Policy statement: Dogs
The ancient partnership between dogs and man has changed over the centuries,
but the bond remains as strong as ever. Today's dogs seldom ply their ancient
trades, but they have amassed an impressive new repertoire of skills. The most
common career for dogs these days is "pet," but these remarkable animals also
demonstrate an array of skills ranging from finding lost children to ferreting
out contraband, tracking criminals, helping physically and mentally impaired
people, joining owners in a variety of sports and games, and guarding livestock
from endangered predators. The value of well-bred dogs as pets and partners
is indisputable.
Responsible breeders maintain the health and integrity of ancient breeds and
provide a wonderful variety of dogs so that millions of people worldwide can
select a dog of the size, coat type, temperament, appearance, and character
that will fit their lifestyle. Purebred dog owners, breeders, exhibitors, and
clubs are primary sources for public education about dog care and they are the
backbone of dog rescue efforts and advances in canine medicine.
Dog shows provide information on dog care, opportunities to see and compare
dozens of breeds, and a venue to support canine education, health, and rescue
efforts. Kennel, breed, obedience, and performance clubs provide forums for
breeders, trainers, and exhibitors to share knowledge and improve methods of
care and training. Such clubs are major contributors to community education
about responsible dog ownership. They help local shelters through rescue programs
and donations and provide aid to individuals who need help with pet dog training,
locating a responsible breeder, or with other dog-related questions or concerns.
Breeders work with scientists to reduce the incidence of genetic abnormalities
in their breeds, and clubs donate funding for research through the AKC
Canine Health Foundation and the Morris
Animal Foundation to provide veterinary advances for all dogs - purebred
and mixed breed.
NAIA backs the responsible breeding and showing of purebred dogs and opposes
coercive legislation aimed at breeders. NAIA also supports participation in
dog sports and other recreational activities that depend on canine working partners;
the use of dogs in law enforcement and search and rescue missions; dogs as companions
and helpers under the Americans with Disabilities Act; the voluntary sterilization
and identification of pets, and reasonable efforts to rescue unwanted dogs for
placement in new homes.
Suggested reading:
Dog breeding
People have taken an active role in animal breeding for thousands of years.
Maintaining these natural and long-standing associations with animals has become
problematic only with the rise of our urban/suburban society and the dilemmas
caused by surplus and nuisance pets. Because of these changes, however, today's
breeders need to educate themselves about dogs, about specific breeds, and about
socializing and training. They also need to plan each breeding decision to ensure
positive outcomes for their puppies and must be prepared to take back dogs and
offer advice on socializing and training in order to assure success. NAIA believes
that those who are unwilling to spend the necessary time and effort to make
informed decisions, carefully place puppies, and maintain contact with puppy
buyers should leave breeding to those who have the dedication to do so.
A puppy will live with a family for a dozen years or more, so selecting just
the right breed and breeder can be critical to initiating and developing a strong
bond with the dog. Although any dog may become a valued and well-loved pet,
well-bred purebred dogs have an advantage over mixed breed dogs because of their
consistency: their size, coat type, exercise needs, energy level, trainability,
and temperament can be predicted within a narrow range, thus allowing prospective
buyers to purchase a puppy that meets their lifestyle and living conditions.
Dogs that do not meet the breed standard for these characteristics may not be
suitable for individual situations. For example, Golden Retrievers and Labrador
Retrievers are often acquired because they are easily trained, enjoy an active
life, and love children, but a poorly-bred dog of either breed may be hyperactive,
bull-headed, and snappish, or have other inherited behavior or health characteristics
that make it a poor choice for a family.
Once the breed is selected, the search for a puppy can begin. To recognize
the differences among breeders and other sources that sell or place dogs with
the public, the following categories may be useful. Like all attempts at labeling,
the categories that are described below represent generalities that won't be
true for every case. Puppy buyers are urged to do their homework and use a good
measure of common sense.
Generally speaking, breeders can be divided into two general categories: non-commercial
and commercial.
