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Post by masha on Sept 12, 2005 10:20:57 GMT -5
One of the women in my agility class has a - hmmm. Forgotten the name. Small Australian herding dog that has a very bluish coat? Short hair, stocky, very nice dog.
Anyway, apparently she (the dog!) got out while she was on heat and now is pregnant, father unknown.
The kneejerk reaction of our trainers, hearing of this, is "abort" . They say: what are the chances of a unknown number of mixed breed puppies getting good homes?
Leaving aside the whole thing of why this dog is not spayed, and how she " got out". .. Are they correct? Is it more difficult to find homes for non pedigree dogs?
I mean - is it that much worse having an unwanted litter of mixed puppies than an unwanted litter of purebred puppies?
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Post by ladyarya on Sept 12, 2005 14:20:21 GMT -5
One of the women in my agility class has a - hmmm. Forgotten the name. Small Australian herding dog that has a very bluish coat? Short hair, stocky, very nice dog. Blue Heeler? It's a guess, but my first thought... The kneejerk reaction of our trainers, hearing of this, is "abort" . They say: what are the chances of a unknown number of mixed breed puppies getting good homes? Leaving aside the whole thing of why this dog is not spayed, and how she " got out". .. Are they correct? Is it more difficult to find homes for non pedigree dogs? IMO it depends on a lot of things... and well, I feel for this woman because I'm going through the same thing right now, except mine's a stray cat that I took in to be nice and now have more than I bargained for On one side I have people screaming at me that aborting her is the only logical thing to do and I'm a terrible horrible person if I don't because then I'm not giving the older cats in the shelters a chance. Then I have the other side screaming at me that she already knows she's pregnant, her body has been changing, she's been preparing, and how much psychological damage would it do to rip them out of her at this point. It's a tough situation to be in I think, but then it also depends on the doggy/kitty mom/dad. Personally, even tho I have had to abort kittens once before (for health reasons), I can't bring myself to do it again. But then, I also know they won't end up in a shelter. If someone wants one - great. If they don't, I have no problems keeping them. (And getting them all fixed of course ) As for pedigree vs. muttigree litters, that also depends. Personally, I would probably never get a purebred dog (again... had one before I knew about shelter dogs) because if I'm not showing them and I'm only looking for a companion, I don't see how a pure bred makes any better of a family pet than a mutt from the pound. Then there are people that only want purebreds. I think what it all comes down to is for family pets, a puppy is a puppy. When you take a child to a shelter/breeder/etc, they usually don't care what type of dog it is... they just want something cute and playful to be their friend. And no matter the breed, adults are more likely to gush over and adopt a puppy than an older dog - in my experience anyway.
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Post by sibemom on Sept 12, 2005 19:39:21 GMT -5
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Post by Aussienot on Sept 13, 2005 1:32:29 GMT -5
Here's my take on it. The female Cattle Dog has owners who are responsible for her welfare and actions. That's the deal you make when you take on a dog (or cat ). They should have prevented the pregnancy if they didn't want it (spaying comes to mind . . . .) but they didn't, so now they have a pregnant dog to take care of, puppies to take care of, and puppies to find good homes for. Actions have repercussions, and negligence often leads to unwanted consequences. I come down strongly on the side of they have a moral obligation to the living things they have created. More unwanted, randomly bred dogs are never a good thing, but cross breeds are even less desirable than badly bred purebreds, which can be fobbed off on pet stores.
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Post by masha on Sept 13, 2005 9:37:43 GMT -5
Australian cattle dog is right. Yes, I wonder if they will spay her after this...I think they were hoping to breed her for purebred pups. The owner is VERY PROTECTIVE of her dog, as she should be, and i'm sure those puppies are being born into a loving home, at least. I decided to spay my girl as I believe it would be difficult to ensure good homes for the puppies - particularly as her breed (white shepherd) is not the easiest - she is a challenging dog. And when I walk her, so many people who stop me and say - can I buy a pup? Can I breed my dog with her? Which I find scary because I think they like her not just because she is so pretty but because they see her as a fighting dog.
