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"Backyard Breeders"
The Tragedy of Ignorance
and Irresponsibility
The term "backyard" here refers
to:
1)
anyone who is breeding outside of a legitimate, publicly
recognized circle of
breeders;
2)
anyone who breeds from less than champion stock and/or without the
proper genetic health screening;
3)
anyone who breeds for
ANY REASON other
than improving the quality of the breed they are producing according
to the recognized standard for that breed.
Unfortunately, the practice of backyard breeding is rampant!
Backyard
breeders pop up everywhere. Sometimes they are next door
neighbors who just neglected to spay or neuter their animals and
"accidentally"
had a litter. Sometimes they intentionally breed their dogs
because it's "fun". Sometimes the
"fun"
is enough. Sometimes they also think of it as a good way to
pick up "a
little extra money".
Most of the time a backyard
breeder really believes that they are doing no harm.
Often a backyard
breeder tries to pass themselves off as legitimate. They may
express distaste for breed standards, preferring to experiment on
their own, or perhaps even dabbling with
"designer breeds".
They may advertise their litters as
"custom bred"
or "rare".
Sometimes they are our best
friends, our ministers, our business associates or our family ---
people we would otherwise love and respect. Backyard
breeding, however,
no matter WHO is
doing the breeding, is unethical. It is playing around
with a dog's life irresponsibly and should be stopped.
The tragedy of backyard breeding is
easily witnessed by visiting any animal shelter and looking into the
desperate, lonely
eyes of an animal who was bred through carelessness or was the
undesirable product of a
"designer blend" and now has no place to
belong.
According to the
United States Humane Society
one in every four
dogs who ends up in animal shelters are "pure breed" dogs born
due to the irresponsible choices of
BACKYARD BREEDERS.
Of
the 53 million dogs in this country, two thirds of them come from
BACKYARD BREEDERS.
Boxerworld Article:
Backyard Breeders
Almost Home Dachshund Rescue: What Is A Backyard Breeder?
Shelter Dog Rescue: Are You A Backyard Breeder?
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