Non-commercial breeders fall into two additional categories:
1) breed enthusiasts, also known as breed fanciers or show
breeders, including performance dog breeders who select dogs with
the ability and temperament to participate in certain sports or to perform particular
jobs; and 2) casual breeders who dabble in breeding.
Breed enthusiasts
Breed enthusiasts (AKA show breeders, breed fanciers, hobbyists and
responsible breeders) who follow breed club guidelines and codes of ethics are
NAIA's top choice as a source of pet puppies. Breed enthusiasts are motivated
by several factors: Love of a breed; a desire to contribute to the improvement
of breed health and performance skills; enjoyment of breed competitions and
sports; and pleasure in the company of other breed and dog admirers. Breed enthusiasts
who join dog clubs breed for health, temperament and breed type; screen their
breeding stock for genetic abnormalities; become knowledgeable about breed history
and bloodlines; provide appropriate health care and housing for adult dogs and
puppies; raise, train, and socialize puppies in their homes; participate in
dog shows so their dogs can be evaluated for adherence to specific breed standards
of excellence and for performance ability; and help with public education efforts
promoted by national and local dog organizations. Breed enthusiasts are sometimes
called "responsible breeders."
The hallmarks by which these breeders can be recognized are:
- They breed and raise dogs in their homes, typically keeping one or two
(sometimes three) breeds of dogs in the house or in a clean kennel.
- Their dogs appear healthy and well-socialized.
- Their breeding stock meets the standard of excellence for the breed and
is screened for genetic diseases and structural problems prior to producing
a litter.
- They study their chosen breeds and make decisions with breed structure,
health, and temperament in mind.
- They offer a contract that protects the puppy and the buyer as well as the
breeder.
- They participate in breed activities, including dog shows to assess the
quality of potential breeding dogs and tests and trials to assess performance
ability, and help puppy buyers get involved in these endeavors.
- They join dog clubs and participate in club projects ranging from public
education programs and dog training classes to dog shows.
Responsible breed enthusiasts producing animals for show, work, or pets as
a hobby or an avocation are more than happy to oblige potential clients. Prospective
buyers can see where litters are raised, talk to the breeder about health clearances
and socialization, and meet the dam of the litter. Responsible breed enthusiasts
also help buyers select the best puppy for their circumstances, often decline
to place puppies of high-drive dogs in pet homes, and remain available to help
buyers after they take the puppy home.
Passionate about dogs, breed enthusiasts take the time to learn everything
they can about their chosen breed. They participate in kennel clubs that hold
dog shows and educate the public about dog care in general and breed behavior,
health, and dog sports in particular. They take part in breed, obedience, and
field events to prove the mettle of their dogs and share the love of dogs with
other breeders and owners; attend seminars to expand their knowledge of canine
health and training; and serve as mentors to breed newcomers. They register
their dogs primarily with the American Kennel
Club, the United Kennel Club or a
specific breed registry. They take back dogs if buyers can no longer keep them,
and they keep retired breeding and performance dogs if they cannot find a good
pet home for them. Many breed enthusiasts also help with rescue of their breed
with donations of time, space, or dollars and contribute to research into inherited
canine diseases personally and through their local and national clubs. The American
Kennel Club, the organization that most responsible breed enthusiasts use to
register their dogs, donates more than $1 million annually to promote canine
health.
While responsible breed fanciers take pride in producing high-quality show
and working dogs, they also desire to place healthy puppies and adult dogs as
pets in suitable homes. The relationship doesn't end when the puppy goes to
its new family; responsible breed fanciers keep in touch with buyers, answer
questions about training and behavior, and enjoy the thriving relationship between
the dog and the family.
