Lady comes to class with a little JR bitch - got from her farrier as a pup. D is her first EVER dog and is about 2½/3 yrs old.

Owner rang me last night to say not coming to class as D came into season on Friday and did I have phone no for Bs owner - another JR at class. She wants to mate D and he 'seems a nice little fellow'

I have preached till I am blue in the face (waste of breath) D hops at least one of every 5-6 steps but her vet said 'all JRs do, nothing to bother about '  Said about finding homes and got told 'friend has been waiting ages for D to get mated so she can have one of her pups' 'what about the rest' 'oh vet said she would only have 2 or 3 as its first litter and I'm sure I can find someone for the other'

Bs owner did decline the offer and also had a go telling her that 3 of 5 in Bs litter were all breech and had to be assisted out.

Oh and Ds owner works in family business 'but I can take a few days off and then take them into the office!!!!

Owner is totally clueless but I have no doubt she will find someone in next week or two and there will be no problems.

AAARRRGGGHHH

ARRGHHHH!!!! With my part time business (Mobile microchip implanter) I meet a LOT of owners and the amount of them that plan on breeding their bitches irresponsibly really has me biting my tongue!

I bet the vet actually said something like "Patella luxation is very common in the breed, your bitch doesn't seem overly bothered by it so we need to take no action at the moment" -I don't think even the most clueless vet would not know what LP was.....but owners are good at interpreting what vets says into what they WANT to hear. I CAN however believe the rubbish about only having a small litter as so few vets have breeding experience of any sort.  I had a discussion with a young vet a few months ago about kittens. I said I estimated that I had to help pull out roughly 50 % of my kittens. She said she thought that was an incredibly large amount and totally abnormal. Well how many litters had she watched being born naturally -especially seeing as I started breeding when she will still have been in nappies? ;) Not to mention that yes, a LOT of people will just leave the queen to it and so eventually the kitten stuck halfway WILL come out -but it will be dead. (It is almost always halfway, and with the HEAD still inside so when the queen starts licking the wrong end the membranes burst and the kitten suffocates.) The moggies giving birth in the wardrobe or underneath a shed nobody will ever know if they had needed help or not, or indeed often how many kittens were born live and how many dead. I prefer to get all mine out alive!

>but owners are good at interpreting what vets says into what they WANT to hear.

Oh yes, very much so.

I once helped a JRT whelp a litter and all five were breech birth a very difficult labour and all the pups needed help.
This was a person I hardly even knew who called me at eleven o clock at night worried because her dog didnt look right and was walking with her back hunched up!!
Lend me that brick wall please.

Thats like my friends house mate with her jack russels. She just sold a litter that her 6 month old had, and has one from her other girl who had a litter 6 months ago, but apperantly after letting the dogs mate the once it would be curel to keep them apart again when she is in season. I can imaging that poor dog having a litter every season untill it drops dead. With both litters she was going to away when the bitch was due and leave her to my friend (who cant drive) but only stayed as she refused to helpwith out her there. She didnt even know the basics, friend had to explane on how to look after mum and pups as she didnt want the dogs to suffer.

I've come to the conclusion that many on here as an extreme minority when it comes to dog breeding. After reading comments on a daily mail article about a byb having a large litter. Her comment was on the ball as she was slated and 341 dislikes

Are you saying those here are in the minority regarding breeding being a serious matter that should be done responsibly/properly or are you agreeing that we are a weird minority and in the wrong?

Sadly responsible breeding does appear to be in the minority, at least based on numbers of puppies bred, as of course puppy farmers probably produce more puppies in a year than many decent breeders in a lifetime in their breeds.

Also the one off casual breeders who think their actions of not testing or researching and selecting appropriate breeding parties don't matter 'as I'm not a breeder', where all those one off litters probably amount to the majority of all pups bred.

I think responsible breeding is very much in the minority sadly. When my grooming clients ask if I breed (due to having 4 dogs and a bunch of rosettes on boards) I feel somewhat reluctant to say yes and have them think I'm a casual breeder, and I always say I've just bred a couple of small litters and am waiting till next year to see if my girl passes all her health tests before I decide whether to breed again. Doubt it sinks in though!

The former. But then why should they have a valid argument when they are uneducated on.the subject. They are all about its my dog I.can do what I like and because I have a dog and I took a litter from her, I feel I can criticise berate and abuse those well up on the subject. there are no consequences to their actions. Someone from school has bred his staff who could easily be seized under dda as he is not your 12" to the shoulder stafford. He's allowed him to mate his pals mums dog. When I commented on how many are in rescue and being pts each day I was told to go rescue them all.

There are still 'old school' vets and terrier people who refer to 'terrier hop' as just something some terriers do with no known reason.