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Post by Laura on Sept 14, 2005 14:45:20 GMT -5
This may be an unpopular opinion, but I believe the dog should be spayed as long as the pregnancy is in it's early stages. As someone who does rescue, I can tell you first hand that placing pups is a difficult job at best, and sometimes placing pups of unknown origin can be even more difficult. I had a litter of 9 purebred Siberian Husky pups several months ago, and I still have 4 available. On the flip side, placing mixed breeds pups might be easier because the requirements are less stringent (i.e. no prior Siberian experience needed, as we ask for). And if this person is going to see the pregnancy through, it is also her responsibility to find to best homes possible through careful screening and reference checks, just as a breeder would. AND spaying and neutering these puppies BEFORE they go into new homes.
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Post by ladyarya on Sept 15, 2005 3:15:09 GMT -5
(i.e. no prior Siberian experience needed, as we ask for) I see this in a lot of ads, but it always seems like a catch 22 to me. Can't get the experience without the dog, can't get the dog without the experience. When you ask for this, what kind of experience are you looking for? I mean do the potential adopters need to have owned a sibe before? Just hung out with one? I ask this because, lets say someone is interested in a certain breed but has never owned one before. They have done tons of research, but no real hands on experience with that breed. How would they ever get their first dog of that breed to get the experience? Or, what would you require of that person before you would consider adopting a sibe to them? (Or really, any breed where you'd ask for prior experience.) I promise I'm not jumping on your standards... it's an honest curiosity
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Post by Laura on Sept 15, 2005 11:16:11 GMT -5
We ask for prior Siberian experience when looking to adopt any of our dogs that are under 2 years of age , if you've never owned one, but would like to, then we will steer you toward an older, mature one. Believe me, all the reading and research in the world will not prepare you for having a Siberian puppy in your house, just ask Ann . A Lab, Sheppy, etc. puppy is tough enough, a Siberian puppy is jacked up with 10 times more energy, curiousity, and the ability to escape from wherever it's being contained . We like newcomers to "cut their teeth", so to speak, on a Sibe who's energy has leveled off a bit, plus by that time, we know who's an escape artist, who's a digger, who's houseworthy, etc.
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Post by ladyarya on Sept 15, 2005 15:43:29 GMT -5
Ohoh! Well that makes more sense. I didn't realize it was under two.
I know what you're saying about sibe puppies. I've never owned one, but when I was a kid my aunt had a sibe named Nakiska. She was quite a handfull, but in such a good way ;D
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Post by Aussienot on Sept 15, 2005 16:29:23 GMT -5
Does that fact that they are rescues also influence the need for an experienced owner? I would imagine most of them have not had great training or socialisation prior to entering rescue, making them more problematic in behavior then dogs from better circumstances.
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Post by sibemom on Sept 15, 2005 17:30:21 GMT -5
OH YES ASK ANN ALRIGHT No I did not have alot of Sibe experience when I got Blade and let me tell you. No matter how many years of DOG experience I had NOTHING could have prepared me for him. By Sibe standards he was actually very MELLOW AND I HAVE THE SCARS TO PROVE IT , GOOD GREIF but he settled down early and became a wonderful family pet. SASSY, SNOTTY, VERY VERY VERY ANAL , but loyal. Linda you are right about rescue dogs, not just the Sibes either almost all rescue dogs have some sort of issue, although with this breed when they have a trust issue, are from an abuse case, have behavior problems, every thing is multipied by 1000000+ that is why with the older dogs usually a foster home has worked through the problems and by the time they are adoptable, even a first time owener can handle them, AT LEAST IN MOST CASES NOT ALL ASK LAURA I work with the local shelter and when one comes in that they feel they can't handle I go over work with the dog, and do my best so that it can become adoptable. YES I TOOK A CRASH COURSE IN SIBE 101 and with the help of Loey & Laura my sibe guru's and all the rest of the SBr'S I know the breed inside and out and try to help. I do love them and I will have another someday YOU WATCH MAYBE SOONER THAN YOU THINK boy did this get off topic
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