Prospective buyers can find responsible breeders of show dogs, pets, and working
dogs by contacting national or regional breed clubs or local all-breed kennel
or obedience clubs. Lists of club contacts can be found on the AKC
website. Breed clubs can also be located by browsing the web for breed-specific
sites. Prospective buyers should also consider attending area dog shows to see
good dogs and meet their breeders. Dog shows can be located by subscribing to
the American Kennel Club Gazette
or by browsing www.infodog.com, www.onofrio.com,
www.royjonesdogshows.com.
Performance dog breeders
Performance dog breeders are hobbyists, sportsmen, or service dog organizations
that breed dogs primarily to do a job or participate in a sport. They breed
dogs for the temperament and ability to serve as working companions for handicapped
owners, or produce hunting dogs, herding dogs, guarding dogs, racing dogs, sled
dogs, and dogs with the temperament and stamina to participate in schutzhund
and other sports. These breeders concentrate on health and ability in producing
high-energy, high-drive dogs that are good at their jobs but which may not always
be satisfactory as family pets because of their Type A, workaholic personalities.
Therefore, responsible performance dog breeders take extra care in placing their
puppies as pets.
Performance dog breeders have contributed volumes of information to canine
health and training and to an awareness of canine behavior and history. From
the USDA project to determine the value of certain breeds as livestock guard
dogs to the in-depth understanding about training and behavior from service
dog organizations and the studies of structure and health in sled dogs and racing
dogs, these breeders have coordinated efforts with veterinarians and other professionals
and thereby greatly enhanced the base of knowledge about dogs.
Performance dogs love to do what they do. They run because they want to run,
not because they are forced to run. They herd and guard livestock because they
are suited for the work and naturally attracted to it. They help people because
they are rewarded for their behavior, not because they are enslaved. They hunt
because they are well-adapted to scenting and sighting game and would do so
whether domestic or wild.
NAIA appreciates the beauty and splendor of dogs performing according to their
nature and applauds those breeders and others who responsibly produce, study,
and train these dogs.
A note of caution: NAIA recommends that potential puppy buyers use common sense
when purchasing a puppy. If a breeder represents himself as being a devoted
breed enthusiast but his dogs are ill kept and poorly socialized the buyer should
question whether the breeder is truly what he represents himself to be, and
he should look elsewhere.
Suggested reading:
Casual breeders
Casual breeders are the other non-commercial breeders who raise
dogs in their homes and sell directly to the public. Known pejoratively as "backyard
breeders," casual breeders breed litters so children or other family members
can witness a birth; because they mistakenly believe that a female dog needs
a litter to be 'fulfilled,' because they hope to earn a little extra money and
haven't yet learned that litters often cost more than they bring in; and because
they did not neuter their pets or keep them properly confined.
These breeders produce both purebred dogs and mixes. They also raise their
animals in the home where a puppy purchaser can see the dam and the conditions
under which the litter was raised, but they generally lack the knowledge and
experience necessary to make prudent breeding decisions. They almost certainly
lack in-depth knowledge about breed conformation, temperament, and training
and are often uneducated about general health and inherited diseases, normal
and abnormal puppy and breed behavior, and training techniques for instilling
good manners or correcting unacceptable behaviors. They are extremely unlikely
to join clubs, participate in dog sports, attend seminars, help with public
education efforts, contribute to breed rescue efforts, or take back dogs if
placements don't work out. For these reasons they usually cannot offer sound
advice to their puppy buyers.
These amateur breeders are often disparaged by both anti-breeding activists and show
breeders because they can unwittingly contribute to irresponsible dog ownership.
Because producing healthy, well-bred puppies requires in-depth knowledge and
a professional attitude, NAIA urges casual breeders to increase their knowledge
of breeds and breeding so they can make good decisions or to leave breeding
to those who have the desire and understanding to pursue it as an avocation.
Commercial breeders
Commercial breeders sell dogs as a business through large kennels, pet
stores, national magazine ads, newspaper ads, and over the Internet. Commercial
breeders may be regulated or non-regulated. They may produce a single breed
or multiple breeds, including crossbreeds. They may keep as few as three breeding
females or as many as several hundred. They may sell to pet stores for resale
or they may sell directly to consumers from their kennels or through magazine,
newspaper or Internet ads.
