky ans I am sure others, and this is the kind of popularity any breeds owners do not want, as steady increase in interest in numerically small breeds is what most want, but seems hard to get.

I would rather not name the breed I have mentioned publicly to protect the identities of the innocent as they say.

RE the light framed pup.  Not all pups will have the desired bone or fullness of head to be shown or bred from, so if this persons preference is a light weight Dane they should be able to find one less well endowed in these characteristics, and it still be a typical Dane, just not a show stopper.