Where does it end?

As a Working Border Collie owner, I am grateful that we have a registry that is interested, first and foremost, in preserving the working ability in the breed, instead of going the way the rest of the working breeds have gone and only having the AKC to rely on. But really ... I think we need to do more. And I am willing to put my sweat and blood where my mouth is.

I was recently browsing several websites, one of which is in a small town in Oklahoma. On the puppy page to the right of the oh-so-tacky "PAY PAL" button is a bunch of "information" and a self-proclamation about how the pups are able to do it all -- i.e. "Jack of All Trades, Master of None" type -- despite that NONE of the sires and dams are proven in anything, wouldn't know what to do with agility equipment other than to piss on it, the only "box turn" they do is in the whelping box, and "goose control" is something one of the many dogs that have been returned to this kennel once told its buddies about. Yes, the website is very pretty, with all the colors, and the pretty dogs that get to get out of their kennel to get their bi-annual bath and photo shoot when they have a litter coming up. The stud dogs are put on three sheep and if they chase them enough, they are proclaimed as the greatest herding dog ever, and bred over and over again. What color are the pups? Silly you for asking. All different colors, of course! There's a message board connected to this kennel, where all the Kool-Aid drinkers sit around saying "Oh look at all those cute puppies ... so many to choose from!" Umm ... HELLO? But you'll quickly notice that the only repeat customers are collectors themselves, and this particular kennel needs to prey on those who know no better -- because those that do wouldn't go anywhere near this place. They are very few competing in the stockdog world, and those that are often drop the kennel prefix and call the dog a rescue, already knowing how the stockdog world views this operation.

So other than the above, what is the problem? Well, currently there are SIX litters -- for a total of FORTY puppies on the ground.

Is the ABCA registering all of these puppies? I'd imagine so.

Why? I don't have a clue.

Yes, I'm sure it's great revenue for them, but really ... where do we draw the line? How is this type of breeding beneficial to the breed? If these dogs have any real working ability, it's by sheer luck of the numbers. I'm sorry, but even if there are big hats that are breeding THESE kinds of numbers, I am not sure even THAT would be good for the breed as a whole.

So what do we do about it? I have all kinds of ideas, but none that the ABCA would even want to consider because it would mean loss of revenue. Can we put a limit to the number of puppies put out annually? Oh I am sure that would cause nothing short of an uproar because there are those out there that feel that there are "big hats" out there that should be allowed to breed as many puppies as they want because they walk on water. I'm sorry. I don't feel that way. I have a hard time seeing how one dog could be nice enough to justify breeding more than a couple/three times in its lifetime -- not every year, or every heat if the bitch only comes into season every nine months.

I am still game for banning dual registration altogether so the fence-sitters would have to choose which side of the fence to jump off from. The ABCA says they don't have the manpower to man that type of thing. I would be interested in helping out and I'm sure there's a small army of people who would also. But again, it would be loss of revenue for the ABCA. And yes, there would be details that would need to be worked out about how to enforce it, blah blah blah, and it's stuff I won't even get into here because the ABCA is nowhere close to even considering fully banning dual registration. Same for tiered registration -- another excellent concept, if you ask me.

And would kicking the volume breeders out of the ABCA stop the high volume breeding? No. We know that from the kennel in Tennessee and the one in ... what state is she in today? No idea. Her website with all the "music" and colors and animations fails to mention where she is. Anyway, she and her pal in Tennessee just went ahead and created their own registry with a name very close to that of the ABCA and I am seeing more and more BYBs who have dogs registered through them -- so apparently they are also serving up lots of Kool-Aid. But at least by getting rid of the high-volume breeders, the registry wouldn't be supporting it.

Anyway, this is a topic that always gets me. I cannot stand to watch a dog be bred over and over and over -- until she's had so many litters that she is just re-absorbing her puppies. And people just sit around saying, "Awww. Oh well. So who are you breeding her to next?" WHAT? Those poor dogs. I don't know about you, and I don't normally compare dogs to people, but could you imagine having child after child from the time you're child-bearing to the time you hit menopause and can't have children anymore? Imagine what your body would be like after that. But there are "breeders" out there that don't care. And why should they. Hell, with 40 puppies on the ground -- selling for $1,000 or more a piece (yes, you read that correctly) -- that's $40,000 sitting in that house. And people not only sit on the message board supporting this, they hand over cash and buy those puppies, thereby exacerbating the problem. Proud of yourselves? If no one bought those puppies, would the high-volume breeders be pumping them out as fast? Oh I highly doubt it. Congratulations! Here you go ... have some more Kool-Aid.

Happy tails,

JD