Commercial kennels that sell dogs for resale in pet stores are regulated by
the US Department of Agriculture under the federal Animal Welfare Act.(Links
to the AWA and AWA regulations can be found at the APHIS publications page at
www.aphis.usda.gov/ac/publications.html)
These kennels are inspected annually for compliance with a set of housing and
care standards, including a plan for veterinary care. They can be fined or lose
their operating licenses if they do not abide by these regulations. Further,
puppies sold in pet stores possess AWA kennel license numbers that enable consumers
to report problems to USDA if they exist.
Commercial kennels that sell directly to consumers from their facilities or
through magazine ads or the Internet are not always required to be federally
regulated and may avoid oversight altogether.
Commercial breeders seldom participate in dog shows and other events or belong
to breed or kennel clubs. However, they may join local, regional, or national
trade associations that have a code of ethics and a set of kennel standards
and they may work to upgrade the welfare of the animals in their industry. Many
commercial breeders and pet stores belong to the Pet
Industry Joint Advisory Council, an association that conducts animal care
seminars and other events and works for reasonable animal welfare laws at the
state and federal levels.
Commercial breeders register their purebred dogs with several organizations.
The American Kennel Club is the best known
of these registries and the only one that conducts a large number of in-kennel
inspections (approximately 4000) each year. AKC conducts DNA screening to confirm
dog identity and checks dog and kennel conditions when they visit. If inspectors
find unhealthy dogs kept in substandard conditions, AKC suspends the registration
privileges of the breeders involved. AKC also now requires DNA identification
of dogs that sire more than three litters in a year or seven litters in a lifetime;
some commercial kennels have stopped registering with AKC as a result and choose
other registries that do not impose such stringent requirements.
Some people use the term puppy mill and commercial kennel synonymously implying
that all commercial breeding is conducted in filthy, substandard facilities
where animal health and well-being are neglected and breeding stock is abused.
That is not the case. NAIA notes that some commercial kennels are state of the
art facilities producing healthy, well-socialized puppies to sell to pet stores
or directly to the public.
There are two major animal welfare issues that surround commercial dog breeding.
One deals with the need for minimum standards of care and conditions for animals
in breeding kennels. The other deals with the question of whether or not it
is ever appropriate for animals to be sold in pet stores. Activists and breed
enthusiasts alike may oppose the sale of puppies in pet stores, but the myth that all pet store puppies come from puppy mills misdirects energy,
attention and resources away from genuine puppy mills that need to be closed
and away from gaining improvements at the retail level. The activist tendency
to paint the entire industry with the same brush has slowed animal
welfare improvements by blurring the issues.
Whenever possible puppy buyers should carefully evaluate
the dogs and husbandry practices in a kennel whose dogs they are considering. Buyers should think long
and hard before purchasing puppies from large commercial kennels selling over
the Internet or through advertisements in national magazines. Buyers who purchase dogs through ads cannot
see the kennel, the parent dogs, or the litter and cannot select their own puppies. If these outlets sell exclusively through ads, they are not required to be federally inspected to assure compliance
with minimum husbandry standards. If they are not registered with AKC, the only registry with a significant kennel inspection program, these breeders can avoid oversight.
NAIA also cautions buyers to be wary of a variation on pyramid schemes that make novice puppy buyers part of the kennel breeding program through contracts
that require a bitch puppy to be bred once or twice to a stud of the kennel's
choice and make puppies available for sale to the public. Such contracts allow
the breeding kennel to expand its business at the expense of the buyer and his
dog. Breeding stock should be carefully evaluated and breedings carefully planned,
not required of novices by contract when a puppy is purchased.
Suggested reading:
Pet stores
Pet stores sell about a half million puppies per year according to Patronek
and Rowan’s dog population compilation in Anthrozoos magazine in
August 1996. These retailers fill a niche for buyers who cannot find a private
breeder with puppies available in their community or surrounding area and those
who do not want to wait for a puppy from a responsible in-home breeder.
Consumers who choose to get a puppy from a pet store should carefully assess
its health, obtain the AWA license number to make sure the puppy comes from
a regulated kennel, and ask to see the registration papers with the OFA hip
clearance and CERF eye clearance noted for sire and dam if appropriate for the
breed. Consumers should also visit the AKC website for information on the breeds they are considering. Note: AKC national breed clubs set the breed standard for their breeds and maintain useful information about the character, exercise requirements and health issues relevant to each breed. Other registries simply copy AKC's work product, including its breed standards because they lack the knowledge base, breed authorities, infrastructure, traditions and history necessary to create original source materials or make meaningful recommendations. While it is difficult for a novice to compare a puppy with the breed
standard for an adult dog, potential buyers can compare pictures from breed
books with the puppies and can look for obvious deviations. For example, an
Akita puppy should have a thick plush coat, heavy bone, a curled tail and brown
eyes, even as a puppy.
Pet stores are not all the same. Some sell only local puppies, provide educational
material for pet owners, and help place unwanted puppies in new homes. Some
offer space to humane societies for adoptable dogs and cats. Many offer limited
warranties and are willing to take back puppies that don't turn out. Some belong to PIJAC and send
their employees to the association's animal-handling seminars.
Other pet stores pay little or no attention to social problems that relate
to pet breeding and pet population dynamics. They provide few educational resources
to their buyers and do not recommend training or neutering the puppies they
sell and offer little support to purchasers once the sale is complete.
Regardless of how progressive and socially responsible a given pet store may
be, an argument against purchasing pet store puppies is that prospective
buyers cannot see the parent dogs or the conditions in which the puppies were
produced and reared, the same argument used against purchasing puppies from magazine or Internet ads.
Suggested reading:
Puppy mills
Puppy mills are substandard breeding operations run by people with little concern
for the welfare of their puppies or their breeding stock. Medical care is scarce;
socialization and good nutrition are non-existent. Puppy mill dogs are typically
in poor condition and live in kennels that are rundown and filthy. Dogs may
be confined to small cages like rabbit hutches; puppies may be raised or displayed
in shopping carts. When AKC inspectors find such kennels, they suspend registration
privileges of the owners and report the conditions to area authorities. When
USDA inspectors come across such kennels that sell puppies to pet stores or
to other commercial kennels, they use the federal Animal Welfare Act to suspend
or revoke licenses and assess fines.
(Links to the AWA and AWA regulations can be found at the APHIS publications
page at www.aphis.usda.gov/ac/publications.html)
The entire commercial dog breeding industry and even hobbyists are tainted
by the existence of puppy mills. Anti-breeding zealots find kennels with squalid
conditions, get the media interested, and paint all commercial breeders and
pet stores that buy from commercial kennels with the same brush in press releases,
articles, and fund-raising campaigns. Anti puppy mill campaigns target all commercial
breeders regardless of their standards. They use the existence of such kennels
to promote mandatory spay and neuter bills and other anti-breeder legislation.
They also use these campaigns to promote shelter dogs instead of well-bred and
well-socialized puppies.
NAIA joins those who condemn puppy mills and urges that they be reported to
the authorities when they are located. If these kennels sell AKC-registered
puppies, they should be reported to AKC. If they sell puppies to pet stores,
they should be reported to USDA. If they are present in a state that regulates
commercial kennels, they should also be reported to state officials. NAIA works
for the closure of all puppy mills.
Few states have kennel licensing and inspections programs because few states
are home to large numbers of commercial kennels that produce a high volume of
animals for sale as pets. NAIA notes that states without such programs can nonetheless
protect the well being of animals in large kennels by judicious enforcement
of reasonable animal welfare laws and by prohibiting habitual offenders from
owning large numbers of animals in the future.
Suggested reading:
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